FilmsShortbusLike this

Films like Shortbus.

Shortbus (2006) reads as Neutral, kinetic, measured drama / comedy, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, measured. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

Breakfast on Pluto (2005) poster
1. Breakfast on Pluto2005

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Strella (2009) poster
2. Strella2009

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the intimate, personal stakes; trades toward a bone-dry seriousness.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) poster
3. Hedwig and the Angry Inch2001

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the intimate, personal stakes — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Secretary (2002) poster
4. Secretary2002

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Castaway on the Moon (2009) poster
5. Castaway on the Moon2009

Keeps the intimate, personal stakes and the heightened unreality; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Holy Smoke! (1999) poster
6. Holy Smoke!1999

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the intimate, personal stakes — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Frida (2002) poster
7. Frida2002

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the intimate, personal stakes; trades toward a heightened unreality.

Sheikh Jackson (2017) poster
8. Sheikh Jackson2017

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the intimate, personal stakes — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Dressmaker (2015) poster
9. The Dressmaker2015

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the intimate, personal stakes — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Marshal (1999) poster
10. Marshal1999

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the intimate, personal stakes — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) (2013) poster
11. Jodorowsky's Dune2013

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the intimate, personal stakes — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Young & Wild (2012) poster
12. Young & Wild2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

These are Shortbus’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

Find my film for tonight — 60 sec →