TIFF: The Short Line to SHORTBUS

The hottest ticket in town and I was there baby!!! Right to the front of the rush line, we got sweet seats to see the afternoon screening of John Cameron Mitchell (HEDWIG)’s new (sexually explicit) film ‘Shortbus’. I didn’t know what to expect outside of pornographic sexual activity, and when JCM sat in the seat DIRECTLY BEHIND ME (I could feel his breath on my neck.. ooh… sexy…) I thought I was going to have to feign interest and laugh at all the right moments. But right from the beautiful opening sequence across the NYC skyline, I knew I was going to love this film. JCM is an amazing writer. The dialogue and character development were among the finest cinema has seen this year. The sex is the hype: the characters are the story. It’s out for release in a few cinemas this October. The soundtrack is excellent too! During the Q&A JCM mentioned that his next project is a children’s film. Hmm….

We then went off to see the North American premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain. The director of PI and Requiem for a Dream had a lot to live up to. He showed up to introduce the film along with Ellen Burstyn (she is so cool), lover Rachel Weisz (she is so not) and the composer of his film. I was brought up to know that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. The soundtrack was AMAZING. Mogwai played the score written by the composer of Requiem. That’s all I can say.

Actually, screw my upbringing. This movie SUCKED!!! WTF!!! The imagery was so cheesy! WTF was that story!!! WHY did you waste 6 years making this film???? Hugh Jackman opted to tour Australian arenas wearing tight spandex rather than come to TIFF to represent this film. And Darren was notably absent for the lacking Q&A. DUDE!!! Get it together!

There is more TIFF 2006 news in our Gossip section, for your reading pleasure…