What a weekend for warts and all cinema. First of all we had Shortbus. A little sexual epic/human drama and at times acrobatic triumph of a movie! I would say more about the acrobatics, but let’s just say there’s some ‘interesting’ masturbation scenes and i’ll leave the rest to your imagination.  You will know within the first 10 minutes whether you’re cut out for Shortbus or not. If you liked Hedwig and the Angry Inch (the director’s previous work), no doubt you will have some idea what to expect. But whether you can stomach the broad gamut of sexuality on display is another story. I must admit during the more homo erotic scenes, I was looking away!

Shortbus is a bit of a symbiosis, because you couldn’t have the porno aspect without the drama and vice versa. Of the 3 main characters in the movie, a gay couple looking to ’see other people’; a sex therapist whose never had an orgasm and; a dominatrix who desperately wants to become an artist. All the characters meet up at this bizarre Andy Warholesque club named Shortbus, which offers anything and everything.  The journey these characters take is both massively erotic and intensely emotional. There are some really human moments in this movie through which people find themselves through somewhat shared experiences.

No doubt, some will argue that this movie is just trite porn, but it really is far too complex and arty to pass off something like that. But let me tell you something boys, if you think you’re going to get a lot of all girl action, um guess again. This might not be for you champ! Thankfully I can say this movie really gets under your skin. And although repeat viewing mightn’t be a necessesity, you come out so glad you’ve seen it. Adult drama doesn’t get much better than this.  4.5 out of 5.

Fast Food Nation

On the other hand, Fast Food Nation doesn’t have any gory sex scenes. Just gory kill floor scenes in abbatoirs! This documentary-come-drama is not a pro vegetarian manifest. It’s more about the drama of some illegal Mexican immigrants who come to America to work in a meat packing plant. The primary customer of the plant is a fast food chain.

The movie starts with a marketing ace from the restaurant chain, who’s sent to Colorado to find out why a scientific test found so much foecal matter in their burger patties. His investigation parallels our ‘guest workers’ adaptation to both American life and the harsh realities of their work.

For both, some stark realities are discovered and they have to ‘cop it sweet’ to keep their jobs and keep their so-called lifestyle. For the marketing guy, he discovers that he’s pretty much blackmailed into keeping business the way it is, because too many powerful people are making money. Our Mexican meat packing workers find too that they have to take a whole lot of shit if they want to make US bucks.

Suffice it to say, there are some real moments of symapthy for the Mexican workers who sort of live under the surface of American culture. At best they’re only equal in society as consumers, but never as workers or citizens.

Unfortunately the movie does get into factoids and more political stuff, as our Fast Food worker Amber joins the uni set and gets into activism. Enter Avril Lavigne as pretty girl uni student vegetarian activist. Only here does it loose your interest and you can start to see the movie’s documentary origins. Thankfully Bruce Willis and Kris Kristoffersen make up for this by actually acting!

Ultimately this movie has a few dead bits thanks to the factoids and is a little long. If you’re hoping for the mockumentary thing, there’s none of that. Very little humour or irony as well. But in the potrayal of the true human suffering, let alone animal suffering, this movie has succeeded. In being entertaining, maybe not. 3.5 out of 5.