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Shortbus (18)

TOP FIVE RENTALS 1. The Blood Diamond 2. Hot Fuzz 3. Deja Vu 4. Music And Lyrics 5. The Good Shepherd

I am slightly flummoxed as to what exactly I can write about Shortbus. This is, after all, a family newspaper and children/anyone of a nervous disposition could be reading.

Released in 2006 in America, this award-winning film has been described as the most sexually explicit film ever on general release. Some people say it is pornographic - an opinion, I think, I disagree with.

However, it is outrageous and there certainly is nakedness aplenty. But the film – while likely to appeal to voyeurs and people who want to see if it lives up to its hype – is not just gratuitous nudity.

Originally premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, it examines the lives of different people living in a post-9/11 New York. It begins with Sofia, a sex therapist, who ironically has issues in her own sex life.

Jamie and Jamie are the seemingly perfect homosexual couple. Both are handsome and sought after. But the second Jamie, the melancholy Jamie, is unhappy. He spends the film looking for a new lover for the other Jamie and recording a homemade film.

It is only at the end you realise he is setting his lover up with a new life because he wants to kill himself– and the film is an extended suicide note.

There are also dominatrixes, drag queens, beautiful young gay men and lesbians. The characters come together in the bohemian, carnival-like Shortbus - a sex club where everyone is welcome.

I’m not sure if I liked Shortbus. It didn’t shock me particularly, and it was certainly interesting. But enjoy? That’s a different kettle of fish. I am glad I watched it though for the sole reason it is different.

Probably not for the fainthearted though – Watch With Mother, it isn’t.

Blood and Chocolate (PG)

NEWLY released Blood and Chocolate, from the producers of Underworld, tells the tale of 19-year-old Vivian.

But Vivian is not like other young women – she is a werewolf. To make matters worse she has developed a crush on an American tourist.

Set in modern day Bucharest, Vivian is faced with a terrible choice – experience true love or betray her family by revealing she is a werewolf.