Last week I wrote about “Gia” being like bad porn. This week I am going to talk about “Shortbus” being like good porn.

The concept of the movie is this. John Cameron Mitchell, director of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” decided to make a film about sex and New York. He decided to cast all unknowns that were willing to have real sex on camera. Then he found them, and the result is “Shortbus.”

It’s not actually a porn, though! It is a movie that has sex in it that happens to be actually happening. The plot follows a sex therapist who has never had an orgasm and whose clients include a gay couple hoping to rejuvenate their relationship with a threesome. They invite her to a shortbus party as a ploy to get her to loosen up: an underground New York club that allows guests to lose all inhibition and express their sexuality however they want to.

While there, the therapist meets a professional dominatrix who becomes a close friend and confidante. Come to find out, via one of their soul-searching sessions, inability to orgasm links to some serious daddy issues that remain mostly unexplained. But they teach each other to like themselves more. They validate each other. Several of their scenes together are so beautiful I covered my mouth with my hand and shook my head, you know?

“Shortbus” does what I think more movies need to do. They need to embrace sexuality as real and not from the collarbone up and with flattering lighting. They need to sell based on story, not names attached to the movie. They need to be prettier. They need to make me laugh and cry all in one hour and a half. “Shortbus” does all of that. It is actually my favorite movie, turns out.

(2006)