Instruct: Classify a review into positive or negative sentiment.
Query: cathartic

I'd been curious about this film for a while, and after seeing it I can honestly say that it exceeded all my expectations. This film explores the rich, complex emotional lives of a variety of characters. While superficially the characters are all very different (straight, gay, partnered, single, rich, poor, etc), what they all have in common is that they're all at a crossroads in terms of their sexual behavior, and how it either helps them to connect with other people and their own true selves, or not. To quote one of the actors in the film from the (excellent) documentary in the special features section of the DVD, the sex is really just a metaphor for something else. "Shortbus" is a deep, joyous, cathartic and beautiful film.