Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Movie Review: Shame


Great film, but draining. Like someone kicked the wind out of you, draining. Shame is director Steve Mcqueen's harrowing look at the downward spiral of addiction. The brief highs, the near infinite lows, it's all here. Only this film isn't about crack or heroin, it's about sex. Michael Fassbender delivers the most powerful performance I've seen all year (of 2011 folks) with his portrayal of Brandon Sullivan, the NYC sex addict whose compulsion engulfs his entire life, contaminating every aspect of his being with shame and utter depravity.

Magneto exposed
Fassbender already made waves this year with his awesome turn as Magneto in X-Men: First Class but nothing will prepare you for his fearless performance in Shame. Dude bares his soul on screen (and then some), exposing the pitiful, tortured existence of his character Brandon. Oh yeah, and he's naked a lot. Like the first thing you see is, well, his thing. Brandon is a well to do business type living the bachelor life in New York City. He's young, handsome, has money and is totally miserable. His life revolves around sex/orgasms. He spends his free time with hookers, internet porn, live web-cams, seducing single and or married women at bars (or anywhere really), and if all else fails, masturbating in the men's room at work.

Brandon's demented lifestyle/routine suddenly comes to a screeching halt when his damaged sister reappears in his life. Carey Mulligan plays his sister Sissy with such sadness and fragility,something she hinted at in her performance in Drive but fully realizes here, she's confirmed herself as one of the best up and coming actresses around. In fact her rendition of "New York, New York" in the bar/dinner scene is one of the most moving moments of the entire film (and is hands down, the saddest version of the song ever recorded).
"I want to be a part of it..."
Rated NC-17, Shame is definitely not a film for everyone. Despite it's full frontal nudity and graphic sexual content Shame is seriously the least sexy film I've ever seen. This isn't Tony Montana doing mountains of blow in Scarface. This is the crack fiend from Menace To Society offering cheeseburgers and blowjobs to feed their habit. Director Steve Mcqueen's film is dark, brazen and powerful. During Brandon's threesome with the Asian and blonde hookers, his choice of odd camera angles and classical music transformed the group's ménage à trois into a tortured ballet sequence. A dry, mechanical routine necessary to make poor Brandon feel alive for a few seconds. Again, I think this truly is a great film, although like Requiem For a Dream,something I may not want to watch again for a while. If that's not a compliment, I don't know what is.

36 comments:

  1. This is an excellent review man. The film sounds really, really good to me, I might have to check this out when I can. This kind of lifestyle really isn't sexy and it's great this film portrays that. This kind of life isn't all paradise and I'm glad this film apparently seems to emphasise this.

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  2. Stop making me want to watch things! How dare you D=

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  3. You've written a really good review here.

    I agree that the song is really haunting.

    Also, I hope this doesn't kill Fassbender's career the way Showgirls did for Elizabeth Berkley because as I recall his performance as Magento was solid.

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  4. Sounds darkly compelling.

    Now I want to see it...

    Pearl

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  5. nice review. It really seems like Fassbender is in everything lately

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  6. Sounds like an interesting movie! But something that I don't think I'll enjoy to watch..

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  7. I like the comparison to Midnight Cowboy and Last Tango In Paris. This is a serious film and I haven't seen it yet. I'd forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder.

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  8. Haven't really heard anything about this, probably because of the rating I suppose. But I'll have to check it out. Think Redbox will have it?

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  9. sounds pretty nice, thanks for the review

    following +1

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  10. This strikes me as one of those films that you really have to be in the mood to watch, otherwise you'll come away from it feeling kind of lousy.

    I shall be adding it to my list!

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  11. It sounds sad and depressing so I need to see it now, Carey was good in "Drive"........

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  12. I would watch it to see him naked and pretend it's Magneto. But in all seriousness, it is a hell of a problem. I'm glad the movie was that good, and yes, not wanting to watch it for a while is a compliment. It shows how powerful the whole thing was.

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  13. Great review, have yet to watch it but will do so soon enough, when I'm in a more depressing mood..haha

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  15. hahah sounds like my life only with out the handsome and money bit xD +Following

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  16. Can't wait to see this one. I loved "Hunger".

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  17. Sounds interesting. I love it when you can see nudity and sex and it not be sexually interesting!

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  18. Great review man! I'm really intrigued to see this now..keep up the great work!

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  19. I havent watched a truly draining movie since Requiem for a dream...

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  20. Could you please write film reviews professionally? You definitely know how to speak to an audience on mutual terms. I loved this review. I was planning on going to see Shame - now it's a priority.

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  21. so its a movie about a dude that likes getting laid? fair enough

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  22. The girl is hot. I'm going to watch this.

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  23. Great Review!! I MUST see this film, seriously. First off I love Michael Fassbender, I'm growing to love Carey Mulligan and Fassbender is nude, haha-sold! Besides all that it does sound like a rather interesting film overall. I can't wait to see it.

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  24. Great view I will have to watch this movie!

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  25. Damnit, I really wanted to see this but completely forgot about it during the holiday stress. I don't think it's playing at any of the local theaters anymore :(

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  26. Sounds like a romantic late night movie. Why do they have to bring sister?
    "she's confirmed herself as one of the best up and coming actresses around" - quite an overstatement? ;)
    Such a crybaby? Oh lord, she could change her lastname to crybaby. I dunno her aura of gloomy/depressing/blue started for me with "The greatest" movie.
    You can never sell me any movie with her and after drive ..hmmm..noooo no way

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  27. i haven't seen this movie yet but I'm thinking about it

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  28. I still need to see the new xmen. Wolverine was awesome :)

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  29. Fassbender clearly has a grasp of both animal and electro magnetism.

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