Shame previews

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/movies/toronto_oscar_watch_shame_0KBfJVXalt3hS4khDwYfkL

Toronto Oscar Watch: 'Shame'

2:54 PM, September 12, 2011 ι Lou Lumenick

British director Steve McQueen's "Shame'' showcases an Oscar-caliber performance by Michael Fassbender as a Manhattan sex addict in a film already notorious for its full frontal male and female nudity, which will guarantee an NC-17 rating.

Set to be released by Fox Searchlight by the end of the year, "Shame'' is basically "Leaving Las Vegas'' with sex instead of drugs. Short on plot and catharsis and long on misery and grimy sex, it's grim and often hard to watch as Fassbender's marketing executive sinks lower and lower into the abyss.

Carey Mulligan, whom I've long regarded as wildly overrated as an actress, finally begins to live up to her reputation as Fassbender's suicidal sister. Her uninvited arrival at his apartment -- and her involvement with his married boss -- has unfortunate consequences for both of them.

This raw, sexually explicit film -- which will show next month at the New York Film Festival -- seems to me like it will appeal more to the New York Film Critics Circle than to mainstream audiences.

http://www.soundonsight.org/tiff-2011-shame-quite-simply-the-best-film-of-2011/

TIFF 2011: ‘Shame’ – quite simply the best film of 2011

Posted on Sep 17, 2011 by Ricky in Reviews, Spotlight, Toronto International Film Festival

Written by Abi Morgan and Steve McQueen

Directed by Steve McQueen

2011, UK

Shame, Steve McQueen’s sophomore film and second collaboration with Michael Fassbender, is a compelling and timely examination of sexual compulsion in the modern world. Fassbender is Brandon, a successful thirty-something Irish immigrant living in Manhattan, whose sexual addiction borders on self-destruction. Brandon lives comfortably from a materialistic point of view, but ultimately leads a repetitive, empty life, void of any real emotional connections. His daily rituals revolve around his search for a sexual outlet. He surfs the web for porn day and night, at home or at work. He seduces women in bars, on the subway and on the street, and if he can’t find someone, he goes home to interact with the next best thing; live webcam girls who perform to his every desire. Whatever the release is, it’s Brandon’s way of coping, but we are never quite sure what with. After his younger sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) crashes back into his life, Brandon finds himself faced with his addiction and his world slowly spirals out of control.

Few filmmakers have probed so deeply into the soul-crushing depths of sexual addiction as bravely as McQueen does here. Shame is a remarkable snapshot of addiction and self-harm, but McQueen and co-screenwriter Abi Morgan stop short of preachiness. Shame does not judge nor does it expect anyone else to. McQueen offers no solutions, nor provides any clear reason why. For some sex addicts, behaviour does not progress beyond compulsive masturbation or the extensive viewing of x-rated films. For others, addiction can involve illegal activities such as exhibitionism, voyeurism, obscene phone calls, and even child molestation or rape. In the world of cinema, the aforementioned trespasses have all been incorporated time and time again into narratives of addiction. What makes Shame so unique is that our protagonist is a healthy, dark, handsome brute of a man, who could easily settle with just about any woman that grabs his interest. This isn’t Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Allen from Happiness, an overweight, socially awkward virgin who’s obsessed over something he can’t have. Nor is Brandon an equivalent to Richard Gere’s Julian from American Gigolo, who primarily does what he does for money. Instead, Brandon is your everyday successful businessman, who like anyone else can suffer from the same addictions as those less fortunate. Shame leaves much of Brandon open for interpretation. We are offered small hints of an underlying struggle from events in his past that might explain his behaviour, but it’s left deliberately unclear.

Its interesting to note how Brandon and Sissy, siblings with a shared past, cope differently. Sissy is openly emotional, overly dramatic and dependent on Brandon, while he is the complete opposite: reserved, successful, independent, unaffectionate and secretive. Her presence threatens to unearth whatever Brandon buries deep down inside, breaking him wide open and forcing him to face his problem head-on. McQueen directs the first act with repetition and ritual, much like Brandon’s everyday routine, but with Sissy’s arrival Shame pushes past mere observation. Most filmmakers will fill the need to provide context for a characters actions, perhaps include flashbacks, or blocks of exposition. Some filmmakers feel the need to answer every question an audience member might have. McQeen isn’t interested in providing a study of sexual aberration brought on by a troubled upbringing. We never find out what the past was, but Sissy does reveal something towards the end when she says, “We’re not bad people, we just come from a bad place.” Short and sweet but to the point, this heartbreaking revelation will hover in your psyche long after the credits role.

The two leads are pitch-perfect as the troubled siblings, matching McQueen’s directorial style through their performances. Fassbender owes a great deal of his notoriety to his part in Hunger as the self-starved IRA member Bobby Sands. In Shame he surpasses that achievement, and in contrast here he is acting out a figurative form of self-humiliation and imprisonment. Fassbender owns the screen fully unselfconscious about the full-frontal nudity and graphic (but simulated) sex required of him. With very little dialogue, the actor peels back layers of self-loathing, dominates every scene and gives his most compelling performance yet.

Despite the technical wonder of the brilliant camera work in Hunger, the film’s stand out moment was a seventeen minute long static shot. With Shame, McQueen repeats the trick somewhat. Carey Mulligan’s musical turn, a slow jazz rendition of “New York, New York,” filmed almost entirely in a single closeup, is the brightest and most exquisite moment of this very dark pic. In those few minutes, the two actors are able to manifest their lifelong relationship without the use of any dialogue.

While McQueen’s background as a visual artist might seem to have a heavy influence on his overall aesthetic, Shame feels less rooted in the language of the art installation than in his previous film. Of course much like Hunger, there are impressive, long tracking shots and tableau-like images. McQueen’s control of sight and sound solidifies him as the next great director. Meanwhile, cinematographer Sean Bobbitt and editor Joe Walker, who also worked on Hunger, are back, and in top form. Bobbitt shoots with cold compositions symbolic of both the New York setting and Brandon’s loneliness. Walker allows the film to breathe naturally in keeping with its overwhelming tone, and composer Harry Escott’s cello-driven score sets the pace.

About the sex: Given the boldness of the film’s blunt sexuality and graphic nudity, it’s important to note that the sexiest scene and perhaps the only truly erotic moment of the entire film is actually one without sex. Brandon catches the eye of an an attractive blonde on the subway. The two go back and forth with brief glances until finally focusing dead into each other’s eyes. It’s a classic pick-up situation, which happens more often than one thinks. But apart from that, Shame contains woebegone sexual activity, debauched three-ways and darkroom fellatio, all of which is rather depressing, much like Brandon himself.

Shame is many things: daunting, powerful, disturbing, provocative, enthralling and visually arresting. It is also quite simply the best film of 2011. Unwilling to diagnose his problem, Brandon finds his way yet again on the subway with an attractive woman. “Actions count, not words,” as he advises his sister earlier on.

Ricky D

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-abeel/michael-fassbenders-sexoh_b_966591.html?ref=tw

Michael Fassbender's Sexoholic Triumphs at Toronto
Posted: 9/18/11 02:40 PM ET

Unlike Cannes, the Toronto Film Festival (a.k.a TIFF) is a pretty staid affair. In this year's 36th edition, though, sex dominated the screen. David Cronenberg's critically praised A Dangerous Method pivots on Freud's notion of sex as a motor of human behavior. No fewer than three films -- Sleeping Beauty, Elles and 360 -- feature women, among them college students, who turn to prostitution to solve financial worries. And as a bad cop in Owen Moverman's Rampart, Woody Harrelson heats up the screen with his macho-style seductions. Finally, if there were no such thing as infidelity, most films at TIFF would have no subject.

But soaring above them all is Shame, Brit filmmaker Steve McQueen's portrait of a sex addict starring Michael Fassbender (winner of Best Actor at Venice). Arguably TIFF's hottest film (every sense), Shame not only deals with sex addiction, but leads with full frontal views of its stars Fassbender and Carey Mulligan -- as if to say let's get THAT out of the way -- and then offers enough boobs, masturbation, internet porn, and bobbing and throbbing to delight Larry Flynt. At moments what language there is pushes the envelope even further.

Shame is also a spectacularly fine film (picked up in a much-publicized sale by Fox Searchlight) that displays the outsize talent of director Steve McQueen. While Fassbender's searing portrayal of a handsome, tortured corporate type and sexoholic, more than justifies his win in Venice. The actor has traveled a ways since his recent Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre.

Shame isn't big on story, since story's not really the point. Video-artist-turned-filmmaker McQueen brilliantly works the intersection of art, narrative, tone poem, and social critique to get into the skin of a man for whom sex is pure compulsion, his sole raison d'etre. Cast as a companion piece to McQueen's first film, Hunger, about a man with no freedom, Shame examines a man with every western privilege who uses his body to create his own prison.

Fassbender's Brandon -- successful, thirty-something, living in his sleek but sterile apartment high in New York -- never met a babe he wouldn't try to seduce, even in the subway, not exactly known for ambiance. Brandon in turn is catnip to women. As a distraction from the monotony of corporate life, his real trade is juggling quickies, house calls by hookers, and perusing internet porn. His routine is interrupted when his "fragile" sister Sissy (Mulligan) crashes in an uninvited visit. The pair share some trauma from their past, which McQueen never spells out. Brandon becomes unhinged when Sissy sleeps with his married, horndog boss (James Badge Dale, superb).

Meanwhile, Brandon comes on to a co-worker (Nicole Beharie), an attractive, intelligent divorcee -- and emotionally engaged person, as opposed to his usual paid sex worker. But when Brandon whisks her off for a nooner at some high-end hotel, the terrors of intimacy make him unable to perform. This fiasco -- the one genuinely erotic sequence and the film's centerpiece -- plus his panic at Sissy's desperate need for connection, propels Brandon into New York's hellish underbelly to escape whatever memories she evokes.

The opening shot -- and opening sequence -- are dazzling. Brandon sprawls semi-naked on blue sheets diagonally across the screen, staring into space in self-reproach, the score both sorrowful and ominous. With his eyes alone Fassbender captures the shame of the title. Shifting in and out of sequence, McQueen follows Brandon padding naked around his apartment, to his commute to work on the subway -- the occasion for an eye f&#! with a girl he then stalks in the station -- to the apartment again, Bach on the record player -- all of it an unsettling study of compulsion. Fassbender inhabits his body with an animal ease which makes him mesmerizing.

Meanwhile, the pealing phone and messages, ignored by Brandon, signal Sissy's desperate need to reach him. In this opening sequence, which flows seamlessly like a piece of music, McQueen artfully set up his whole story. The matchless framing of shots plus blue/grey color design form an elegant background for his sordid tale.

Sissy, a singer, is a mess, sporting scars on her arms from previous suicide attempts. In a set piece in a club she delivers a blues-style rendition of "New York, New York" which causes Brandon to mysteriously tear up and inspires the boss's seduction. Another layered scene observes Brandon on a first dinner date with his co-worker. Fassbender comically nails this man's cluelessness about human connection, as Brandon attempts normal conversation (not high on the agenda in his usual encounters), confessing his longest liaison lasted four months. Meanwhile, a waiter plies the couple with recitations of the evening's specials and the merits of different wines, reappearing at awkward intervals. McQueen favors long takes, in one case holding his camera on Brandon and Sissy from behind while they fiercely argue in front of a near-mute cartoon on TV.

Film's third act focuses on Brandon's degradation as he goes from threesomes, to night-city dives where he's roughed up by a rival, to sitting on the street, bloodied and head bowed. Throughout this section the score turns almost operatic, as if to convey a mini twilight of the gods. The British McQueen lends a uniquely dark twist to New York; subway platforms resemble anterooms to purgatory; trains are purveyors of stupefied souls.

The element of Shame that most opens it to attack is the notion of sex as addiction. Heroin, painkillers, etc. yes -- but sex? In America, if not in Britain, every condition is medicalized, perhaps encouraged by Big Pharma, the better to "treat" it. But why not regard Brandon as simply, well, uni-faceted or monomaniacal, like guys glued to football on the tube? As for his descent into hell -- well, surely life offers worse than threesomes.

McQueen has stated in interviews that what partly inspired a film on sex addiction is all the porn available 24/7 on the internet -- two clicks and you're in. Yet for me Shame embraces a larger subject. The character of Brandon channels a type of hyper-detached urban male -- perhaps most prevalent in the corporate and financial sectors -- who by perpetually using others to serve his own needs, has become a monster -- especially to himself. Though he's dressed better and has a good job, Brandon is as lost as those riders in the subway. Fassbender has so gotten into the skin of this male mutant, it's hard to imagine Shame without him. "Michael is a genius, really," McQueen has said. "I want to work with the best actor there is, and I think he is, basically."

http://www.upcoming-movies.com/Articles/tiff-2011-shame-movie-review-5-stars-michael-fassbender-gives-a-powerful-performance/

TIFF 2011: SHAME movie review (5 stars) Michael Fassbender gives a powerful performance.
09/22/2011 by Steve Ramos Source: Upcoming-Movies.com
TIFF 2011: SHAME movie review (5 stars) Michael Fassbender gives a powerful performance. image

Review of Shame at Toronto International Film Festival.

5 star rating for Shame

SHAME rises on the strength of Michael Fassbender’s powerful performance.

shame - michael fassbender and carey mulliganNew Yorker Brandon (Michael Fassbender) locks eyes with an attractive woman sitting across from him on the subway on the way to work. It’s not until he gets off the wrong stop and desperately follows her up the station steps that you realize something is wrong. Brandon, portrayed with deep pathos by Michael Fassbender in the drama Shame, comes off as successful in his job (just get a load of his Manhattan apartment) but also extremely lonely and emotionally unsatisfied. He’s both confident around women and helpless to his sexual addiction.

Characters as dark and complex as Brandon seldom appear on-screen.

Thanks to Fassbender’s incredible performance — working for a second time with director Steve McQueen — Shame quickly stands out as one of the year’s most gripping adult dramas.

Shame is just the second film by London-born artist McQueen after Hunger, about the final weeks of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in

1981 and starring Fassbender as Sands, but already his movies feel essential.

Like his acclaimed short art films, Shame is controlled storytelling, formal in cinematic technique and almost classical in its portrayal of human tragedy.

It’s what one expects from a Turner Prize winner and recipient of the Camera d'Or prize at Cannes for Hunger.

Yet Shame shows McQueen stepping away from the controlled, experimental terrain of his art installation films and into the territory movie melodrama.

McQueen and co-writer Abi Morgan tell the sad story of Brandon and his needy younger sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) in bold, melodramatic strokes and the film’s emotional intensity makes Brandon and his equally troubled sister come off as approachable, understandable and somewhat grounded.

Shame is not as stark and subtle as MecQueen’s 2008 drama Hunger. It’s pulpy at times as Brandon’s extreme behavior results in bursts of sexual activity more pathetic than stimulating.

Michael Fassbender, winner of a best actor award at the Venice Film Festival for Shame, builds a compelling sense of sympathy for Brandon even as his sexual cravings overwhelm his life. It’s to Fassbender’s credit that Brandon is far more complex than a handsome predator.

Carey Mulligan, so precious in An Education and Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, is haunting as Sissy, Brandon’s troubled, nightclub singer sister who arrives at his doorstep with her own relationship issues.

Mulligan shows a different side of her acting talents in Shame and it’s to her credit that she’s every bit as courageous as Fassbender.

In fact, Mulligan claims the film’s standout scene, a soulful rendition of New York, New York at a downtown club.

Still, the confidence that runs throughout the movie belongs to McQueen who shows a firm hand when it comes to what he wants in a movie.

Shame is cinematic through and through from Brandon’s modern apartment to the sterile offices where he works. Composer Harry Escott compliments the frequently shocking story with beautiful music.

Cameraman Sean Bobbitt uses light and shadow to powerful effect, creating a portrayal of New York City perfectly matched with Brandon’s troubled soul.

I like how McQueen is certain of his artistic decisions, even when it comes to a dramatic explanation for Brandon’s behavior. It’s also interesting how both of his feature films focus on the human body.

After acquiring Shame in the first few days of the Toronto Film Festival, Fox Searchlight plans an end-of-the-year release with the hope of repeating the success of last year’s ballet thriller Black Swan.

Shame is a far more challenging drama but it will introduce McQueen to more sizable audiences and make him a filmmaker who's every new project generates excitement.

Distributor: Fox Searchlight

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge, Nicole Beharie

Screenwriter: Steve McQueen and Abi Morgan

Director: Steve McQueen

Producers: See-Saw Films, Film4, U.K. Film Council Running Time: 99 min.

Rating: Unrated

Release Date: Late 2011

http://www.film4.com/features/article/sandra-hebron-on-shame

Hebron on Shame
Shame
Film4.com editor Catherine Bray met with London Film Festival director Sandra Hebron to talk about the five Film4 Productions in the festival in 2011. Here, Sandra speaks about Steve McQueen's Shame

Catherine: Shame is on a lot of people’s must-see lists for the festival, isn’t it?

Sandra: I keep getting asked for my festival highlights and I’m always resistant to say what they are, but I have just done a piece for the Sunday Times on that, and I picked Shame out as a must-see. Shame is one of the most extraordinary films in the festival. Steve McQueen – well, Hunger was a very fine film but I think with Shame, Steve McQueen has stepped up to the next level. I think with Shame there’s obviously a very productive, creative relationship between him and Michael Fassbender and Michael’s role in this is just extraordinary, his performance is just so strong. Though I think Carey Mulligan as his sister is matching him.


Catherine: Beyond the performances, what do you like so much about Shame?

Sandra: I love the fact that Steve McQueen has made a very grown-up film. It’s very frank, I like the fact that there’s a lot of ambiguity in the film, there’s a lot of ambiguity in the relationships. He’s this person who has this incredible sexual drive and it’s not entirely clear whether he’s controlling it, or it’s controlling him, and there’s a lot of ambiguity about what’s happened to him in the past and what the relationship is with the sister, and I like the fact that that’s never explicitly spelt out.


Catherine: And it’s set in absolutely the right city for that.

Sandra: I think it’s a really great example of someone who is not from a city but who goes to that city and uses it incredibly well. I think the way he uses New York and the iconography of New York, both in terms of the huge vistas but also all the subways and interiors. He’s obviously very attuned to New York as a city. You mentioned earlier, in relation to Wuthering Heights, the idea of the visionary filmmaker, and I think Steve McQueen absolutely has to be talked about in that way. He’s so in control of his material, it has such precision, such economy, and I watched it with two other people in the programming team, both men, and afterwards, when we talked about the film we found we had read it completely differently, and that, to me, is the sign of a really good film.



Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale
Country: UK
Writer: Abi Morgan, Steve McQueen
Running time: 99min
Year: 2011


Shame is screening at the London Film Festival on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th October. Shame will be released in UK cinemas by Momentum Pictures in 2012. Stay in the loop: follow @MomentumPics on Twitter

http://portable.tv/film/post/shame-our-reactions/

Shame: Our Reactions
By Brodie Lancaster / October 6th, 2011 in Film / New York
Hollywood’s current favorite heartthrob Michael Fassbender was introduced to us just a few years ago when Steve McQueen (no, not that one) cast the then-unknown actor in his breakout role as hunger striker Bobby Sands in Hunger. For his sophomore offering, McQueen reunited with the Inglourious Basterds star to explore another primal desire.

Shame tells the manic and insular story of Brandon (Fassbender), a Manhattanite whose sex addiction is so all-encompassing that he’s unable to carry out even the most basic of human interactions. Enter: Carey Mulligan as his affectionate and dependent sister Sissy who needs a place to stay and arrives at his bleak apartment in Chelsea. She is Brandon’s polar opposite; she wears vintage furs while he dresses in crisp turned-up collars, she is passionate and musical while he spends his days in a sterile office space. Most importantly, she craves love and affection, while her brother—whose longest relationship was four months long—cannot even spend a dinner date with a woman without being overcome with nerves.

Luckily for us, this specific moment provides one of the film’s funniest scenes, as the stoic Brandon’s guard is finally pushed down and McQueen’s unrelenting camera lingers on him in one, tense long shot, interrupted only by an attentive waiter. These shots were important for McQueen to employ, as they show, in a way that editing tricks or reverse shots could not, how truly out of his element Brandon is when it comes to engaging with a woman via conversation, rather than simply penetration.

In his quest to show the crippling anxiety surrounding sex addiction as more than something horny celebrities use as excuses for adultery, McQueen found his perfect vessel in Fassbender. His portrayal of Brandon is so haunted and distant, it’s excusable to drift between feelings of pity and disdain for him as he seeks a series of tricks to ease his inordinate urges.

Details

Directed by

Steve McQueen
Written by

Abi Brandon, Steve McQueen
Starring

Carey Mulligan, Michael Fassbender

http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/archives/new_york_film_festival_2011_entry_4_-_review_of_steve_mcqueens_shame/#

New York Film Festival 2011 Entry #4 - Review Of Steve McQueen’s “Shame”

This is closer to a stream of consciousness, so let it rip… I thought about the film long after I saw it, chewed, swallowed, and then vomited this… *spoiler alert*

The dominant conversation about the film since its debut at the Venice Film Festival 2 months ago has been its supposed explicit depictions of one of the most natural of human acts – sex. The film is expected to receive what is essentially the Scarlet Letter of all MPAA ratings – the dreaded “NC-17.” But after watching Shame earlier today, fully expecting to be thrown into some kind of a tizzy over the shock and awe perversity on display, I walked out wondering what the hell the hullabaloo was all about.

And then it hit me; of course… we see penis; that pleasure/pain external male organ sometimes used in copulation, to transfer semen to the female; and other times use to expel urine from the body.

You know it; also known by its, shall I say, *dirtier* slang alternative - dick.

Because, other than the maybe 2 or 3 shots early in the film – mind you, not lingering shots; more like milliseconds, in passing – in which star Michael Fassbender’s member is shown, there’s absolutely no other sex act depicted in Shame that we haven’t seen in previous films with R-ratings.

The racket over the scenes of “explicit sex” is entirely unwarranted. The considerations of an NC-17 rating are also unnecessary. They instead demonstrate a bias, a double standard.

For decades women’s parts have been on display on screen from a variety of angles, perspectives, and positions. And thus I understand that we’ve gotten very used to that, so it’s not taboo anymore; unlike when a film includes full frontal male nudity.

I think we all know what a dick looks like; I have one. I’ve had one since birth. I’m sure all of us (male and female) have probably seen one live. It’s not *dirty*; It’s not shameful, to borrow from the film’s title. It’s not something that needs to be protected. I watch a film with full frontal male nudity and I think, hey, I recognize that thing. I’ve got one of my own; it’s another dick. It’s a different color, maybe a different size, but I see it, and I know what it is. I’m not shocked by it, and neither should anyone else.

Leave dick alone! As Eddie Murphy’s character in The Distinguished Gentleman said, “Dick is good! Dick is good!”

We recently featured a short film on this site titled Slow by Darius Clarke Monroe which included a scene with full male frontal nudity; my goodness, you should have seen some of the emails I received after that.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’ve watched a wide variety of films, from all over the world, and, frankly, the scenes depicted in Shame are tame. It’ll take a lot more than what’s in this film to shock me! Although I realize my experience isn’t necessarily everyone else’s, so do with that, what you will.

I flinched more at the depictions of the intermingling of sex and violence in Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist; that was a far more disturbing film than this, which would have likely received an NC-17 if it was submitted to the MPAA, which is wasn’t.

I appreciated Shame. I will say that I think it’s been over-praised a bit (although maybe it’s a case of my expectations being extremely high, given all the praise it received leading up to my screening earlier today); still, while I thought it was most certainly quite an immersive experience, I wouldn’t crown it the year’s best just yet; although it’ll probably make my 2011 top ten.

I’m not a psychoanalyst, nor have I played one on television, nor can I say I’ve ever been an addict; but I don’t think it’s a stretch for me to say that addiction isn’t entirely about the thing that the addict is addicted to; but also, and maybe more importantly, the high that the addict achieves from the addiction – a high that hides or suppresses (no matter how temporarily) some deeper crisis the person, for whatever reason, refuses, or just isn’t psychologically competent enough to face; or it fills an absence of something else.

There are food addictions; drug addictions; and, of course, sex addictions (and others), which is what’s at the center of Shame’s narrative. Our protagonist and resident addict is played wonderfully by Michael Fassbender in a restrained and rather brave performance.

The 100-minute film laconically tells the tale of Brandon, in a re-teaming of the director/actor duo, a 30-something man, living in New York City, who has trouble controlling and managing his sexual compulsions. He has this almost minute-to-minute preoccupation with sex - from prostitutes, to one-night stands, to porn, to masturbation, to thinking about prostitutes, one-night stands, porn and masturbation, Brandon at first seems to be in some sort of lust-filled exile.

However, it’s not quite what may seem like the carefree, jovial salacious thrill that all I’ve said thus far might suggest; far from it! There’s a definite melancholic undercurrent that pervades the script, from the beginning. You understand that there’s probably something else happening within Brandon, something that will be revealed eventually… at least you hope so.

His actions are repetitious, and mostly self-destructive. You aren’t given much of a hint as to where it’ll all lead, but in trusting the abilities of the filmmaker, you hope that there would be some moment of clarity; or maybe a shift in momentum to keep you engaged.

If it’s not already clear to you by now, Fassbender is quite exposed here; but not just physically. I called the film an immersive experience, and it’s partly because of Fassbender’s quiet intensity, and the way he just seems to have completely given himself over to both the role and the director. He put himself in a very vulnerable position I think, suggesting a trust between him and Steve McQueen – one that both star and director have previously discussed. It’s almost as if he’s not acting here; the performance is quite natural.

So, if, as I said, playing armchair shrink, addictions provide a high for the addict, partly as an escape from some unresolved personal matter, what then is buried deep inside Fassbender’s Brandon that he’s running away from, or not honestly confronting here?

Therein lies the mystery.

I couldn’t help but wonder if director Steve McQueen (who was present for a Q&A that followed the screening, by the way) had read my review of his script, posted back in May. I say that for two reasons; first, while I certainly won’t tell you what Brandon’s real affliction is, you should know that neither does the film; although you could reach your own conclusions based on the evidence.

I happen to know what his trouble is because I read the script that the film is based on, and reviewed it here on S&A back in May. And if you read that review of the script, you’d know that one of my issues with it was the proverbial “big reveal” at the end – a scene in which all the individual threads come together quite tidily, and Shame makes sense. The “aha” moment!

In my review, I said that I found the revelation anticlimactic; that it wasn’t at all satisfying for me, and I had a kind of “that’s it?” reaction afterward. Not to trivialize the gravity of what is revealed at the end of the script, but I wanted something more, and less, dare I say, cliché, given the amount of time already spent with Brandon and his neuroses; the monotony and repetitiveness of it all.

I say I wonder if McQueen read my review of his script because, he left that scene out of the final film that I saw earlier today – a scene I was fully expecting, for obvious reasons. And I applaud that move, even though it’ll likely leave some audiences baffled after seeing the film, given how ambiguous the ending is now. You’re left to wonder not only what happens next for Brandon (whether he’s reached some catharsis), but also what it was exactly that put him inside this lust-filled prison in the first place, where he seems to be serving an extended sentence.

But I preferred that ambiguity to the finality I read in the script, which I already said left me wanting, and which I think would have had a similar effect on other audiences. So, good call there Mr McQueen. You just may have saved your movie. You can thank me later if you’re reading this

The second reason why I say I wonder if McQueen read my review of his script is because, the character played by the lovely Nicole Beharie was a single mother in the script, and there are even references to her son; I believe, in the script, there’s a sequence or two in which Brandon actually interacts with Marianne’s (Nicole Beharie’s) son. And, again, if you recall my review of the script, I also questioned what McQueen’s motivation was for having her be a single mother, given that she is obviously African American (though the character wasn’t written as/for an American American); I wondered if he was possibly making some statement about single mothers in African American households (I think we’re all familiar with the stats and quotes, so I won’t bother here); and also the fact that the man she falls for is Caucasian, certainly wasn’t lost on me.

Almost everything else about the script was so precise and specific that I could only suspect that these choices weren’t simply accidental. And I’d say that if I had similar suspicions about them, others likely would as well.

McQueen may have also realized that fact, or at least considered it (or, as I’d like to think, he read my review of his script ) because the entire bit about her being a single mother has been eliminated from the story. She mentions that she’s divorced during their first date. But I don’t recall any conversations about children; and, obviously, nor do we actually see a son, nor are there any scenes in which Brandon interacts with him.

So, once again, good call there Mr McQueen if you’re reading this! As I said in my script review, the entire single mother subplot seemed entirely unnecessary to me. There was already enough motivation for Brandon’s fears and inability to connect with Mariane. Adding this single mother plotline might have only raised further questions – questions that may have ultimately been superfluous, given that he wasn’t trying to make any statements with those choices (not intentionally anyway).

I should note that, actually, Nicole Beharie’s character is featured a lot less in the film than she is in the script, which was already sparse in terms of scenes she had an active role in. However, although her presence is limited, it’s of significant influence on Brandon, and thus the progression of the story.

It is after Brandon realizes he is unable to make a genuine human connection with this woman, despite making a concerted effort to do so, that he begins to unravel. He likes her, unlike the other women whose bodies he simply uses to achieve his high, often not even looking at their faces, if you know what I mean. She likes him too, and wants to connect with him as well, both physically and emotionally. Their first date doesn’t happen until after about an hour into this 100 minute film. And after that wonderfully acted and directed date sequence (Nicole is a breath of fresh air here - Brandon’s connection to the *real* world), I realized that she was the first woman in the entire film at that juncture he’d actually had a full conversation with - from their time in the restaurant, to the walk to the subway, where they said their goodbyes.

She’s the first (and really the only) woman he doesn’t have a one-night stand with. They actually don’t even have sex. There’s an attempt to make love, and we watch them kiss, and caress, and really devour each other with a kind of patience and passion we don’t see at all with any of Brandon’s previous escapades.

And then it happens. Well, actually, it doesn’t happen. He tries to give himself over to the moment, but he simply can’t, if you catch my drift. It’s a different feeling; one that he hasn’t quite felt before, and thus he’s in a position he’s never really had to grapple with until then (within the film anyway). In this single quiet scene, he’s exposed, and is forced to come to terms with the truth of why he is who he is; at least, it begins the process of his unraveling.

The relentlessness of his sister, played by Carey Mulligan, who essentially forces herself into his life, also assists in that disentangling.

Mulligan is the bratty sister who shares a common unrevealed, though hinted at past with Brandon, and is, shall I say, f&%$#& up in her own way. Though the film is not about her; all the characters are there really to serve the deconstruction of Brandon. We learn more and more about him as he interacts with his tiny, close-knit circle, which also includes his rambunctious married boss, who, by the way, sleeps with Brandon’s sister, much to Brandon’s chagrin.

If I could point to one potential problem with Shame, depending on your interpretation of it, is that, while Brandon is depicted as fiercely heterosexual, there is one scene in which he engages in a sexual act with another man, in a gay club he seemingly impulsively enters, during the latter stage of his unraveling.

I say it could be a problem depending on your interpretation because of how the scene is presented, and what Brandon’s psychological state is at the time that it happens.

Despite all the research McQueen said he did for the film, he seems to have given in to the easiest, most clichéd choice in how he opted to shoot that entire sequence. Here, gay sex is presented as something illicit, dirty even, taking place in what looks almost like a dungeon buried inside the club, as men sequester themselves to individual curtained-off “cells,” where they do “unspeakable” things to one another.

Add to that a consideration for the mental space that Brandon is in when he gives himself over in this sequence – he’s coming undone – and you’d have to wonder what McQueen might be trying to say here; if anything intentional.

And as the only scene in which sex between men is depicted in the film, I can see some in the film’s audience taking issue with that depiction.

Or not; as I said, it depends on how you interpret it. The question wasn’t addressed during the Q&A that followed, so I don’t have any answers to enlighten.

However, McQueen does a really good job of melding image and sound to create an immersive whole. You feel like you really are part of that universe, so much that, when the film was over, I had to kind of shake myself out of it.

I already noted Fassbender’s ability to really disappear into the role as a contributing factor; you forget that he’s acting here.

It made me think of the last film I saw at the NYFF (before Shame) - David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, in which Michael Fassbender plays psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Walking away from the theater after my screening of Shame today, I immediately sought a connection between the 2 films, and the characters Fassbender plays in each.

I think Jung would relish the opportunity to observe, analyze and treat Brandon’s neuroses; and there’s probably something to be said for the fact that in A Dangerous Method, Jung himself (somewhat stiffly embodied by Fassbender) struggles with the idea of becoming his true self, and unleashing the repressed part that lies within.

To that end, I’d say that Fassbender plays restrained and contained very well. Though, as you’ll see in Shame, a ferocity sits just underneath the surface. I might even consider switching the titles and instead call Shame, A Dangerous Method.

Shame is quite somber; there’s a deep sadness, a melancholy that runs throughout the entire film, with a few moments of levity scattered about.

But I was engaged from start to end.

As with the last McQueen film, with regards to cinematography, I fully expected this to paint an interesting, if unconventional, or even experimental picture. But surprisingly, although understandably, McQueen left his contemporary visual Artiste specs at home this time around, opting to instead tell what is really a rather straightforwardly-produced and shot, although ambiguously-concluded narrative.

While there are some similarities to his debut feature, Hunger, Shame stands entirely on its own, as a separate work, and a notable sophomore outing for Mr McQueen.

tambay posted to Film Festival, Review at 9:43 pm on October 6, 2011

http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/archives/new_york_film_festival_2011_entry_4_-_review_of_steve_mcqueens_shame/

New York Film Festival 2011 Entry #4 - Review Of Steve McQueen’s “Shame”

This is closer to a stream of consciousness, so let it rip… I thought about the film long after I saw it, chewed, swallowed, and then vomited this… *spoiler alert*

The dominant conversation about the film since its debut at the Venice Film Festival 2 months ago has been its supposed explicit depictions of one of the most natural of human acts – sex. The film is expected to receive what is essentially the Scarlet Letter of all MPAA ratings – the dreaded “NC-17.” But after watching Shame earlier today, fully expecting to be thrown into some kind of a tizzy over the shock and awe perversity on display, I walked out wondering what the hell the hullabaloo was all about.

And then it hit me; of course… we see penis; that pleasure/pain external male organ sometimes used in copulation, to transfer semen to the female; and other times use to expel urine from the body.

You know it; also known by its, shall I say, *dirtier* slang alternative - dick.

Because, other than the maybe 2 or 3 shots early in the film – mind you, not lingering shots; more like milliseconds, in passing – in which star Michael Fassbender’s member is shown, there’s absolutely no other sex act depicted in Shame that we haven’t seen in previous films with R-ratings.

The racket over the scenes of “explicit sex” is entirely unwarranted. The considerations of an NC-17 rating are also unnecessary. They instead demonstrate a bias, a double standard.

For decades women’s parts have been on display on screen from a variety of angles, perspectives, and positions. And thus I understand that we’ve gotten very used to that, so it’s not taboo anymore; unlike when a film includes full frontal male nudity.

I think we all know what a dick looks like; I have one. I’ve had one since birth. I’m sure all of us (male and female) have probably seen one live. It’s not *dirty*; It’s not shameful, to borrow from the film’s title. It’s not something that needs to be protected. I watch a film with full frontal male nudity and I think, hey, I recognize that thing. I’ve got one of my own; it’s another dick. It’s a different color, maybe a different size, but I see it, and I know what it is. I’m not shocked by it, and neither should anyone else.

Leave dick alone! As Eddie Murphy’s character in The Distinguished Gentleman said, “Dick is good! Dick is good!”

We recently featured a short film on this site titled Slow by Darius Clarke Monroe which included a scene with full male frontal nudity; my goodness, you should have seen some of the emails I received after that.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’ve watched a wide variety of films, from all over the world, and, frankly, the scenes depicted in Shame are tame. It’ll take a lot more than what’s in this film to shock me! Although I realize my experience isn’t necessarily everyone else’s, so do with that, what you will.

I flinched more at the depictions of the intermingling of sex and violence in Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist; that was a far more disturbing film than this, which would have likely received an NC-17 if it was submitted to the MPAA, which is wasn’t.

I appreciated Shame. I will say that I think it’s been over-praised a bit (although maybe it’s a case of my expectations being extremely high, given all the praise it received leading up to my screening earlier today); still, while I thought it was most certainly quite an immersive experience, I wouldn’t crown it the year’s best just yet; although it’ll probably make my 2011 top ten.

I’m not a psychoanalyst, nor have I played one on television, nor can I say I’ve ever been an addict; but I don’t think it’s a stretch for me to say that addiction isn’t entirely about the thing that the addict is addicted to; but also, and maybe more importantly, the high that the addict achieves from the addiction – a high that hides or suppresses (no matter how temporarily) some deeper crisis the person, for whatever reason, refuses, or just isn’t psychologically competent enough to face; or it fills an absence of something else.

There are food addictions; drug addictions; and, of course, sex addictions (and others), which is what’s at the center of Shame’s narrative. Our protagonist and resident addict is played wonderfully by Michael Fassbender in a restrained and rather brave performance.

The 100-minute film laconically tells the tale of Brandon, in a re-teaming of the director/actor duo, a 30-something man, living in New York City, who has trouble controlling and managing his sexual compulsions. He has this almost minute-to-minute preoccupation with sex - from prostitutes, to one-night stands, to porn, to masturbation, to thinking about prostitutes, one-night stands, porn and masturbation, Brandon at first seems to be in some sort of lust-filled exile.

However, it’s not quite what may seem like the carefree, jovial salacious thrill that all I’ve said thus far might suggest; far from it! There’s a definite melancholic undercurrent that pervades the script, from the beginning. You understand that there’s probably something else happening within Brandon, something that will be revealed eventually… at least you hope so.

His actions are repetitious, and mostly self-destructive. You aren’t given much of a hint as to where it’ll all lead, but in trusting the abilities of the filmmaker, you hope that there would be some moment of clarity; or maybe a shift in momentum to keep you engaged.

If it’s not already clear to you by now, Fassbender is quite exposed here; but not just physically. I called the film an immersive experience, and it’s partly because of Fassbender’s quiet intensity, and the way he just seems to have completely given himself over to both the role and the director. He put himself in a very vulnerable position I think, suggesting a trust between him and Steve McQueen – one that both star and director have previously discussed. It’s almost as if he’s not acting here; the performance is quite natural.

So, if, as I said, playing armchair shrink, addictions provide a high for the addict, partly as an escape from some unresolved personal matter, what then is buried deep inside Fassbender’s Brandon that he’s running away from, or not honestly confronting here?

Therein lies the mystery.

I couldn’t help but wonder if director Steve McQueen (who was present for a Q&A that followed the screening, by the way) had read my review of his script, posted back in May. I say that for two reasons; first, while I certainly won’t tell you what Brandon’s real affliction is, you should know that neither does the film; although you could reach your own conclusions based on the evidence.

I happen to know what his trouble is because I read the script that the film is based on, and reviewed it here on S&A back in May. And if you read that review of the script, you’d know that one of my issues with it was the proverbial “big reveal” at the end – a scene in which all the individual threads come together quite tidily, and Shame makes sense. The “aha” moment!

In my review, I said that I found the revelation anticlimactic; that it wasn’t at all satisfying for me, and I had a kind of “that’s it?” reaction afterward. Not to trivialize the gravity of what is revealed at the end of the script, but I wanted something more, and less, dare I say, cliché, given the amount of time already spent with Brandon and his neuroses; the monotony and repetitiveness of it all.

I say I wonder if McQueen read my review of his script because, he left that scene out of the final film that I saw earlier today – a scene I was fully expecting, for obvious reasons. And I applaud that move, even though it’ll likely leave some audiences baffled after seeing the film, given how ambiguous the ending is now. You’re left to wonder not only what happens next for Brandon (whether he’s reached some catharsis), but also what it was exactly that put him inside this lust-filled prison in the first place, where he seems to be serving an extended sentence.

But I preferred that ambiguity to the finality I read in the script, which I already said left me wanting, and which I think would have had a similar effect on other audiences. So, good call there Mr McQueen. You just may have saved your movie. You can thank me later if you’re reading this

The second reason why I say I wonder if McQueen read my review of his script is because, the character played by the lovely Nicole Beharie was a single mother in the script, and there are even references to her son; I believe, in the script, there’s a sequence or two in which Brandon actually interacts with Marianne’s (Nicole Beharie’s) son. And, again, if you recall my review of the script, I also questioned what McQueen’s motivation was for having her be a single mother, given that she is obviously African American (though the character wasn’t written as/for an American American); I wondered if he was possibly making some statement about single mothers in African American households (I think we’re all familiar with the stats and quotes, so I won’t bother here); and also the fact that the man she falls for is Caucasian, certainly wasn’t lost on me.

Almost everything else about the script was so precise and specific that I could only suspect that these choices weren’t simply accidental. And I’d say that if I had similar suspicions about them, others likely would as well.

McQueen may have also realized that fact, or at least considered it (or, as I’d like to think, he read my review of his script ) because the entire bit about her being a single mother has been eliminated from the story. She mentions that she’s divorced during their first date. But I don’t recall any conversations about children; and, obviously, nor do we actually see a son, nor are there any scenes in which Brandon interacts with him.

So, once again, good call there Mr McQueen if you’re reading this! As I said in my script review, the entire single mother subplot seemed entirely unnecessary to me. There was already enough motivation for Brandon’s fears and inability to connect with Mariane. Adding this single mother plotline might have only raised further questions – questions that may have ultimately been superfluous, given that he wasn’t trying to make any statements with those choices (not intentionally anyway).

I should note that, actually, Nicole Beharie’s character is featured a lot less in the film than she is in the script, which was already sparse in terms of scenes she had an active role in. However, although her presence is limited, it’s of significant influence on Brandon, and thus the progression of the story.

It is after Brandon realizes he is unable to make a genuine human connection with this woman, despite making a concerted effort to do so, that he begins to unravel. He likes her, unlike the other women whose bodies he simply uses to achieve his high, often not even looking at their faces, if you know what I mean. She likes him too, and wants to connect with him as well, both physically and emotionally. Their first date doesn’t happen until after about an hour into this 100 minute film. And after that wonderfully acted and directed date sequence (Nicole is a breath of fresh air here - Brandon’s connection to the *real* world), I realized that she was the first woman in the entire film at that juncture he’d actually had a full conversation with - from their time in the restaurant, to the walk to the subway, where they said their goodbyes.

She’s the first (and really the only) woman he doesn’t have a one-night stand with. They actually don’t even have sex. There’s an attempt to make love, and we watch them kiss, and caress, and really devour each other with a kind of patience and passion we don’t see at all with any of Brandon’s previous escapades.

And then it happens. Well, actually, it doesn’t happen. He tries to give himself over to the moment, but he simply can’t, if you catch my drift. It’s a different feeling; one that he hasn’t quite felt before, and thus he’s in a position he’s never really had to grapple with until then (within the film anyway). In this single quiet scene, he’s exposed, and is forced to come to terms with the truth of why he is who he is; at least, it begins the process of his unraveling.

The relentlessness of his sister, played by Carey Mulligan, who essentially forces herself into his life, also assists in that disentangling.

Mulligan is the bratty sister who shares a common unrevealed, though hinted at past with Brandon, and is, shall I say, f&%$#& up in her own way. Though the film is not about her; all the characters are there really to serve the deconstruction of Brandon. We learn more and more about him as he interacts with his tiny, close-knit circle, which also includes his rambunctious married boss, who, by the way, sleeps with Brandon’s sister, much to Brandon’s chagrin.

If I could point to one potential problem with Shame, depending on your interpretation of it, is that, while Brandon is depicted as fiercely heterosexual, there is one scene in which he engages in a sexual act with another man, in a gay club he seemingly impulsively enters, during the latter stage of his unraveling.

I say it could be a problem depending on your interpretation because of how the scene is presented, and what Brandon’s psychological state is at the time that it happens.

Despite all the research McQueen said he did for the film, he seems to have given in to the easiest, most clichéd choice in how he opted to shoot that entire sequence. Here, gay sex is presented as something illicit, dirty even, taking place in what looks almost like a dungeon buried inside the club, as men sequester themselves to individual curtained-off “cells,” where they do “unspeakable” things to one another.

Add to that a consideration for the mental space that Brandon is in when he gives himself over in this sequence – he’s coming undone – and you’d have to wonder what McQueen might be trying to say here; if anything intentional.

And as the only scene in which sex between men is depicted in the film, I can see some in the film’s audience taking issue with that depiction.

Or not; as I said, it depends on how you interpret it. The question wasn’t addressed during the Q&A that followed, so I don’t have any answers to enlighten.

However, McQueen does a really good job of melding image and sound to create an immersive whole. You feel like you really are part of that universe, so much that, when the film was over, I had to kind of shake myself out of it.

I already noted Fassbender’s ability to really disappear into the role as a contributing factor; you forget that he’s acting here.

It made me think of the last film I saw at the NYFF (before Shame) - David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, in which Michael Fassbender plays psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Walking away from the theater after my screening of Shame today, I immediately sought a connection between the 2 films, and the characters Fassbender plays in each.

I think Jung would relish the opportunity to observe, analyze and treat Brandon’s neuroses; and there’s probably something to be said for the fact that in A Dangerous Method, Jung himself (somewhat stiffly embodied by Fassbender) struggles with the idea of becoming his true self, and unleashing the repressed part that lies within.

To that end, I’d say that Fassbender plays restrained and contained very well. Though, as you’ll see in Shame, a ferocity sits just underneath the surface. I might even consider switching the titles and instead call Shame, A Dangerous Method.

Shame is quite somber; there’s a deep sadness, a melancholy that runs throughout the entire film, with a few moments of levity scattered about.

But I was engaged from start to end.

As with the last McQueen film, with regards to cinematography, I fully expected this to paint an interesting, if unconventional, or even experimental picture. But surprisingly, although understandably, McQueen left his contemporary visual Artiste specs at home this time around, opting to instead tell what is really a rather straightforwardly-produced and shot, although ambiguously-concluded narrative.

While there are some similarities to his debut feature, Hunger, Shame stands entirely on its own, as a separate work, and a notable sophomore outing for Mr McQueen.

tambay posted to Film Festival, Review at 9:43 pm on October 6, 2011

http://www.filmlinc.com/blog/entry/nyff-spotlight-shame

NYFF Spotlight: Shame
Posted by Simran Bhalla on 10.6.2011

Shame

Film: Shame
Director: Steve McQueen
Program: Main Slate
Showtimes: Oct. 7, Oct. 9

Why you should see it:
Shame is the much-anticipated second feature by British artist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen whose first film, Hunger, established him as a director to take seriously. It stars Michael Fassbender—deeply expressive even with little dialogue—as a sex-addicted New Yorker whose unstable sister, played by Carey Mulligan, moves in with him. The film captures the isolation of addiction, the desire for human connection, and the testing of boundaries between siblings. Shot on location in Manhattan, McQueen uses his now signature long tracking shots to present a convincing portrait of the lonely and dark corners of the city. Shame has gotten attention for scenes of explicit sex, but it is the actors’ complex and anguished performances outside of the bedroom that stay with you.

Track record:
Shame has played at the Telluride, Venice, and Toronto Film Festivals.

About the director:
Steve McQueen is a London-born artist and filmmaker. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1999. Much of his artwork is projections of short black-and-white silent films, often starring himself. He made his first feature film, Hunger, in 2008. Michael Fassbender, in his breakout role, plays Bobby Sands, leader of the 1981 hunger strike in Ireland. It premiered at Cannes, where it won the Camera d’Or. It features the longest unbroken shot in a feature film (17 minutes).

What the critics are saying:
"Riveting, spectacular, passionate cinema." —Andrew O'Hehir, Salon

“Fluid, rigorous, serious cinema—the best kind of adult movie." —Xan Brooks, the Guardian

"A powerful, beautifully acted sophomore film." —Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist (indieWIRE)

What the NYFF programmers say:
“Shame is the new film by Steve McQueen, who we had in the festival a few years ago with Hunger. McQueen is a major contemporary visual artist and this is his second feature film. As in Hunger, it stars Michael Fassbinder, kind of the star of this year’s festival. Fassbender plays a New Yorker who is a very, very accomplished professional but is also a sex addict and basically spends all the free time he can either servicing himself or having himself serviced by others. His world begins to come apart when his sister, played by Carey Mulligan, comes to live with him. In a way her insecurities and neuroses begin to make his own come out as well. It’s a very, very moving performance by Fassbinder, brilliantly filmed once again by Steve McQueen and it shows that Hunger wasn’t a fluke at all. This is a filmmaker for us to watch.” —Richard Peña, Program Director

http://collider.com/shame-review/110903/#more-110903

Friday, October 7, 2011
NYFF11 Movie Review: Shame
by Tony Dayoub


Shame is not simply the sex addiction drama it is being marketed as. More precisely it is a character study focusing on Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a lonely disconnected New Yorker moderately succeeding at imposing a controlled routine over his life despite an unusual neurosis. If Freud and Fassbender's other NYFF character, Jung, were to psychoanalyze Brandon and his equally detached sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), they'd find that, though each acts out in different ways, both are obviously reacting to a childhood in which they were exposed to sexual dysfunction. But director Steve McQueen (Hunger) wisely avoids diving into the murky waters of cinematic pathology, preferring instead for his audience to connect the various clues to Brandon and Sissy's background themselves. McQueen is more concerned with how that pathology plays out in the lives of his characters, relying heavily on Fassbender's talent for conveying the defeated torment of the introverted Brandon through what is largely a performance based on subtle gestures and inflection that the director catches by simply allowing his camera to get uncomfortably close and stay there as long as needed.


Shame begins by showing us Brandon's perverse routine: he wakes up early, masturbates in the shower, goes to work for his boorish boss, David (James Badge Dale), sneaks off to masturbate in the restroom, goes home, opens his laptop to masturbate some more to porn on his laptop, calls up an escort service, has sex with a prostitute, goes to bed, and repeats the following day. Into this carefully regulated environment comes Brandon's sister, the disruptive Sissy, a nightclub singer. His discovery of her in his shower plays out in a most disquieting way, with Sissy apparently completely comfortable in her nudity in front of her brother. Brandon doesn't seem immediately discomfited either, until the shock wears off and he offers her a towel, as if catching himself becoming aroused by her. Soon, Brandon overhears Sissy crying to what is presumably a boyfriend over the phone, hoping he'll take her back. She throws Brandon's tidy apartment into complete disarray. Later, she goes to bed with Brandon's boss. Suddenly, Brandon's predictability and cleanliness stand in sharp contrast to the slovenly mess that is Sissy.


Like the best of Paul Schrader's work, the sexually explicit Shame is best appreciated as a study in social alienation. As Sissy tells Brandon late in the film, "We're not bad people. We just come from a bad place." And just as Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro were able to make the oddball loner, Travis Bickle, sympathetic in the Schrader-scripted Taxi Driver, McQueen and Fassbender (who see each other as a duo much like their legendary predecessors) are able to elicit empathy for their sad, pathetic protagonist. When Brandon reaches out for romance to a co-worker, Marianne (Nicole Beharie), one hopes she can help him overcome his proclivities just as much as one fears what her reaction will be if she finds out about them. When David reprimands Brandon after their company's IT department find porn downloads and their attendant viruses in his hard drive, one wishes this might turn into an intervention of sorts. But such is the disconnectedness of the society depicted in Shame (appropriately, this impressionistic New York feels like another character here) that no one tries to get through to Brandon, mostly because of society's entrenched respect for privacy and free will. David, a serial cheater, acts like he doesn't want to know how the contraband got inside Brandon's computer. And the separated Marianne, tentative to dip her own toe in the waters of single-hood, thinks the best response to Brandon's inability to consummate their relationship is to back off.


Only Sissy, in her foolish, misguided intrusiveness, stands the remotest chance of getting through to Brandon. But then what? As Shame begins to wrap up, McQueen demonstrates how the siblings are both self-destructive, each in their own way. And their road to recovering from the unspoken events of their childhood is a long and perhaps inconclusive one. A flare-up between Brandon and Sissy, performed beautifully by Fassbender and Mulligan in one extended take, leads to a predictable plot contrivance late in the film. And that misstep almost — almost, but not quite — threatens to derail the carefully constructed film. But it works better if seen as an epilogue to the film's should-have-been ending, a bravura piece of non-linear parallel cutting depicting Brandon's catharsis as he lets himself go all out in one final debauched spree. Propositioning (to put it mildly) one woman in front of her boyfriend, getting into an altercation over the incident, moving on to an underground gay bar for an anonymous rendezvous before finishing up with an orgy at a brothel, the final image of that sequence is the one McQueen should have ended on; it's a close-up of Brandon as he violently thrusts in and out of a woman, his face contorted in ecstasy as it slowly gives way to joy, then sadness, and finally... shame.

Shame is playing at the 49th New York Film Festival tonight, at 6:00 pm, and Sunday, October 9th at 12:00 pm, at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, 1941 Broadway (at 65th Street), New York, NY 10023. For more ticket information go online here, or call (212) 721-6500

It opens in New York and Los Angeles December 2nd.

http://www.vevlynspen.com/2011/10/day-8-nyff-in-shame-unspeakable.html

Friday, October 7, 2011
Day 8 NYFF: In ‘Shame,’ an Unspeakable Addiction
The double entendres fly when Brandon (Michael Fassbender) and Marianne (Nichole Beharie) order dinner in "Shame." Photo from Fox Searchlight Pictures.

STEVE McQueen and Michael Fassbender are on trend to forming the sort director-actor collaboration shared by John Ford and John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant and more recently Tim Burton and Johnny Depp as well as Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz.

The duo’s first outing was 2008’s much-acclaimed and decorated “Hunger” about the 1981 Irish hunger strike lead by Irish Republican Army volunteer Bobby Sands. MF gave an electric, stunning performance as Sands. Incredibly, the film was his first major role and SMcQ’s directorial debut of a feature-length film.

Three years later, the two team up for another fine drama with a one-word title, “Shame.” It makes its U.S. debut today at the 49th New York Film Festival and is scheduled for a wider U.S. release on 2 Dec.

The shame of the title is Brandon’s (MF) sex addiction. The guy just can’t get enough. He has sex at least once a day and if he is not having it he is imagining it, masturbating between meetings in his nondescript corporate office or watching the huge supply stored on his home and office computers, as well as myriad mags stored in his kitchen cupboards.

Of course, this all sounds rather sordid and seedy. And it is. Those salivating at the thought of copious coupling in “Shame” will be disappointed, though. SMcQ wisely suggests a lot more than he shows, which is far more powerful. After all it is not a sex film, “Shame” is a film about a man’s whose sickness is addiction to sex, the more varied the better. The sex that is visible is not so graphic as to warrant an X rating. In fact, it is aloof whether shot in dreamlike sequences or with a long lense. It is appropriate considering that Brandon spends a fair amount of time fantasizing about sex and has no emotional connection to his partners or the sex he witnesses.

The lone instance when the camera hovers is during the love scene with a colleague to whom Brandon has an attraction. The night before he got rid of all of his smut, even his personal computer containing myriad bytes of it. He craves a chance at true intimacy. Determined to have normal sex with Marianne (Nicole Beharie), he spirits her from their office to a hotel room at The Standard Hotel and its breathtaking view of southern Manhattan. The camera is like a slow-moving probe, recording every move, sigh, divestiture of clothing. Is this going to be a long scene reminiscent of the one in “Hunger” between the priest and Bobby Sands? It is as uncomfortable for the viewer as it is for Brandon.

Outwardly Brandon is a handsome, well-adjusted, respectful Yuppie type – and he really is but for his shame. As Sissy (Carey Mulligan), Brandon’s equally troubled sister who may or may not be involved in an incestuous relationship with her sibling points out, “We’re not bad people, we just come from a bad place.”



It is not clear whether Sissy means Ireland where they were born or New Jersey where they grew up. Or whether it’s just their highly dysfunctional family. SMcQ doesn’t explain much. He said during a Q&A after a press screening of the film, “I wanted it to be familiar because everyone brings their own baggage to the film."

The director is British and his lead actor is German-Irish, yet “Shame” is set in New York. There is a simple explanation, “No one in London wanted to speak about it [sex addiction],” SMcQ said. In New York, the reaction was rather the opposite, making it a logical venue to shoot "Shame," which is laden with double entendres that add levity to the subject matter.

Through the prism of SMcQ’s lense, New York is a dark, dystopian, soulless place where people “live and work in the sky.” At night, they prowl like vampires in lowlit clubs and back alleys. Brandon is soulless, too, and full of longing and melancholy. He wants better but doesn’t know how to go about it. His quiet desperation is palpable and most obvious when Sissy is having sex with Brandon’s boss (James Badge Dale), only hours after meeting him. The noises coming from Brandon’s bedroom are tortuous. He seems to go through a range of emotions: rage, envy, desire, excitement, revulsion.

A scene from Kon Ichikawa’s "The Burmese Harp," which was nominated for an oscar for best foreign film. It is included in "Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial." Photo from 49th New York Film Festival.

It is another stellar performance by MF and it won him a best actor award at the 68th Venice Film Festival. (The actor also appears in “A Dangerous Method,” which also played Venice and debuted in New York on Wednesday, http://www.bit.ly/nInHX3).

Audiences who appreciated “Hunger” will probably embrace the psychological drama that is “Shame.” In the former film, the protagonist dies. In “Shame,” he also seems to die a sort of death. There is nothing shameful about that in the least.

Other screenings and events today at NYFF include “The Warped Ones,” “Crazed Fruit,” “Suzaki Paradise: Red Light, ” “The Burmese Group,” “Willem Dafoe at the Apple Store” and “The Kid With a Bike.”

Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2011/schedule to learn more about the 49th New York Film Festival: including schedule, repeat screenings, ticket and venue information.

Posted by VW at 10:10 AM

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/10/07/shame-michael-fassbender-taboo-movie?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000011

At NYFF: Is 'Shame' the Most Taboo Movie of the Year?
By Christopher Rosen (Subscribe to Christopher Rosen's posts)
Posted Oct 7th 2011 12:00PM
Filed under: Movie News
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Since its much-buzzed about debut at the Venice Film Festival in August, 'Shame' has become the source of much discussion among Oscar cognoscenti -- though not in the way you might think. After all, there is little debate about star Michael Fassbender's lead performance in the Steve McQueen-directed film about a sex-addicted New Yorker: he's towering, brilliant, heartbreaking and pretty much guaranteed to earn one of the five slots in this year's Best Actor derby. This despite playing a guy who may have had an incestuous relationship with his sister.

That's where the debate comes in: after its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, many critics left the film wondering if Brandon (Fassbender) had an inappropriate relationship with his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan). The pair have a complicated relationship: Brandon walks in on Sissy while she's showering; Sissy walks in on Brandon while he's pleasuring himself. This is to say nothing of a late-night tryst Sissy has with Brandon's boss that ends with her crawling into bed with her big brother looking for a hug. (The nudity from both Fassbender and Mulligan in 'Shame' is striking, which is part of the reason why it will likely earn an NC-17 rating before its Dec. 2 release by Fox Searchlight.) With facts like that, you'd be right to assume something was up -- and during a Q&A session after the film's press screening at the New York Film Festival, McQueen wouldn't exactly shoot down those suspicions.

"Obviously, they're of the opposite sex -- brother and sister. Obviously, the background has something to say about their relationship," said McQueen, who previously directed Fassbender in his breakout role in 'Hunger.' "It's one of those things that's in the air. When you see something going on but you can't really put your finger on it. It's like a wet piece of soup. It's constantly moving. You can smell but you can't taste it; you can taste it but you can't smell it. It's there but it's not there. That's how I wanted it to be -- to have that history. The history presents itself in the present in different guises. That's what I wanted here."



For his part, Fassbender understood that a tension needed to exist between Sissy and Brandon no matter what their past history.

"We sat down, the three of us, and discussed where these people are coming from, where they are in their lives, what's happened before," he said. "We discussed a lot [about their background]. We did a little bit of workshopping. Then I also didn't want to spend too much time with Carey as well because I wanted to keep that element of awkwardness. A certain element of tension and unsurity. I wanted to preserve that."

Before the conclusion of 'Shame,' Sissy tells Brandon that they aren't bad people, they just come from a "bad place." It's the most concrete statement in the film about its lead characters's shared history, and leaves the audience to draw its own conclusions.

"When people come to the cinema and sit down, they're bringing all their luggage, all their baggage all their history to the cinema and they're looking at people having conversations and projecting what possibly could have happened with Sissy and Brandon," McQueen said. "I wanted a situation that was familiar to each individual instead of a long yarn about what happened or what could have happened."

'Shame' arrives in limited release on Dec. 2. Check back to Moviefone for more from the New York Film Festival.

[Photo: Getty]

http://whatculture.com/film/nyff-2011-shame-review-a-brutal-emotionally-ravaging-look-at-sex-addiction.php

NYFF 2011 SHAME Review: A Brutal, Emotionally Ravaging Look At Sex Addiction

October 7, 2011 5:34 pm
Mark Zhuravsky
Film
no comments



Rating: ★★★★☆

Let’s get right to the point – Shame is one of the best films of the year. Steve McQueen’s follow-up to Hunger is a riveting picture that should permanently establish Michael Fassbender (the star of Hunger who left an impression on mainstream audiences last summer in X:Men: First Class) and Carey Mulligan (An Education, Never Let Me Go, and another of this year’s best, Drive) among the foremost talents of their generation. The two are actors who’ve earned accolades in the past but McQueen manages to draw performances deftly pitched between seething drama and quiet desperation, repressed fury and resigned hopelessness.

Fassbender plays Brandon, a handsome, successful man making a good living in modern-day New York. His tiny Manhattan apartment is a reflection of his inner self, compartmentalized and devoid of personality – Brandon is capable of charming politeness and little else. He’s also a sex addict, deep into the clutches of his addiction, which infiltrates every aspect of his life, from his regular sessions with prostitutes at home to his workplace computer, scoured by tech support after porn site viruses invade his hard drive. Fassbender makes this lifestyle work, coasting on good looks and clear confidence and intelligence – the money certainly helps facilitate regular sessions. When Mulligan’s carefree, damaged sister Sissy bursts into Brandon’s life and occupies the already stifling apartment, the disturbing relationship between the siblings acts a catalyst for Brandon’s habits giving way, leaving a man standing on the precipice to self-destruction while recovery may be on the horizon.

Like Hunger, McQueen’s second film is a showcase of the director’s considerable visual gifts – the framing is just so and the pace of the film is an exact rhythm that successfully mimics Brandon’s internal state. McQueen has a real passion for single takes and Shame features several outstanding sequences, including Brandon’s jog through mid-town Manhattan, a restaurant-set date that becomes high comedy thanks for an overly helpful waiter and an painfully intimate sex scene between Brandon and Marianne, a co-worker played by Nicole Beharie in a full-bodied (no pun intended) supporting role that illuminates an actress with great potential. An early scene of Mulligan crooning Sinatra’s immortal “New York, New York” is breathtaking.

Be prepared to read plenty of pundits like myself expounding on the strength of Fassbender’s performance, which could easily dominate the film but instead finds the actor finds a balance – his Brandon is neither a maniacal sex fiend or a reserved psycho, but a human being who struggles fitfully against a current, a need to fulfill himself time and time again. There are light hints at a past that may haunt Brandon and Sissy but nothing critical is revealed and we are left to ponder why and how he developed this addiction, which he tries honestly to beat midway through the film, dumping his porn reserves and clutching his head in desperation that morphs into reckless abandonment and a drive to exorcize some guilt he must feel eating away. It’s indicative of the film’s strength that despite ample, frequently graphic depictions of sex, it doesn’t leave a memorable impression on the viewer – after all, why should it when it seems to be mean so little to our lead?

There’s so much to say about Shame, and so many thoughts still running through this writer’s head, that this review seems almost perfunctory, running through the accomplishments of the film without digging deeper. Make no mistake about it, Shame is vibrant, exciting, deeply moving filmmaking, real cinema to get lost in and ponder for days afterwards. Fassbender leads an exemplary cast while McQueen and crew (accolades due to DP Sean Bobbitt and screenwriter Abi Morgan, among doubtless many other) create a lived-in world that captures my hometown’s divisive look and some of the lifestyles in this great city. It would be a shame (pun intended) to see this film passed over by prudish critics or award committees – it’s the real deal.



Shame begins a limited U.S. release on Dec 2nd, and opens a month later in the UK on Jan 13th, 2012.

http://newyork.metromix.com/movies/article/new-york-film-festival/2853408/content

New York Film Festival: The pain of pleasure in 'Shame'
In the racy and harrowing sex drama, Michael Fassbender lets it all hang out
By Alexis L. Loinaz
Metromix
October 7, 2011

New York Film Festival: The pain of pleasure in 'Shame'
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CHECK OUT OUR FULL COVERAGE OF THE NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL >

"I went out and had a lot of sex and embraced it as best as I could," jokes Michael Fassbender. The white-hot Irish-German actor is answering an awkward question during a post-screening discussion of his scathing new film, "Shame," at the New York Film Festival, where it'll debut this weekend. The question, about how he prepped for the movie, is certainly awkward, but it's legit: The movie is about sex addiction. And he plays the sex addict.

The audience lets out a nervous laugh—Fassbender's answer is a welcome ice breaker. No doubt, "Shame" is the kind of movie that makes you uneasy. Very, very uneasy.

In it, Fassbender plays a diabolically attractive Manhattanite whose voracious sex addiction seizes control his life. When he's not seducing women in subway cars, he's wanking off at work, surfing porn online or banging hookers. His horndog status quo is abruptly upended when his sister, an unstable torch singer played by Carey Mulligan, suddenly crashes his apartment and stays with him. As his raging appetites consume him, he sinks deeper and deeper into a destructive orgy of compulsion that further feeds itself.

Fassbender is riding a cresting wave of buzz that began with his astonishing performance as a real-life hunger-strike victim in 2008's "Hunger," spiked a year later with his dashing turn as a smooth-talking wartime spy in "Inglorious Basterds," and hit the mainstream this past summer with his role as Magneto in "X-Men: First Class." He's also got another movie coming out this fall—"A Dangerous Method," in which he plays Carl Jung—that also happens to be screening at the New York Film Festival.

"Shame," which has been greasing up the film-festival circuit from Venice to Toronto, reunites him with his "Hunger" director, celebrated visual artist Steve McQueen. The result is a harrowing portrait of unflinching sexual and emotional bluntness. A bristling (and oft-naked) Fassbender cuts to the chilly, desolate core of a man incapable of intimacy, constantly plumbing the depths of his depravity in an effort to mine feigned human connectivity. McQueen is equally unsparing, deploying a sexual frankness that makes you wince. This film does not titillate; it sickens.

"I didn't want to come to New York to make a film—that was never my desire," admits McQueen, who also took the stage with Fassbender at the New York fest. "The desire was to make a film about this subject matter and start in London, but guess what? No one wanted to talk to us. It was very difficult. So I asked to speak to specialists in the field, who happened to be in New York. And from there, the snowball began: OK, New York, let's go there."

Ever the visual stylist, McQueen sets up his images in purposeful tableaus of cold, melancholy beauty: stark apartments, midnight streets, empty subways. Even chipper songs get the downtrodden treatment. In one scene, Mulligan's character sings a stripped-down and aching version of "New York, New York" that zeroes in on the film's insatiable longing.

Mulligan herself is a revelation here. Raw, gripping and unhinged, she scruffs up her characteristically delicate polish and morphs into a tragic creature looking to make her own elusive connection.

"This film is all about tenderness, to communicate in an emotional way," says McQueen. "It's just about human contact, where you could feel real, feel alive."

And yet it's also an unnerving tale of what happens when the pendulum swings far the other direction. With feverish intensity and foreboding, "Shame" shows us a hellhole where unbridled, compulsive pleasure becomes its own form of pain.

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/news/2011/10/cock-of-the-walk-the-new-york-film-festival-part-three/

COCK OF THE WALK: THE NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL (PART THREE)
By Howard Feinstein in News
on Friday, October 7th, 2011

Three films, three male protagonists, all of whom fall for extended periods of time from their elevated perches. In this, the final installment of my coverage of the 49th edition of the New York Film Festival, we see how their descents are manifest in the newest works of three proven talents — okay, all of them men: British director Steve McQueen, the American Alexander Payne, and Frenchman Michel Hazanavicius.


Michael Fassbender’s sexually obsessed Brandon, a seemingly calm, self-contained Manhattan business exec who keeps his personal life to himself in McQueen’s Shame (pictured above), would have been a much more challenging, certainly less demonstrative patient for Fassbender’s starchy psychoanalyst Carl Jung in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method than Keira Knightley’s over-the-top sexual hysteric Sabina Spielrein. Brandon is as compulsive as they come: he cruises the subway with every ride, hires prostitutes, watches porn continuously on the internet, masturbates at breakneck speed in his home and in the men’s room at his office. Emotional connection or any type of continuity is out of the question. Spielrein, a virgin when the Cronenberg film begins, wears her repression like open sores on every part of her body, while Brandon’s is so deeply-rooted, on top of his being such a solitary creature, that only a specialized shrink might help him regurgitate his past and uncover the depths of his problem.

In Shame, messy sister Sissy (a wonderful Carey Mulligan) takes on that function. An aspiring singer, she arrives unexpectedly — and unwanted‚ at Brandon’s expensive but austere high-rise apartment (he is a neat freak, and there is nothing on the walls). We notice something disturbing when they first see each other: they are both fully naked. (Brandon is totally undressed even in the first scene, and in fact is frequently without clothes, as was Fassbender in Hunger; one of McQueen’s shorts featured two nude men. I think he finds the male torso of tremendous aesthetic interest.)

The siblings exchange roles. He is unable to maintain his sexual habits with her crashing on his couch, yet she, whose sexual history we do not know, is at ease picking up her brother’s boss and best friend, Dave (James Badge Dale), and taking him to the apartment for a highly audible tumble. For the first time, Brandon loses his cool, moving about frantically, then rushing out for a middle-of-the-night jog.

He comes close to breaking through to a communicative relationship with a lovely office colleague, but when they finally start to consummate, he is unable to perform. Something besides his worldview through a sexual filter has caught up with him, and that something is Sissy. “We’re not bad people, we just come from a bad place,” she says at one point. Clearly something incestuous in their pasts he has bottled up so tightly has determined his priorities of thought and actions during his young life.

McQueen has worked in several media, and the eyes of an artist are here in spades, more than in the fine Hunger (another collaboration with Fassbender), his first feature. Shame may be mostly a two-hander, but abstractions of color, as if through a prism, add density to scenes in his apartment, for example. The views are not of conventionally blue skies and sleek and new or old and charming skyscrapers but of grayness and isolated industrial structures that bear the signature of an artist creating his own reality (one that mirrors the void inside his protagonist’s mind). Yet he is on top of things as a film director, the mise-en-scene and editing rhythms just right for the story.

Fassbender’s few breakdown eruptions perfectly balance the more frequent seductive close-ups of his toothy smile. What distinguishes him from his contemporaries, though, is his uncanny ability to convey a ton of information with just a look. When Dave makes a fool of himself trying to pick up a girl in a bar, Brandon stares at the two with an intense iciness that reveals what he is thinking: He would easily betray his closest (and possibly only) friend (and he will), and he could (and does) easily score with the young woman. After his failure at creating some sort of rapport with a warm office mate, he gazes into the camera while engaged in coitus with a woman he has just met, his frenzied eyes revealing how shaken his equilibrium and relationship to his own sexuality have become.

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2011/10/07/review-shame/

Review | Shame
Friday, October 7th, 2011 at 2:45pm

by Katie Calautti

By now, you’ve heard that director Steve McQueen’s sophomore effort Shame, screening at the 49th New York Film Festival, features Full Frontal Fassbender. Let’s just get this over with: The rumors are true, but the context is misleading. Shame is anything but a Michael Fassbender swoon-fest (although the man is admittedly easy on the eyes). It features plenty of sexual gratuity, for sure, but the visuals come with a price: the incredibly affecting, devastating journey into the psyche of a sex addict.

Fassbender is Brandon, a single professional living alone in New York City whose private urges play out in myriad ways. Prostitutes, porn, public masturbation. Alarmingly, and much to Fassbender’s credit, he never comes off as predatory or creepy. Troubled and charismatic, he’s acting out of compulsion, and his co-conspirators are all willing to aid him. He’s forced to account for his actions when his sister Sissy (the divine Carey Mulligan) shows up and crashes at his place, which is when the film evolves into a fascinating character study not only of sexual depravity, but of sibling relations. And McQueen, as a Londoner, magnificently captures New York City in a cold, anonymous context without sacrificing authenticity or delving into seedy territory.

What’s intriguing about Shame is that McQueen has chosen to contextualize sexual addiction in the way we’ve previously only seen drug addiction. It’s shocking at first, this greeting of the subject with such frankness, yet the dissection becomes almost clinical. At a point, you begin to look beyond the nudity and lurid acts and see the person, blurring in and out of focus, behind it all.

Speaking of focus, McQueen’s vision is unyielding. Many of the long takes, often played out to create discomfort, are reminiscent of Blue Valentine. The film refuses to look away, knowing full well that its audience begs it to. Brandon’s descent is peppered with images of his reflection, growing more warped as the narrative gains momentum. In fact, Sissy’s introduction to us — naked, stepping out of Brandon’s shower — is through a reflection in his bathroom mirror. The metaphor is pretty clear, signifying the distance between the siblings, their emotional disassociation. But that’s what’s so wonderful about McQueen’s style: It’s all right there for you, and it creates a back story without the need for dialogue.

There’s been talk of the sibling relationship in the film, that there’s an incestuous undertone involved. I didn’t see it; when you grow up with a sibling, the boundaries of privacy are blurred. What resonated more was the unspoken history between them — a shared pain, something that deeply scarred them both. As with any trauma, those who experience it either grow together or drift apart. Sissy went the way of the extrovert, the filterless dramatic; Brandon internalized, isolated himself and became lost in his addiction. The friction between the two seems born more of Sissy’s attempts to wrench emotion and connection from Brandon.

To me, a point was also raised regarding the perceived emotional, versus the physical, disconnect in men. Brandon is a person who cannot function on an emotional level — to get through the day is to create checkpoints of release for his compulsion. A laptop playing porn in his kitchen; masturbating in his office bathroom; dipping into a bar for post-work drinks then taking a woman home. Beyond his physical demands, his insurmountable struggle is born from a yearning to instill emotion into his acts. His unraveling is truly moving stuff, but I have to wonder: Would this point have been as effective, or perhaps, more effective, if the lead were played by a woman?

However you choose to interpret it, Shame is one of those rare films that affords every viewer a valid takeaway. The mulling of its players and themes will roil within you, an urge you can’t suppress.

http://www.shockya.com/news/2011/10/07/nyff-2011-movie-review-shame/

NYFF 2011 Movie Review: Shame

Title: Shame

Director: Steve McQueen

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Cary Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Hannah Ware, Elizabeth Masucci, Lucy Walters and Nicole Beharie

In Steve McQueen’s 2008 film, “Hunger”, also starring Michael Fassbender, McQueen took a “fly-on-the-wall” approach to the Irish Republic Army prison hunger strike of 1981 and the martyrdom of their leader, Bobby Sands. Although stylized with graphic violence and slow motion sequences, its view of Bobby Sands was always held far away. This is shown in the film’s most iconic scenes between Bobby Sands and his priest (Liam Cunningham), which last for a riveting eight minutes in one take. McQueen hints at that style in his new film, “Shame” but marries the technique with a more character driven narrative.

“Shame” follows the life of Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a high powered ad executive from New York City and examines his addiction to sex. His life is interrupted by his estranged sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), who has no place to live so stays with him. The premise of “Shame” is quite simple but the methodology and examination of sex addicts is not. At the beginning of the film, McQueen uses that “fly-on-the-wall” approach to great effect. We truly get an idea of the mind set of Brandon from the opening frame to the last. His decisions don’t seem foreign to us because we are along for the ride. His reactions are our reactions. Smartly, McQueen lets the opening scene and sequence linger from room to room, brilliantly cutting between Brandon’s private home life, his work life and his interactions with people (mostly women) in casual, everyday settings like taking a subway or walking home from a bar. The collaboration between McQueen and Fassbender is impressive. We get a good sense of two artists at the top of their game in this film.

When Sissy comes into the picture, the film shifts into something more dark. A film dealing with sex is naturally arousing and tantalizing but “Shame” takes it to a place that isn’t necessarily violent but to a place that is sad and off putting. The relationship between Brandon and Sissy is somewhat vague. They deal with each other like former lovers; playful, familiar and once intimate but on the other hand, you could say that they’re acting like very close siblings. There is a love there between them but the film is ambiguous enough never to out right say, but it feels incestuous. This creates more problems, not in terms of narrative but in relation to character. Sissy’s life is a mess yet Brandon’s (on the outside) is more responsible, but when his addiction gets in the way of their relationship, McQueen’s camera captures it all.

There is a lot of sex in “Shame” but it never feels uncomfortable or gratuitous, it feels necessary to the exploration McQueen and Fassbender are searching for. It makes a firm stance suggesting that there’s a difference between sex and intimacy and never lets that notion go during the whole film. In a pivotal scene between Brandon and his would-be new girlfriend Marianne (Nicole Beharie) intimacy is hard to come by. This is an important turning point in the film, this is the first time we see Brandon’s vulnerability, not only physically but emotionally as well. From this point on Brandon tries to capture back that vulnerability even if it means having sex with as many people as he can. To this point, this action is in conflict to Sissy’s safety, which Brandon is forced to choose.

McQueen’s second film is very strong and more accessible than his first. The idea of exploring sex addiction may be arousing to most, but beware, McQueen takes that idea and examines it to its darkest depths. “Shame” is a quiet triumph for everyone involved and should bring more attention to McQueen and Fassbender, respectfully. There work together is invaluable and exciting. The way Fassbender’s charm and pathos are interlocked is one to consider and McQueen seems to know how to get that performance out of him, while at the same time captures it. This one is worth watching and will leave you hungry for more.

“Shame” is screening as part of the 49th New York Film Festival on Oct 7th and Oct 9th.

Technical: B+

Acting: A-

Story: B+

Overall: B

by @Rudie_Obias

http://consistentcontradiction.tumblr.com/post/11201815855/shame-review

constant traveler
About Ask Archive
Shame Review.

Okay guys, I’m not going to go into my whole day/night at NYFF because I would be rambling forever, but basically, Fassy is more gorgeous in person, I talked to him for two seconds and he’s really nice (and his EYES- gah!), the entire experience of being at a premiere was incredible, Fassy is way shorter in person than you’d think, and the movie was one of the greatest I’ve ever seen in my life.

This [very long] review might contain spoilers, so please be forewarned.

To begin, I just want to say that my absolute favorite moment of the film happened in the first 20 seconds. Seriously. It sets the stage for the perspective you’re supposed to view the film with, and it gives you a small insight into what to make of yourself as a viewer in relationship with Brandon. All in 20 seconds or so. Can you tell I love this film?

The relationship between Brandon and Cissy is left completely undeveloped, other than Brandon doesn’t answer her calls. I personally like that. If you aren’t a fan of films consisting of nearly all character depiction and development instead of plot, I don’t think you’ll like this film (unless you’re just watching for Fassy, I guess?).

The film was essentially a pressure cooker. Two people thrown into a situation together that neither particularly wants, and everything just spirals downward for both of them. The thing you learn during the course of the movie is that they are both struggling with very serious things, but in different ways. Cissy clings to men or other people, and she has become very dependent on everyone else, whereas Brandon has isolated himself into a little bubble of sex and masturbation with almost no real personal contact. It’s a very interesting dynamic between the two of them, and it plays out in a really excellent way.

The ambiguity of the film is honestly one of my favorite things about it. Almost nothing is directly told to the viewer- Michael has said in a lot of interviews that audiences sometimes do still want to be challenged, and this film definitely FORCES you to interpret it, it challenges the viewer to think.

Michael’s portrayal of Brandon… I can’t even describe it. It really is incredible. He does so much with just his eyes and his face. I have always thought that he possesses a remarkably chameleon-like talent to transform himself into a character, and he did NOT disappoint. It broke my heart so much.

Carey did a very good job. Her singing was fabulous in the “New York, New York,” song, and that’s the only real scene of intimacy between the siblings in the entire film. I have a lot of trouble comparing her with Fassy in this film in terms of acting, because it’s hard for me to separate her from her characters, whereas with Fassy I have no trouble doing that.

The one thing that did bother me was the fact that Cissy never attempts to talk to Brandon about his addiction. I’m fairly certain she figures it out, and she says one line to him about it during an argument, but I wish her views on it had been portrayed a little more (though I know the movie centers on Brandon).

As a few other reviewers have said, this movie was NOT as bad in terms of the nudity, sex, etc, as the press have said. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the three-way scene, I personally think the only buzz this movie would get in terms of nudity would be someone saying “I can’t believe there’s a penis.” The other scenes are moderately tame. The three-way scene is a part of the climax of the film. Things have gone very, very bad for Brandon, and this is his last refuge of what he considers to be his only outlet. It is very graphic, not like porn graphic, but very graphic. A few frames had me very disturbed, and I am not a prude in regards to things like that at all. It serves its purpose though, it really does.

I know the idea of the incestuous relationship has been tossed around, but Steve didn’t comment on it for a reason, so all I’m going to say is that I think Brandon is scared by the fact he has feelings for a female who he can’t f&#!, even if they aren’t romantic/sexual feelings. He has no concept of human intimacy or emotional attachment, familial or otherwise, and I think he realizes he might care about his sister and it scares him. Granted, I have a few other interpretations as well, but this is the one I’m going to talk about here.

All I am going to say in regards to the cinematography is that it is f#%@#&! breathtaking.

Some people have claimed the ending was a dream in which Cissy actually dies and Brandon dreams that he saves her. I’m waiting to see the film again until I approach this question, but IT IS BUGGING ME SO MUCH THAT IT’S POSSIBLE. The ending also leaves you with an Inception-esque feeling, which I love. I personally believe in Brandon, and I believe he didn’t get off at that stop (if you’ve seen it, you’ll hopefully know what I mean).

So, essentially, this film is incredible. It makes you think, it disturbs you, it rips you out of your comfort zone, it gives you a sense of hope for the human condition and of compassion for people in situations you don’t understand, and it’s an absolutely brilliant character study.
✈ tags: Carey Mulligan Michael Fassbender film new york film festival nyff nyff 2011 shame steve mcqueen shame review film review
This item was posted on Saturday, October 8th, 2011 with 2 notes

http://www.moveablefest.com/moveable_fest/2011/10/shame-steve-mcqueen-michael-fassbender-review.html

10/08/2011
NYFF '11 Review: No "Shame" in This Engrossing Fassbender-McQueen Study of Sex Addiction

"Brandon, where are you," whispers his sister Sissy, a few gasps past rapid-fire pleas to pick up his phone that hit the ears like bullets. She actually knows where he lives, breaking through to him in the only way she can by literally sneaking into his apartment while he's at work, but at the crux of “Shame,” the latest film from "Hunger" director Steve McQueen, is that they both have no idea of where he is.

Floating in a New York that's confined by the glass of his high-rise apartment and similarly austere office by day and in the bowels of dimly lit clubs by night, Brandon listens to Sissy's voicemails in the sliver of morning in between as he makes a circular beeline from his bedroom to his bathroom, the only place he lays himself bare outside of sex. While everything in his life is temporary - the cabs, the housing, the women - the routine has become permanent. This has bred a contempt for Sissy, who's flighty, responsible for nothing and passionate about everything (she exclaims at his eggs, “Sooo good!”), but it's also led to a greater dependency on the only intercourse he's able to have where he feels something.
ShameFassbenderBeharie By now, the promise of Fassbender and Mulligan in their birthday suits have probably raised expectations around "Shame" that the film couldn’t possibly reach entirely, not for an absence of the provocative, but because what’s truly stark here is McQueen’s portrait of sexual addiction. Given the attractiveness of Fassbender, “Shame” could’ve glorified Brandon’s hedonism and McQueen doesn’t ignore his star’s looks or charm - Brandon needn’t say a word as he watches his boss (James Badge Dale) clumsily attempt to pick up women who’ll later come back to pick up him. However, that ease is ultimately crippling to Brandon since it’s not the easy score he’s after, but either the quick fix of porn or a challenge of a partner he can’t have for some reason or another, as if he’s built a tolerance for a drug and needs one more powerful.

The film’s two most riveting sequences involve these white whales for Brandon, the first being a woman he spies sitting across from him on a subway who is clearly returning his advances only to reveal a wedding band around her finger before getting lost in the sea of people at the station. And then there is a comely new co-worker (Nicole Beharie) who also doesn’t hide her interest from him, but after a date in which he’s forced to be personable, Brandon’s blunt dismissal of marriage and relationships in general rubs the recently separated woman the wrong way, making her even more alluring to him.

Fassbender doesn’t play Brandon as a predator or as a lost soul who feels justified in his empty conquests because he can’t find love elsewhere. Though the film hints at a tortured past that he and his sister only allude to in cryptic terms, Brandon is simply numb, blocking out family and friends in the way addicts do and the pain only emerging when their most recent hit wears off. It’s a slightly disjointed part because of the character’s wild mood swings, but Fassbender papers over it with an engrossing performance, always at the edge of exploding while Brandon suppresses his true self. Mulligan matches him note for note as Sissy, fragile where her brother is steely, and although the two don’t share much besides a self-destructive streak, their mutual freefall is shattering.

However, the fallout is about the only fragments “Shame” leaves in its wake, the film as determined and precise as McQueen’s “Hunger,” yet in some ways even smaller without the backdrop of history to enshrine it. That’s not to mistake it with a greater intimacy, which is purposefully removed from the director’s perspective as it is from Brandon’s, the camera often still and at a distance. But as “Shame” spirals inward to the core of Brandon’s demons, it’s an enveloping experience nearly as unshakable as addiction itself.

"Shame" will be distributed by Fox Searchlight in the U.S. on December 2nd. It will play once more at the New York Film Festival on October 9th.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2011/10/new-york-film-festival-2011-shame/

New York Film Festival 2011: Shame
by Jonathan Pacheco on October 9th, 2011 at 3:15 pm in Film

Shame

In the opening sequence of Shame, director Steve McQueen sets out to immediately establish the two sides of Brandon's (Michael Fassbender) sexual addiction: the clinical side, expressed through crotch-level shots of Brandon nakedly strutting around his sterile apartment routinely opening the blinds and checking his voicemail, and the potentially hazardous side, conveyed in an exchange of disturbingly long, lustful gazes between the sex addict and a flattered married woman on the New York City subway. Despite being visibly pleased between her thighs, the weight of her wedding ring eventually guilts the young lady into ceasing her nonverbal flirtation and bolting at the next stop, with Brandon giving chase until the woman disappears in the throng of people. The scene would be unbearably silly in its attempt to communicate Brandon's unbridled sexuality if not for Fassbender's nearly imperceptible yet remarkably emotive fluctuations in demeanor. Without resorting to overt facial expressions or body language, Fassbender astutely and subtly exudes Brandon's thought progression and conflict of emotions. The actor's performance singlehandedly saves Shame from complete flaccidity.

Fassbender intimates subtexts about Brandon that McQueen seems unable to convey, adding an element of unpredictability to the character that heightens many scenes with potential danger. When Brandon's freeloading sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), crashes at his place, we sense a possibly incestuous past between the two, not simply because he has a conversation with her as she stands naked in the shower, but because he tenses up when she touches him and he uses the same unflinching gaze with her that he uses to seduce other women. As he berates her for her careless lifestyle, he stares into her face while forcefully holding it only inches away from his own, creating an unnerving simultaneous threat of violence and sexual action.

Rather than matching Fassbender's level of subtlety, the awkward and miscast Mulligan, in an attempt to convince us of her character's extroversion, opts for a mostly exaggerated and forced performance, armed with a go-to technique of talking loudly. She conveys neither Sissy's uninhibited sexiness nor her vulnerabilities, most painfully evident when she sings an astonishingly slow rendition of "New York, New York" at a swanky restaurant. Her crooning impresses her audience and moves her brother to tears, but Mulligan's attempts at exposing some deeper fragility beneath her character's sensuality fall flat, worsened by McQueen's decision to shoot the song as a long close-up of Sissy's face, shining a bright spotlight on the performance's shortcomings.

Considering the film's title, it's indefensible how little McQueen actually attempts to explore any of his characters' shame, content with contriving situations that saddle them with guilt and leaving it at that. Brandon's climactic sexual binge, nearly operatic in presentation and consequence, exists solely to punish the character rather than to understand him. As Shame ends, he and his addiction remain as generic as his high-rise office job—this despite the best efforts of Fassbender, who can only do so much while shooting with blank cartridges.

The 49th New York Film festival runs from September 30 to October 16. For a complete schedule, including ticketing information, click here.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/10/3677453/shame-being-sex-addicted-bachelor-new-york-gets-old

'Shame': Being a sex-addicted bachelor in New York gets old
shame-being-sex-addicted-bachelor-new-york-gets-old

Fassbender and Mulligan in Shame.

By Sheila OMalley

2:05 pm Oct. 9, 2011

"We're not bad people, we just come from a bad place," says Sissy (Carey Mulligan) to her brother Brandon (Michael Fassbender).

That "bad place" is never made explicit in Steve McQueen's latest feature, Shame, which details the numbing routine of a sex-addicted bachelor in Manhattan, but the results are clear in the self-destructive behavior of these two siblings. There's a lot of graphic sex in Shame, which may attract most of the attention from audiences and critics, but the feeling of survived trauma pulses beneath the film like unacknowledged radio static. McQueen is not interested in why Sissy and Brandon are the way they are; he wants to examine how trauma and addiction actually play out in the everyday lives of those afflicted. There is a lot of repetition in Shame, showing Brandon's narcotized-by-sex routine.

McQueen's camera is sometimes restless, sometimes stationary, always specific. He is a visual artist of the highest order, melding content to form in every shot. No shot is static, no space is unexplored for its interesting visual properties, and every time the camera cuts it means something. He often plays out scenes in one long take, which gives the event onscreen an almost uncomfortable sense of immediacy. Brandon goes out for a restless jog one night where he runs across five New York avenues, and the camera follows along with him the entire way. McQueen's shots themselves have tension in them, which makes sense, since McQueen started out (and still is) an artist, photographer and sculptor. He understands the relationship between objects and space.

This is the second collaboration for McQueen and Fassbender, the first one being 2008's Hunger, the harrowing film detailing the 1981 hunger strikes in Ireland, in which a literally starving Fassbender plays the first hunger striker to die, Bobby Sands. It was a standout performance and certainly got Fassbender the attention he required at that juncture in his career.

In Shame, he looks eerily like Ted Bundy, clean-cut, handsome, remote, with an elegant scarf around his neck. He lives in a high-rise apartment which isn't too palatial: living room, kitchen, bedroom. It's not one of those alienating unrealistic New York apartments so often seen in movies. He has a record player, lots of vinyl, a bookshelf (I noticed Don DeLillo's Underworld on the shelves, a perfect choice), but other than that it's pretty sparse in terms of decoration and furnishings.

We see his routine. He goes to work, he usually takes mid-morning masturbation breaks in the men's room, he comes home, he loses himself in Internet porn, he hires prostitutes to come over, or sometimes he actually goes out and circulates, finding girls who are willing to get to business immediately. He is successful in his sexual pursuits, in direct contrast to his more sloppy married boss, David (James Badge Dale). Throughout the opening sequence of the film, there are increasingly annoyed messages on his answering machine from the same woman: "Brandon, pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up."

This turns out not to be from a scorned lover, but from his sister Sissy, an aspiring singer who needs a place to crash. He ignores her. When she shows up in his apartment unexpectedly, he allows her to stay for a couple of days. Their relationship is twitchy and awkward, with Sissy insisting on a closeness that Brandon seems incapable of, from all we have so far seen of him. But there's something about siblings. Siblings knew you back when and it is impossible to hide from them, which is both an annoying and a beautiful part of such a bond. Brandon's defenses do lower with Sissy, and she brings his awareness of his intimacy-pathology roaring to the forefront of his consciousness.

This all may seem a bit contrived, and there are moments when Shame is just that, but the script is excellent in telling us only what we need to know and letting the audience fill in the blanks. Sissy climbs into bed with Brandon in the middle of the night. She is cold. She curls up against her brother's back. He asks her to leave. She refuses. He explodes at her and she runs away in fear. The scene is disturbing and potent, and remains undeveloped, unexplained. Telling too much would be to derail Shame.

Brandon and his boss go to see Sissy sing in a swank nightclub with a panorama of the New York skyline in the background. It is unclear how Sissy, who is obviously a mess, would get such a high-end gig, but Shame is not, I don't think, meant to be realistic. It is a dark dream of a New York seen through the eyes of two damaged transplants (the siblings were born in Ireland and then the family moved to New Jersey). It is fitting, then, that Sissy would do a slow elegiac version of "New York, New York" for her number at the nightclub, and for the majority of the song, which she sings in a quavering earnest voice, McQueen's camera stays on her in deep closeup. He does not pull away, until he finally does, to an alternating closeup of Brandon listening to her sing.

As the camera lingers on Fassbender, you can see a transformation start to come over his face, tears welling up in his eyes and overflowing. Nothing we have seen of him up until now could prepare us for this. After the song, it is as though none of it ever happened. Brandon coolly tells Sissy that her performance was "interesting." Brandon's boss David is far more complimentary and Sissy ends up f#%@#&! David that night, in Brandon's bed, as Brandon sits out in the living room, listening, curled up against the wall in an agony of repressed feeling.

It is because of these moments that we feel intense empathy for Brandon, whose behavior is mostly monstrous. But let's not forget the title of the movie. Brandon never speaks out his shame, but you can see it in his dealings with his boss, who had to replace Brandon's computer at work because it was "filthy" with viruses from porn ("I mean, creampies, Brandon? I don't even know what that IS"), and with the flirtation he has going on with a pretty coworker, played by Nicole Beharie. (She is definitely someone to watch.) Brandon and Marianne go out on a date, and the entire date plays out in one take. It is uncomfortable to watch. Brandon has no idea how to be on a date. He tries and he fails.

McQueen is already notorious for his love of long takes, and Hunger included a 17-minute take showing a conversation between Bobby Sands and his priest in Long Kesh prison. A 17-minute take is nearly unheard of, and the date scene in Shame is nearly as long.

Sissy's invasion of Brandon's space, as well as the flirtation with Marianne, starts to crack Brandon's facade. He throws out all his porn in a frenzy. He tries to make love to Marianne and then, horrifyingly for him, he can't. He speaks to no one about any of this. Although he is a libertine himself, he is disturbed by Sissy's similar tendencies, and actually feels the need to protect her. In yet another long-take scene, the two have an eye-to-eye confrontation, with a volcano of unexpressed history beneath it.

The damage is perhaps irreparable.

Fassbender is charming, pained, deadened and suddenly tender in Shame. It would be easy to judge Brandon. We don't. We're just glad we're not him. Carey Mulligan turns in a funny, sad, and vulnerable performance, and she has moments of behavior with her brother that reminds me that when she is with him she is really only about 10 years old.

We never learn what "bad place" these two came from. We don't need to.

Shame has its silly elements, but the strong performances and Steve McQueen's meticulous and intuitive direction makes this one of the highlights of the New York Film Festival.

http://newyork.metromix.com/movies/article/new-york-film-festival/2853408/content

New York Film Festival: The pain of pleasure in 'Shame'
In the racy and harrowing sex drama, Michael Fassbender lets it all hang out
By Alexis L. Loinaz
Metromix
October 7, 2011

New York Film Festival: The pain of pleasure in 'Shame'
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"I went out and had a lot of sex and embraced it as best as I could," jokes Michael Fassbender. The white-hot Irish-German actor is answering an awkward question during a post-screening discussion of his scathing new film, "Shame," at the New York Film Festival, where it'll debut this weekend. The question, about how he prepped for the movie, is certainly awkward, but it's legit: The movie is about sex addiction. And he plays the sex addict.

The audience lets out a nervous laugh—Fassbender's answer is a welcome ice breaker. No doubt, "Shame" is the kind of movie that makes you uneasy. Very, very uneasy.

In it, Fassbender plays a diabolically attractive Manhattanite whose voracious sex addiction seizes control his life. When he's not seducing women in subway cars, he's wanking off at work, surfing porn online or banging hookers. His horndog status quo is abruptly upended when his sister, an unstable torch singer played by Carey Mulligan, suddenly crashes his apartment and stays with him. As his raging appetites consume him, he sinks deeper and deeper into a destructive orgy of compulsion that further feeds itself.

Fassbender is riding a cresting wave of buzz that began with his astonishing performance as a real-life hunger-strike victim in 2008's "Hunger," spiked a year later with his dashing turn as a smooth-talking wartime spy in "Inglorious Basterds," and hit the mainstream this past summer with his role as Magneto in "X-Men: First Class." He's also got another movie coming out this fall—"A Dangerous Method," in which he plays Carl Jung—that also happens to be screening at the New York Film Festival.

"Shame," which has been greasing up the film-festival circuit from Venice to Toronto, reunites him with his "Hunger" director, celebrated visual artist Steve McQueen. The result is a harrowing portrait of unflinching sexual and emotional bluntness. A bristling (and oft-naked) Fassbender cuts to the chilly, desolate core of a man incapable of intimacy, constantly plumbing the depths of his depravity in an effort to mine feigned human connectivity. McQueen is equally unsparing, deploying a sexual frankness that makes you wince. This film does not titillate; it sickens.

"I didn't want to come to New York to make a film—that was never my desire," admits McQueen, who also took the stage with Fassbender at the New York fest. "The desire was to make a film about this subject matter and start in London, but guess what? No one wanted to talk to us. It was very difficult. So I asked to speak to specialists in the field, who happened to be in New York. And from there, the snowball began: OK, New York, let's go there."

Ever the visual stylist, McQueen sets up his images in purposeful tableaus of cold, melancholy beauty: stark apartments, midnight streets, empty subways. Even chipper songs get the downtrodden treatment. In one scene, Mulligan's character sings a stripped-down and aching version of "New York, New York" that zeroes in on the film's insatiable longing.

Mulligan herself is a revelation here. Raw, gripping and unhinged, she scruffs up her characteristically delicate polish and morphs into a tragic creature looking to make her own elusive connection.

"This film is all about tenderness, to communicate in an emotional way," says McQueen. "It's just about human contact, where you could feel real, feel alive."

And yet it's also an unnerving tale of what happens when the pendulum swings far the other direction. With feverish intensity and foreboding, "Shame" shows us a hellhole where unbridled, compulsive pleasure becomes its own form of pain.

http://fassbender-mcavoyobsessed.tumblr.com/post/11250612460/shame-review

October 09, 2011

Sadly Michael and Director McQueen were not there, due to other obligations. So I didn’t get to ask my really good question, that took me a week to formulate, but I still enjoyed the movie. It was quite intense.

Steve McQueen has a knack for depicting difficult subject matter in a way that makes you feel like you’re experiencing it with the character and it’s not some voyeuristic experience.

Below here thar be spoilers! Ye be fair warned!

At first I was seriously creeped out by Brandon, because there was something extremely predatory about him, but by the end I just wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be ok. He truly is a broken man by the end of the movie.

I could easily see Brandon being a serial killer or stepping off a subway platform; but more likely a serial killer, since Brandon was way too much of a coward to take the easy way out. He has a desperate neediness the entire film and he tries to fill the void inside him with sex. I think that’s why he couldn’t perform with Marianne. She wanted tenderness and he had no idea how to deal with her falling for him or how to give her that.

And Sissy, that poor girl was seriously screwed up. I know some people have said that their relationship was vaguely incestuous, but I didn’t see it like that. To me it seemed more like one or both of them was a victim of some kind of abuse, sexual or otherwise, and they both knew that about the other but didn’t know how to handle it; how to reach out a hand in comfort, so they both turned self destructive.

Sissy did try, though, first with the most depressing rendition of ‘New York, New York’ I’ve ever heard, then when they were talking; to quote her: We’re family. We’re supposed to look out for each other. But, I think not for the first time, Brandon failed her, even though I think he did feel some sort of protective brotherly instinct especially when his boss was hitting on her. That’s probably why it pissed him off so much that she slept with him(the boss). He wanted to stop it but he didn’t know how.

The sex scenes were neither hot nor sexy. It was like watching someone slowly overdose, or a train wreck in super slow-mo and not be able to stop it.

I’m really inclined to think that this movie could just barely squeeze in under the R rating, even with the three-way. But for the love of god do not go see this movie just to see Michael Fassbender’s, at the minimum, seven inch long dong. If that’s all you want to see, wait for screen shots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing I will admit though; when he said: ‘I want to slip my tongue inside you just as you cum’, I got a little horny. >_> NEGL

http://spelledwith-a-j.tumblr.com/post/10126218796/shame-tiff-2011

3 weeks ago on 12 September 2011 @ 10:59am
Shame - TIFF 2011

Shame - a film by Steve McQueen starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan.

My review and thoughts on the film.

I am not going to spoil the plot for those who haven’t yet seen the film, if you have read the script than you know the progression of the story – but seeing it come to life on the screen was needed. I have to say that this is the best film that I have seen all year. Artistically, plot wise and acted this film has everything and it does it superbly. Granted it’s not the usually Friday night at the movie kind of piece but that’s why I enjoyed it so much. There is a lot to the story and you at no point can turn off your mind and float into the film – it forces you to think and wonder at where the characters will go, how far will they take this.

The two protagonists Brandon and Sissy are terribly flawed, but that makes them perfect. Fassbender and Carey Mulligan make you feel for them and their failed and doomed family relationship by fully committing to the roles and making you believe that they were raised together and have an easy banter but at the same time are strangers to one another that don’t know anything about one another. (At the Q&A had I been picked I would have asked Michael how he and Carey interacted and worked to create the relationship that was shown on screen.

The opening moment before there is any movement from Brandon I found to be very intriguing, I’d say for about a minute you see Fassbender just lying in bed and it’s like the character is gathering enough strength to just pull himself from the bed. Yes after that moment we do see Fassbender walk around his apartment fully naked (and yes he is well hung and has a nice bum) but it is not gratuitous.

For all the nudity that Fassbender shows and Mulligan in her scene, I found almost a visual representation of their vulnerability and true selves – before getting dressed and hiding away behind the image of a successful business man.

I want to say something about the costuming, but mostly just for Brandon and Sissy. Brandon’s suits and clothing clearly act as a shield four of the sexual encounters that we are shown he is still wearing a lot of his clothing – almost as though he can’t bear to be naked and vulnerable. His clothing is also opaque, dark colours as a contrast to Sissy’s sheer or see through or even almost flesh toned outfits in some scenes, kind of reflecting that she’s there to try and show or talk to Brandon about what’s f&%$#& up with her. I don’t know if the costuming like that was a metaphor but I saw it reflective of their characters.

One thing that my mom pointed out and I had noticed too was the use of reflections and reflective surfaces. Brandon’s apartment is all stark white and all the windows open which create reflective surfaces back into the small space, even the fridge is metallic and reflective. All the shots through windows or using windows to see into or out of was something that I hadn’t anticipated while reading the script, neither was the use of mirrors. It’s as if these were all used to not only try and reflect these characters back on themselves so they can see how messed up they are. For me the most poignant use of a mirror is close to the end when Brandon walks past a wall and his reflection is all distorted – show that after what he has gone through has distorted his view of himself, the world and everything. It’s the truest reflection in the film I found. McQueen’s use of this just makes it more obvious that he is artistic in how he directs and that his choices are brilliant.

My favourite moment of the whole film was Sissy singing “New York, New York”. It is one of my favourite songs and to hear this version was almost haunting – more a lament of someone who is struggling – with life and existing – and thinking that if they can just get to the city that never sleeps they will be ok. Almost like Sissy is saying that if she can get through to Brandon she will be fine, they both will. Very different from the optimistic and happy version from Sinatra that we are all used to, and I think it was an inspired choice.

What surprised me was the amount of laughing I did while watching the film and not awkward laughing. There were quite a few funny and light hearted moments in the film and they were strung in beautifully, not taking you out of the drama or intensity of the plot. In fact those light hearted moments just make the f&%$#& up life of Brandon that much harder to take because it shows that there is this fun guy in there but he is buried under the weight of his own Shame. That’s why the moment of Brandon’s breakdown at the end had me in tears, not crying but I welled up.

I can’t really say much else without completely giving away the full plot but here are some of the moments that stood out to me.

The awkward date, which had its sweet moments, but you could sort of see in the body language of woman that she kind of wanted to leave and that the date wasn’t really a success. Also the conversation about Brandon not trying at relationships speaks to his character as a whole.
The claustrophobic feeling that Fassbender played so well when he goes back to his apartment with Sissy and his boss and then has to leave because it’s like he’s being trapped in his own small space.
The scene on the couch where Sissy tries to apologize and talk to Brandon about why she fucks up is probably the scene that was the most heart breaking for me because she tries to get him to listen but he just brushes her off as a burden, an annoyance and the one who has f&%$#& up his “perfect” life.

I say that if you get the chance to see Shame, take it. You will not be disappointed and Fassbender deserves all the attention that he is getting for this role.

http://la-petite-singe.livejournal.com/325809.html

10 October 2011 @ 12:16 am
How are you helping me? Look at me. How are you helping me?
OK. So. Shame. Let me say right off the bat that I was so amazingly correct in thinking that I needed to meet Fassy BEFORE seeing the movie, because if I'd met him after I probably would've collapsed at his feet and cried in a fit of combined awe, artistic respect and slavering lust. And that just...wouldn't have been pleasant for anyone. So, good call, self. SHORT VERSION: it was f#%@#&! astonishing and will definitely make my Top Ten List and I very well may be rooting for Fassy for Best Actor but I shan't say for sure yet until I see many more things.

All right. I'm gonna try to be coherent, but I cannot promise anything. The first thing that struck me was the use of music--Hunger uses very, very little, as I recall. But there's quite a lot in this and it's a very strong presence, more vocal that the characters in many cases. It's pretty minimalist on dialogue--not as much as Hunger, to be sure, but it still kinda throws me off that so many people read the script online and were thrilled by it, because the movie is much more about visuals. I mean, it's certainly a strong script and it would've killed things if it wasn't, but just reading the script all by itself is to get a mere fraction of the overall picture. The depth of range of emotions Fassy (Lord, I feel like I should be all ~professional here and call him Michael, but I never think of him as that, even though it's one of my fave names) manages to communicate with his expressions and body language is really just amazing. I'm stunned that he doesn't have more stage experience, because he really has a lot of the essential strengths and subtleties of a great theatre actor (and from me that is a huge compliment because I think basically every actor needs stage training & experience to be any good).

...Sorry, what am I doing? Blathering on about scripts and things when there's rampant nudity to be discussed. *eyebrow* Despite what the internet might make one believe, sadly it is not actually 99 straight minutes of full frontal; that's really only one scene towards the beginning. But, y'know, it's all there. I don't know if he worked out or whatever specifically for this role or if that's just him, but he's got an insanely gorgeous swimmer's body, my fave type, and just...wow. There is a god, and she loves us and possibly lives in County Kerry. I'm just...yeah. Let's get that clear right now. That being said, it's actually pretty hard to 'enjoy' the sex scenes in, like, a fun way since they're really kind of heartless and mechanical, since it's not at all about romance or personal connection or any of that. It's just about the conquest and the mindlessness of the act itself. He (Brandon, the character) is barely enjoying it himself anymore except in the most basic way, and you're so invested with him that you can't see it as anything other than a compulsion. (Although with that one girl towards the beginning, when he says "slowly"...I mean, s$#!, I am awake.) It's really, totally worth mentioning that even the threesome scene just made me kind of sad and somewhat uncomfortable--everyone who knows me knows that I am a really, really big fan of threesomes and am impossible to embarrass--because by that point he's just utterly desperate and there's really nothing but despair there, not to mention the fact that it's laid over with a heartbreaking voiceover. So, you know. I have to say, though, one thing that surprised me was the scene in which >>he goes into what appears to be a gay club and hooks up with a guy--specifically, the guy kisses him roughly and then presumably blows him<<--not because it didn't make sense for the character, because it absolutely did, but because I was stunned I hadn't heard about it on Tumblr or whatever. That is the sort of thing I'd think fangirls would, uh, mention. The angle and harsh lighting will make it nearly impossible to manip...but perhaps I shouldn't underestimate those talented ladies. This sounds wildly out of character, but at the moment I actually don't want the Tumblr fangirls to get a hold of it just yet--I know the gif-making and all that isn't meant to insult the film(s) at all, but right now my brain is still totally on fire and I'm still so fiercely impressed by it that I kinda don't want to see it used for that kinda stuff yet. I'm sure I'll come around by the time it hits the web, but for right now, just...don't make it a joke, please. Not yet. (My hat--and possibly other clothing--will go off to the person who manages to do something clever with James' two-second full frontal in The Last King of Scotland and scenes from this, though. I mean, really, I'm still a McFassyite, now & forever.)

Anyway. Lord, this is already long. Performances: I adored Carey Mulligan, and I'm wildly proud of her that she didn't let herself get pigeonholed into proper British schoolgirl roles after An Education (which I loved, to be sure) and is really racking up some diverse parts. She was funny and frustrating and incredibly vulnerable, and the scene where she sings is amazing; that long close-up shot of her face was as exposing as any sex scene, and she managed to sound great while still revealing the character's imperfections, which is awesome. Even the song choice was heartbreakingly perfect, naive and hopeful and from another time. (We'll get to the long takes in a second--JESUS f&#! I LOVE LONG TAKES ADDSANFKLANSA;FNA'N') And I am legitimately wondering why and annoyed by the fact that no one is talking about Badge (yet), because I loved him in this; he was so snappy and charming and, like, serpentine. You know you shouldn't like him and you don't, and yet it's incredibly obvious why people are charmed by him. If Brandon is the haunted cello that we hear in a lot of his scenes (dear god celloooooo mybodyisready ♥), then David is the crazy jazz trumpet we hear in a few of his bar scenes, just unpredictable and smooth and fun, but in a bad way. And you'd totally think they'd be in the opposite roles, that Fassy would be the charming, sweet-talking, manipulative handsome shark one and Badge would be the kinda shy, intense, uncomfortably quiet one, but it works brilliantly the way it is because they're both awesome and McQueen is brilliant. (BRILL-I-ANT. I don't know what I'll do when he directs another movie--oh my god, he should do another one with Fassy and make a trilogy. Like, another one-word-title, very-basic-human-trait physical-themed emotionally-scarring long-take-having introspective--OH MY GOD *PAPER BAG*)

Also, can I just say that the Hunger Criterion cover is f#%@#&! beautiful and I would actually love to own it as a poster, as depressing as that is?

♥______________________♥ ASKLDSLKFNAKN;AASDSAD COLORS AND PERFECTION OKAY

No, sorry, FOCUS. OK. BREATHE. GOD. OK, the long takes: still my FAVORITE THING EVER in movies because they demand such honesty; actors have to be completely genuine and there's just NO room for bullshit because the camera captures a progressive shift of emotions rather than just one thought/feeling. They have to absolutely be moving within the moment and be reacting to what's going on rather than just, like, capturing a snapshot and stringing it together next to other ones. (Not to mention, in some cases, memorizing and then naturalizing--I AM REALLY INSANE ABOUT THIS--a metric fuckton of dialogue. Like, you know, SEVENTEEN MINUTES' WORTH AAAAAAAHHHHHH) There's this one amazing moment when Cissy (Carey) kind of badly embarrasses Brandon (OK, this isn't a spoiler--she walks in on him jerking off) and he confronts her and she thinks he's kidding, and you see the moment shift from funny to horrible right in front of you, no cuts. It's fantastic, because that's how life happens. On the total other end of the spectrum, the dinner scene with Marianne is all the more endearingly real and kind of sweet because of the long take; all those awkward silences and pauses and looks between them were right there as they'd really play out; we're gonna have to suffer the uncomfortableness right along with them without the benefit of cutting away. Then the scene where Cissy and Brandon are talking (well, fighting) on the coach is amazing because they're very close to each other and facing one another in profile--I can't even imagine how intense that must be to shoot with another actor, very physically close and dealing with such strong emotions. I just--f&#!. They're both f#%@#&! brilliant. For the record, I was totes pulling for Carey for the Oscar. Just sayin'.

I think there's a chance it affected me this strongly at least a little bit because it was set in modern-day NYC--I was blown the f&#! away by Hunger, but everything about it was foreign to me, including the setting and the time and the politics and everything. This, however--I mean, this is my home. And I was amazed at the way it was very much today's New York; it wasn't depressing Ed Koch crime-ridden NYC of a few decades ago, it was today's perfectly nice NYC, and yet by choosing really specific landscapes (his surgically neat apartment, quiet late-night side streets, the R train [ugh you are so slow just GTFO already], the waterfront, the high-rise apartments with the huge windows), it's a really lonely, spare version of the city. And it didn't feel faked or overly depressing, it's just that that's his NYC because he doesn't have a real connection to anyone in it. That's possibly my favorite thing about the city; the way everyone can have their own experience and make their own choices and create any 'version' you want--well, his is sparse and sad and loveless, even though it's really smooth and elegant in a lot of ways. Despite that, there were still a number of genuinely funny moments, to my surprise--it's hardly a comedy, but there are definite moments of laughter, and I think that's just life--even in terrible situations, there are small natural moments of comedy between people, and it would've felt disingenuous to excise all of those and just be like "NO SMILES, JUST SERIOUS BUSINESS" and force it to be all drama all the time, since that's just never how life is. I really appreciated that.

Cripes, this is so long. I'm almost done, I think. The one thing I wasn't quite sure about--and this is laughably small, but the entire thing is so f#%@#&! precise that I get to nitpick--is the part where, in the scene in the apartment with Marianne (I think), he >>does a line of what I assume is cocaine in the bathroom before attempting to seduce her.<< Again, it makes absolute logical sense for the character; >>addictions often lead to other addictions in that way, and he was obviously getting increasingly desperate and was quite nervous, for once, since he was actually starting to have feelings for her, which is why he couldn't do it, of course.<< It was just that we saw nothing else about that before or after that made me wonder if he'd been doing it for a long time or was just starting, highlighting his increased descent into helplessness, or if he was spending too much money on it or doing it at work, etc, etc. I wanted either a bit more info on that or to not have it at all. But seriously, if that's my biggest complaint...s$#!, man. McQueen really is one of the most deliberate filmmakers I think I've ever seen; everything has meaning and resonance, even the simplest, most minor things (loved that sharp, low angle on the corner of the walls in Brandon's apartment towards the beginning where it almost looked like white and black cutting down the middle of the screen; that was so striking). I'm sure some people will dislike the slow pace and the dialogue-free bits and the overall minimalist nature; he's definitely more of a Cormac McCarthy than a, y'know, George R. R. Martin. But that can be amazing if everything is used purposefully and the actors are strong enough to carry it without lots of extra 'support,' and they really, really are. I'm all for minimalist and using silence, and that's saying something since I'm such a dialogue junkie. If you have that confidence and that preciseness, it just works perfectly.

Holy crap. HOOKER, YOU NEED TO SHHHH. I will stop the madness now, especially since I am so totally seeing it again come December and will probably have even more blah-blah to blah about then. By the way, Fassy & Steve sadly were not there today, as I expected, as they've got s$#! to do and wigs to snatch and badassery to motherfuck elsewhere and what have you. I'm desperately hoping people show up for Martha Marcy May Marlene on Tuesday, though, since I fancy a chance to fangirl John Hawkes. (Not...quite the same was as Fassy, but s$#!, talent is talent, man.) I also saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and recently read a few books I wanna talk about as well, but this entry is FAAAAR too long and I gotta go watch Boardwalk & Dexter and then pass out. Thank f&#! I have tomorrow/today off.


oh my god don't read this what even WHY DO I THINK I AM A DIRECTOR JESUS BALLS ALMIGHTY