“It’s just like the ’60s, only with less hope,” observes Justin Bond, while he watches a full-blown orgy going on around him. Strangely, though, Shortbus is a warm and optimistic film. It’s hard to ignore the authentic – and often very funny – sexual content in John Cameron Mitchell’s follow-up to Hedwig.

But really, the enthusiastic cast of first-timers provide a seductive picture of post-9/11 New York: witty, bohemian, neurotic, ultimately compassionate. And a place where every apartment has a Jackson Pollock splashed with cum.

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EXTRAS: 3* Making of doc, trailer, deleted scenes.

JOHN MULVEY