Shame reviews 2

xstaticprocess:

5TH MOVIE IN 2012:
Shame - 8/10

I found it funny how we in the beginning of the film were introduced to Michael Fassbender’s p**** as sort of a second main character. Like, “this is your main character, and this is his p****. It’ll be the source of all the s$#! that’ll go down later in this film”. Anyways, I was impressed by how incredibly gorgeous the cinematography was. It somehow managed to make the dirties, grittiest and most graphic sex scenes to appear somewhat beautiful. Although the movie is a depiction of loneliness, addiction and the pitfalls of those two combined, it was still beautiful to watch. Fassbender and Carey Mulligan were both amazing and their flawless acting combined with the wonderful cinematography and the beautiful score managed to cover up a sometimes lackluster storyline. Go see it!

http://aurenen.tumblr.com/post/15421619388

So I finally got enough courage to go see Shame last night.

With help from Shinju. And so we celebrated our first movie together by watching Shame lmao. I was a little iffy about watching it in theaters with other people. /)////(\ but what the hell, I really wanted to see it. Going to really have to try not to think south whenever I see Michael Fassbender’s face now.

The plot was roughly what I expected, but Brandon’s sister, Sissy, was not quite. Minor spoilers below, just as a warning if you don’t like any spoilers.

I expected Sissy to be really delicate, like in the trailer, but she’s just as messed up in her own way. I expected Brandon to have to adjust his life to her because she was all innocent or something, but she isn’t really.

And then there’s that tiny quick scene where Brandon totally got head from another guy. o_o I did not expect that at all. Lmao Shinju and I looked at each other, and we we just mirrored each other’s O_O face. I mean it’s not Michael Fassbender’s first “gay” scene, since he did play a gay POW in Our Hidden Lives, but there was no explicit scene in that movie. So I guess this is the most he’s done so far, even though in no way is Brandon Bi, since I think the point of that scene was to show he was desperate enough for sex, it didn’t matter where he got it from. Anyway, I am still hoping for a real gay movie in the future. lmao same with James McAvoy so there can be more Fassavoy/McFassy love.
Posted on Jan 6,2012

bettiebloodshed:
Saw Shame today. My reaction.

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Don’t get me wrong. Michael Fassbender was amazing in it, to say the least. But the movie truly doesn’t go anywhere. No real lessons are learned, and truly, I’m left going “so what”?

That isn’t something that should happen, in a film. I was on board until the last few minutes, but the ending left me really annoyed.

robertzombie:
I went and saw SHAME last nite.

I went to the Hillcrest Cinema’s to see SHAME.

I am underage so i bought a ticket for The Artist and walked right into Shame.

Here are reasons why i loved Shame.

-Steve McQueen is an amazing director

-Michael Fassbender is one brave actor since he shows his you know whats alot.

-Carey Mulligan is such a heartbreaker

-The score was beautiful. really fits into the movie

-Michael Fassbender gave the best performance ever. He should win that golden globe for best actor

-I’m sad Carey Mulligan did not get nominated for a best actress award.

-Everybody should go see shame if they are mature to handle the content of this film.

i walked out of the theater so happy.

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THE ENDING WAS CRAZY!

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thenoirpirate:

5. Shame

Shame is as difficult a film to talk about as it is to experience. Steve McQueen, who also directed Michael Fassbender in 2008’s Hunger, explores sexual addiction with a keen sense of visual artistry and visceral character work, providing for an unrelentingly powerful insight into what it means to truly loathe one’s self. Michael Fassbender gives a charged performance as Brandon, a man so lost within himself that the prospect of forming a genuine relationship is impossible. Carey Mulligan is effortless as Brandon’s sister, Sissy, who projects an endearing demeanor but is just as afflicted by her and her brother’s shared past. It’s these two actors who imbue the film with a tangible sense of honesty, making the film all the more heartbreaking and, for me, surprisingly relatable. Shame is not an easy film to digest. It envelops you in a shroud of desolation and puts you through a merciless marathon of self-destruction. While others may find it completely reprehensible, it was one of the most fascinating experiences I’ve ever had in a theater.

smsfindlay:

Every now and then, I see a movie and find that I don’t really have anything to say about it afterwards. Often because it’s mediocre, unmoving, downloadable… mostly it’s just forgettable within moments of leaving the parking lot. Uninspiring one way or the other.

Sometimes, though - and I wish it were more frequent, but it’s very occasional - I have nothing to say after exiting a theatre and it’s because the movie was perfect.

erigagarhapsody:
Shame

Most disturbing movie to watch with my brother.

I could definitely feel the disturbance amongst people at the theatre.

Out the door they went in the middle of the climax [think dirty].

Definitely an incest ewwwwww moment!

http://letstalksilverscreen.com/shame.html

Shame (2011)

With his second movie, director Steve McQueen gives us a more cinematic work that can be viewed with less difficulty than his harrowing first film, Hunger. Even so, that doesn’t mean that Shame is an easy watch. The film follows Brandon Sullivan (Michael Fassbender), a thirty-something year old living in New York City with a carefully managed sex addiction. Sullivan’s life is anything but glorified, and in this haunting portrayal of such a tormented figure, McQueen’s background as a fine artist/photographer shines through. His scenes are so carefully composed that each still is like a photograph, making the film more "motion painting" rather than a motion picture.

Fassbender’s performance as Brandon will consume you. He is nerve-wracking, both sexy and disgusting, pitiful and yet despicable; however, by the end of the film he is in the deepest of despair, and you will be right there with him. He fits into the role so well it’s hard to imagine that McQueen didn’t write the entire film just for him. Fassbender has had a range of stunning performances in 2011, and it would be a shame (haha) to count this one out.

Brandon’s prudently self- controlled obsession with sex is disrupted when his younger sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) comes to visit. He is visibly shaken by her presence, which forces him to be even more discreet in his sexual habits; his irritability with her and in general is heightened, making for a few scenes so intense that you’ll be at the edge of your seat. In a classically McQueen single-frame scene that fills one shot for over five minutes, Brandon berates Sissy for sleeping with his boss, though his own problems are glaringly obvious throughout the dialogue, while Sissy tries to remind him that they’re all they both have. Brandon spirals out of control, and Sissy’s own downfall is simultaneous, triggered by her brother’s inability to cope with his own demons long enough to be the family she needs.

Mulligan and Fassbender give dynamic performances that resonate all the more with the photographic nature of the film. Shame is absolutely a must-see, but leave the kids at home.

Caroline Fidel

butteredpopcornmoviereviews:
Shame (2011)

Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals out of control.

Shame tells the tragic story of a man so blocked off the world around him; he cannot feel the satisfaction of anything. His emotions are locked inside and the key has all but been lost. The only real moments he has a sense of feeling is when he climaxes during sexual intercourse. Thus he is the absolute definition of a sex addict. It controls everything about his life. He cannot go minutes without an intrusive thought or actions. He has allowed the addiction to overtake him. It’s somewhat pathetic, but this kind of downward spiral without an end is sight is highly entertaining. It’s when his sister unexpectedly crashes onto his doorsteps that the film begins to show just how isolated Brandon truly is. The paths he takes and the choices he makes just to get that one fix is portrayed no different than when a junkie is craving for a fix of drugs. His world is spiraling out of control and when his sister needs his help, he is absolutely puzzled. How can he help somebody else when he can’t even help himself? It’s a question he struggles with; goes back and forth with, but ultimately has to answer. It’s a raw film with lots of questions and very little answers, but one that will leave you looking with fascination.

With no doubt in my head, Michael Fassbender gives the performance of the year. It’s hard to remember a time when I truly hated this actor, but with the year he had, he completely won me over to the point where I will see anything he acts in. His performance here is raw; it has no flashes, no camera tweaks, and no beautiful portrayals of his character. It’s just simply him walking around the streets of New York City wondering what the hell is wrong with him. The agony of it all is on full display during his sexual encounters, and his carefully chosen words to his sister should leave you feeling the same way I did. It’s the best performances you’ll encounter in a movie this year. As for his sister, Carrey Mulligan displays something you’ve never seen form her before. She degrades herself down to portray a weak, vulnerable, dirty, lost soul that is drowning. It’s as raw as Fassbenders performance, but she is allowed the much more juicer scenes. It’s pretty clear she is one of the most interesting young actors today that isn’t afraid to do anything as long as she likes what she sees in the script. The two seemed all to perfectly cast and help create Shame into one of the best movies on 2011.

Shame received the horrifying NC-17 Rating that should have all but killed its chances of awards or the general public of seeing it, but thankfully Fox Searchlight boldly picked it up and distributed it uncut for all to see. It’s a powerful film about addiction in a form that we’ve never seen before. It’s a film that the general public won’t applaud, but the real movie fans will fall in love with. Do not the let opportunity to see this get past your grasp, you will regret it.

Overall Score: 10/10

the-candid-crow:

Saw Shame on Monday at the Sunshine Cinema in New York City.

Michael Fassbender (Brandon) and Carey Mulligan (Sissy) were absolutely brilliant. Their ability to convey those kind of “under the surface” emotions was amazing to see, and James Badge Dale (David) did a wonderful job of serving as a sort of counter weight to the overall suffocating (in a good way, if that makes sense) feel of the movie. Brandon’s gradual spiral downward was as fascinating as it was tragic.

I suppose the only the misgiving I have with the movie is the length of Sissy’s singing performance. I understand that the lyrics are very telling and important, but I feel that it could have been shortened. Call me impatient, but when several of the lyrics were repeated I couldn’t help but think, Are we done yet? It was still a great scene though, despite that.

Overall, an excellent film. I’m glad I got to see it in the theater.

duked1989:
Shame Review

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“We’re not bad people. We just come from a bad place.”

“Shame”, Steve McQueen’s stark and uncompromising exploration of the devastating effects of sex addiction, is a powerful glimpse into the dark parts of the human soul and how it can consume us. It stars Michael Fassbender as Brandon, viewed by his colleagues as a polite, well-kept business professional, who is secretly struggling with a sex addiction that causes him to seek out sexual release through either girls he meets at bars, escorts or masturbation, often in public bathrooms. In essence he lives in his own erotic world, though the sex is not for pleasure but simply to help block out some deep-seeded pain, which he tries to control with daily routines to keep focus. This world is disrupted when Sissy, his wayward sister with no other place to go, arrives and requests a place to stay. Brandon reluctantly agrees which appeared to be one of a few attempts to change his habits; the other being starting a real relationship with a beautiful young coworker. Things seem to be going well, but Sissy’s intrusive and erratic behavior, though often not intentional, quickly disrupts the rituals that held his psyche together and he begins to break. Her presence makes him feel constricted and bring back those feelings and memories he seemed dead set to repress with his sexual behavior, causing him to spiral downward with his sexual exploits becoming more extreme as the resurgence of his past and inability to cope with her needs boil to the surface.



It is important to understand, because the story relies so heavily on their interactions, that Sissy and Brandon share similar pains, though they go about suppressing them in different ways. Sissy is outgoing and wants everyone to love her; whereas Brandon is reserved and prefers to be on his own. When “living” becomes too hard they give in to harmful behavior. For Brandon it is sexual stimulation and for Sissy it is cutting herself, as pointed out by Brandon’s coworker after noticing her scarred wrist. It is this conflict in their personalities that creates the most drama. They are not suited for one another, Sissy’s intruding in Brandon’s sheltered existence and Brandon’s refusing to give her the attention and love she needs are the sparks that lead to destruction. It is not long before their clashing reaches an unbearable limit and they are both so terribly damaged, and heartbreakingly so, that when they both hit bottom it is a tragic moment. Especially for Brandon who finds himself under the pain of both the shame he places upon himself and his sister.



McQueen plays coy on what exactly about their past has had this effect on them but clearly there is a lot under the surface that has left them scarred. Many have complained about this lack of back story or an outright explanation to Brandon’s behavior but McQueen is less interested in a thoroughly develop story, and more concerned with peeking into the lives of these individuals. This is honestly all we need. It is sometimes too hard for people to accept that this is just the way we are. Humans have their demons. Films have already thoroughly gone through the scenarios that could lead to this behavior. All that matters is the now, how technology and New York help him to indulge in his addiction, and how he copes with the present.



As Brandon Michael Fassbender gives one of the most haunting and courageous performances in a very long time. His willingness to bear all, in scenes the audience can barely sit through let along imagine being a part of, along with his ability to open himself up physically and emotionally and relay so much pain, in a way that feels so human, was just outstanding.



Carey Mulligan also shines here in a roll that is unlike anything she has ever done. She plays Sissy as a woman who clearly has her own demons, and although she might seem more outgoing and capable or connecting with others, she also has a hard time coping with the past and the rejection of lovers and her brother. One of the film’s most stunning moments comes when Mulligan, in a close up, sings ‘New York New York’ in a powerful, raw and emotional rendition that really mirrored her whole performance.



The result of it all is a dark and unsettling portrait of self-destructive souls, driven by some unknown torment, so lost and damaged, struggling to mask one great shame with another in an attempt to feel something; not pleasure but rather the physical and moral pains of the acts they commit. Alone this is challenging stuff, but with the addition of exquisite long shots, beautiful photography adding a sort of poetic grace all set to a hypnotic score by Harry Escott, it becomes not only an emotional but also visually mesmerizing experience.

http://moviesfilmsmotionpictures.com/2012/01/04/shame-review/

I Have OWMS (Obsessed With Movies Syndrome)
Shame Review

There are those rare films every once in a while that are more than just entertaining or beautiful pieces of the art. These uncommon films offer you an experience like no other in which you feel strongly for the characters portrayed. Instead of just wondering where the films story will go you find yourself caring wholeheartedly about the events and characters put on screen no matter what happens. The motion picture Shame is just that kind of experience.

Shame is almost majestic in the way that no matter how heart breaking or tragic the film can be, you never feel detached or uninterested. Only a film as profoundly brilliant as Shame can make you feel so much. I mean is that not the point of a piece of art? To make you feel something. There are only a handful of cinematic pieces of art created annually and Shame is certainly one of them.

Shame is an exercise in the ideas of addiction and family established through a character study of Brandon Sullivan. The film opens and we are immediately introduced to Brandon, a man with the inability to make human connection based on his sexual addiction. His dark private life hits a speed bump when his irresponsible, yet seemingly loving younger sister Sissy comes to stay at his apartment.

Brandon isn’t just a sex addict. This is a character that is defined by his sexual addiction and his inability to change. Michael Fassbender portrays the incredibly demanding part to literal perfection. He caught my attention first in Inglourious Basterds but in this he gives one of the greatest male performances I’ve seen in a long time. Carey Mulligan as Sissy Sullivan was great and I’m coming to the belief that I can expect nothing less from her.

What Steve McQueen has crafted in Shame is a no-holds-barred emotionally draining drama that is simply unforgettable. McQueen creates a story around this uncomfortable subject matter and yet somehow finds a way to comfort you in the way that the film is so relentlessly beautiful both in its themes and the way it’s made. Shame is a true a achievement and a film that deserves enduring praise.

petitsriens:
Shame : 'C'est bon la honte'

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Plongée dans le quotidien bleuté d’un yuppie maniaque.

New York, Midtown.
Bienvenue dans la vie de Brandon : Beau garçon, bel appart, bon job.

Pas très bavard, surtout avec les femmes.
Physique qui donne l’avantage (ou pas) de zapper la case verbiage.

Le langage n’est plus là que pour donner des ordres sexuels.

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Ex :
”- Déshabille toi lentement
- Hihi ok”

Jusqu’ici, chacun sa passion me direz-vous (et tiens, ça nous change même des bubus parisiens qui sont tous guitaristes ou photographes à la tombée de la nuit. Lui, il aime le cul. Pourquoi pas.)

Le problème vient plus tard.

Car il n’aime QUE le cul, en fait. C’est même une obsession. Une addiction.

Brandon allume une pouf comme d’autres allument une clope quand ça ne va pas.
Brandon fait des pauses à thème masturbation quand d’autres font des pauses café.
Brandon est sur YouPorn au lieu de streamer les derniers épisodes de Bref.

C’est triste (surtout pour un beau gosse pareil).

Dans cette existence au schéma narratif répétitif ad lib, un élément perturbateur vient tenter de briser le cycle : Sissy, la petite soeur.

Elle a les clés, elle passe prendre un bain en écoutant un vinyle à fond, et elle s’essuie le visage plutôt que le pubis quand son frère entre dans la salle de bain.
Dans la famille névrotique je voudrais la soeur…

Et là, drame de l’erreur de casting : Carey Meuuhlligan, la vachette larmoyante a encore frappé.

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Attention, scène qui demande une certaine patience… … …

Elle a toujours le même rôle, tolérable dans Drive mais insupportable de chialance dans Shame. Ici chanteuse sous lexo qui donne le cafard (et pas les larmes aux yeux), et petite soeur semi incestueuse, allumeuse à claquer.

De la robe pseudo référence à Monroe (époque happy birthay mister president) aux fourrures du plus mauvais goût, en passant par les chapeaux ‘vintage’, le moins qu’on puisse dire, c’est qu’elle se cherche - et qu’elle n’est pas près de trouver ni son style de vêtements, ni son style de vie.

Le genre de dépressive qui se laisse dériver tranquillement en emportant les autres avec elle. Le genre qui devrait avoir honte.

Mais Sissy joue bien la victime - on sent que c’est le rôle d’une vie - et elle va précipiter la descente aux enfers de son frère.

Dans son appart squatté et dérangé par sa soeur, Brandon étouffe. Et sort courir dans les rues de New York (sublime), à la recherche de shots de sexe qui lui feront oublier un instant sa vie.

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Brandon au bout du rouleau dans la ville phallique aux hôtels panoptiques

Dans la ville de l’instant, la ville qui n’attend pas, la ville aux billboards symboles de la consommation (oui, tout aussi cliché que le choix de la chanson ‘New York New York’), Brandon en veut pour son argent : il multiplie les ‘rencontres’, les partenaires et les positions à la recherche d’un plaisir qu’il n’atteindra même pas. Tristesse à l’état pur. Désespoir de la chair.

C’est beau, c’est dérangeant, car l’absurde y est filmé dans sa plus froide dimension.

Avouons-le, c’est aussi très beau parce que Michael Fassbender est sublime.

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Brandon ‘human after all’ / Michael sexy en diable

Elégant en manteau comme en New Balance.
Et même nu.

Fassbender a ce regard glacé fait de tendresse et de violence mêlées.

Pas étonnant que du flirt dans le subway à la chasse au gibier, il n’y ait qu’un pas, tout dépend du prédateur…

Brandon est une sorte d’American Psycho en plus banal. Donc plus angoissant.

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La vraie vie avec une vraie fille

On se dit que quelque chose le sauvera peut-être.

Pas l’amour (l’a-quoi ? ), mais juste une femme.
La réalité, avec ses ratés, ses blancs dans la conversation, sa complicité naissante et son éternelle gêne en fin de premier date.

Une femme ni maman ni putain, à la sexualité saine et assumée, au physique joliment normal, et surtout non soumise : de celles qui vous regardent en face et qui vous mettent sur le dos pour mieux vous embrasser.

Trop tard : Face à sa jolie collègue, Brandon perd pied, se remet en question 5 minutes, et revient à sa drogue préférée, la pornographie anonyme.

Echanger le réel contre le fantasme narcissique.

“Le réel, c’est quand on se cogne” avait dit Lacan. Brandon n’a même pas pris le risque…

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Championnat du monde du regard qui en dit long

Terminons avec une jolie phrase de Proust, clinicien de la psychologie moderne s’il en est, et auquel j’ai beaucoup pensé pendant le film :

“Ce qu’il faut savoir, c’est si vraiment tu es cet être qui est au dernier rang de l’esprit, et même du charme, l’être méprisable qui n’est pas capable de renoncer à un plaisir. Alors, si tu es cela, comment pourrait-on t’aimer, car tu n’es même pas une personne, une créature définie, imparfaite, mais du moins perfectible. Tu es une eau informe qui coule selon la pente qu’on lui offre, un poisson sans mémoire et sans réflexion qui tant qu’il vivra dans son aquarium se heurtera cent fois par jour contre le vitrage qu’il continuera à prendre pour de l’eau.” (Un amour de Swann)

Bienvenue dans l’aquarium bleuté de Brandon.
Mémoire de poisson rouge dans un corps d’athlète.
Qui a usé sa honte au point qu’elle ne garantisse même plus son propre plaisir…

- - - -

A lire :

Une critique bien dosée

http://next.liberation.fr/cinema/01012376043-shame-baise-de-tension

Une critique bien pensée (mais très orientée)

http://www.lesinrocks.com/cine/cinema-article/t/73786/date/2011-12-06/article/shame/

booya-grandma:
overall i really, really liked shame.

i didn’t start liking it until about 30-40 minutes in, though (it was moving a bit slow for my tastes). Also, i thought some of the scenes went on too long. All in all, it was great- you should see it!

http://kleenexwoman.tumblr.com/post/15233970045/a-review-of-shame-spoilers-behind-the-cut

A Review of “Shame”: Spoilers Behind the Cut

A confession: I saw “Shame” with a dear friend who drove all the way from Ohio for a chance to see 100 minutes of naked Michael Fassbender.

There is a great deal of naked Fassbender, if that’s what you’re interested in. The movie starts with a nice shot of his chest. It goes on to show us Brandon, his character, casually walking around his Ikea-esque apartment with his d*** out. He is listening to a coyly desperate phone message from a woman, which he ignores in favor of masturbation. These shots have only a few seconds of nakedness each, and we’re mostly treated to a lingering shot of a blank white wall. Get it? Because it’s like she’s talking to a wall? Clever, yeah?

The movie tends towards the polished, the modernistic, the slightly grim and understated. Brandon’s apartment and office are starkly modern, his clothes monochrome; the women he fucks are all conventionally attractive and perfect. While I find this aesthetic visually unappealing, I admit that it worked perfectly with the theme of the movie: Brandon’s whole life is closed-off, outwardly perfect, inwardly devoid of color or complication. He has a shallow, bro-like friendship with his boss and co-workers, and pointedly ignores calls from his colorful (borderline Manic Pixie) sister throughout the movie.

The movie focuses on the actions Brandon takes, rather than exploring his issues that lead to his sex addiction in any real depth. This makes him an emotionally ambiguous character, with a sort of Schrodinger’s soul—is he troubled and self-loathing, or a well-contained sexual sociopath? We never learn why Brandon is drawn to meaningless, casual sex, and we never really find out how he feels about it—he’s upset when his activities bleed through into his attempts at a normal life, but doesn’t seem to be disgusted by anything else that he does. And even then, it’s uncertain whether having a normal life with emotional connections with others is something he does want and cannot achieve, or whether he’s just unhappy that his facade of normalcy and competence is being ripped away.

The only character he seems to care about is his sister, although he seems to view her primarily as an annoyance for most of the movie. He is disgusted by what he sees as her promiscuity and irresponsibility, character flaws which cause her to be a disruption to his carefully ordered, calculatedly hedonistic life. He also seems to resent the possiblity that any inkling of emotional investment he may have in her well-being would interfere with his sex life, although it’s unclear (well, it was to me) whether it was the result of a normal familial bond, a black-sheep sibling you don’t want to love, or whether he’s afraid of developing sexual feelings for her; whether his escalating sexual experimentation—first with a real relationship, and then in a night of apparently unprecedented hedonism—is a way to channel and displace those feelings, or an attempt to take back his sex life.

(A note: The idea of sex addiction in the first place is arguably based on a culturally-specific idea of acceptable sexual behavior in the first place, and with that in mind, Brandon’s wild night out didn’t really strike the right emotional notes for me. For a character whose sex life consists of straight missionary-position sex with one woman at a time, Brandon’s foray into a gay club and a threesome is a leap; to an audience familiar with more adventurous sex, it’s almost laughably square, and the way the gay club is portrayed is a little homophobic. I also found the ending bizarrely moralistic.)

However, the movie is a great character sketch in its own way. The shots are long and often unforgivingly static, and scenes linger on conversations or perfectly mundane actions long after another movie would have pulled away—the scenes do not so much establish character as they establish an amazing harmony of the tension that comes from keeping a secret, and the banality of not only that secret, but the life surrounding the secret. Arguments, fights, and sexual encounters meander and are never quite resolved. The scene where Brandon goes on a date is wonderful, displaying an awkward situation that would be played up for laughs in any other movie, but here is portrayed just realistically enough to seem like an oasis of normality for Brandon.

Ultimately, “Shame” is a good movie to see if you want to see Michael Fassbender naked and don’t mind feeling kind of icky about yourself for a while afterwards.

Posted on January 3, 2012 with 3 notes

meanoldpig:

I can’t start the review in any other way other then, Michael Fassbender sure knows how to hang dong. Carey Mulligan comes in a close second for prolonged bush exposure.

Shame is director Steve McQueen’s film about sexual addiction presented to us in the least sexy way possible. Fassbender is Brandon (you know something is going to be wrong when someone has that hellspawn version of Brendan) a Patrick Bateman like yuppie living in New York. Unlike his 80’s counterpart, Brandon gets through the days by feeding his addiction to sex, as opposed to forcing prostitutes to listen to sh*#&% Phil Collins’ songs. The guy looks at porn like he is studying for finals, takes regular breaks at work to masturbate, and enjoys banging hookers in front of huge plate glass windows for all to see. David Duchovny and Tiger Woods will love using Brandon as an example for their sexual addiction because they to need to fill the holes in their heart by tossing other people’s salads.

While the plot is extremely slow and sometimes non-existent, the performances manage to keep you interested. Both Fassbender and Mulligan, who plays Brandon’s equally f&%$#& up sister, deserve some sort of recognition. The way Sissy so desperately wants someone to care for her is just heartbreaking. Her phone conversations with her non-present boyfriend and snuggle attempts with her brother show her fear of being alone. While we never really know what caused their transformations into crazy people, it’s more interesting that way. The acting keeps you distracted long enough that it’s not until you’ve left the theatre that you realize you don’t know why they are who they are.

Though extremely heavy handed at proving the point of the dangers of addiction, it’s easy to forgive the lingering plot because the film itself is so damn pretty. Framing junkies will have a field day with the long track shots and extreme close ups. Characters tend to occupy to limits of the frame to highlight their isolation from the world. McQueen knows how to tell a story using the camera’s eye far better than most. In any other medium, this tale of hanging dong would be pretty damn boring. In the end, I recommend it solely for the acting and style. Its message is shoved down your throat in the end with some tired clichés, but it still manages to get you thinking.

Immediately following the film, my friends and I discussed the actress whose asshole was buried in Fassbender’s face.

aqsmith:

Steve McQueen’s first feature, Hunger (one of my favorites), was the birth of the director’s cinematic marriage to Michael Fassbender; the two have become a stellar duo for the indie arthouse scene (their third film together, Twelve Years a Slave, is currently in pre-production). While I’m not sure if Shame is as strong as McQueen’s debut (it will most likely hit in the middle of my top ten for 2011), this probing character study is definitely this year’s most provocation and paralyzing film. Fassbender has show in a variety of roles this year that he is a true force for the future of Hollywood (can we get him to co-star in something with Jessica Chastain, just for this reason alone?), and he’s at his darkest and most complex here. Care Mulligan, as Fassbender’s fiery, dysfunctional sister, plays against type; she’s rivets and unpredictable, especially during a Boom Boom Room cabaret performance of “New York, New York.” McQueen began his career as a visual artist, and it shows in his poetic shot composition. Mapping the unraveling of a sex addict’s tightly controlled world isn’t an enjoyable ride, but it is impossible to look away; after Brandon’s most gratuitous tumble down his rabbit hole, I found I had been holding my breath for the entire sequence. What kind of heart, if any, beats at the center of self-destructive obsession? McQueen and Fassbender go as deep as possible in search of an answer. You’ll need a shower once the credits roll.

raven--darkholme:



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Shame (2011)

So I decided to go wrap up my very small year in movies with one that I’ve been looking forward to watching for a bit but didn’t get a chance to until today. That movie is of course Shame starring Michael Fassbender and Carrie Mulligan. In simple terms, the movie is basically one about a sex addict who’s sister comes to stay with him. I’ll be honest and say that it does sound a bit sleazy in premise but it’s done in a way that it actually has meaning and creates a story as opposed to just watching sex scene after sex scene and that’s one of the things that I’ve really liked.

The way that the movie was done as a whole was very straightforward and real in actions. It wasn’t a dialogue heavy movie but it wasn’t a problem but actually a positive aspect that really allowed a deeper understanding of the characters. Fassbender’s portrayal of the protagonist, Brandon, is very powerful and the way that he’s able to really convey who this character is through expressions and actions is one of the best parts and really adds to the movie, especially with the the small amount of actual spoken interactions between the characters.

In regards to the other characters and their Interactions with Brandon, it’s something that was slightly surprising. Unlike what you’d expect typically out of someone like Brandon’s character, he’s actually a successful person with a highly regarded job as opposed to the image that comes to mind when the term “sex addict” is brought up. He is essentially a normal, almost quiet and withdrawn in a subtle enough way that no one around him seems to suspect what he really is. It was a good touch to his characterization and once again, more credit to Michael Fassbender. He was the highlight of the film essentially and though Carey Mulligan and the rest of the supporting cast did their part, Fassbender was what really stood out.

The way the film progressed as a whole, especially with the music to accompany certain scenes created something powerful. I never honestly thought too much of music in film and how big of a role it plays but in this film in the climax and ending scenes, it becomes almost necessary and creates a mood for the scenes. The downward spiral that Brandon goes through is just highlighted with the music and the feeling of helplessness it creates in the end as the scenes flash by. I couldn’t help but almost feel sorry for the character.

Overall, I’d say this is one of the better films that I’ve watched this year. I could definitely see why this got a nomination and I definitely recommend it, though not necessarily as a “feel good” film but rather as just a different and captivating film experience.

mediamediamedia:

My farewell to 2011 begins with a double feature at Tara. “Shame” was good. Wonderful directing, and I finally see what all the fuss about Fassy is about. AND this was the first time I ever didn’t find Carey Mulligan to be a nausea-inducing manic pixie twit, surprisingly. But the whole your-sister-attempted-suicide-because-you’re-promiscuous twist at the end was contrived and Puritanical. Here’s hoping “The Artist” lives up to its nominations.

2. Shame (Dir: Steve McQueen)

I saw the Aronofsky directed Black Swan earlier this year and was disappointed. A film that could have been a subtle, low key study of a character’s descent into obsessive madness ended up as a messy, heavy handed reworking of Haneke’s The Piano Teacher.

Shame, however, made up for the let down that was Black Swan. Although the films are different on so many levels, I see them as thematic partners in how they both dealt with the descent into madness that obsession can bring. Shame was beautiful, from the haunting score to the cinematography. McQueen avoids the heavy cutting of Aronofksy and presents that horrors of the film simply, letting the camera linger on the characters without cutting away (for a bad example of this, see the terribly overrated Archipelago). Despite McQueen’s masterful direction, the true star of this film is, of course, Fassbender. He completely embodies the character and is totally believable as someone utterly overcome by their addiction.

meekkreet:

Melancholia, Cherrybomb, Waking Life, and tonight’s movie, Shame. Trying to get as many movies out of the way before university starts back up again on Monday. As for Shame, I liked it more than Melancholia, less than Cherrybomb (Melancholia
What really tripped us (Paul, James, Ozi, Imani, Patrick, Jillian) up was the rather unrealistic relationship, in regards to physical closeness, he had with his adult sister—so we say. We the Catholic/Christian raised Latino and African foreigners who were sexually repressed from childhood. But then again, even our Anglo-american friend seemed to agree that catching your sister showering and staying in the bathroom as she stands there wet and naked is not very easily taken in as believable when you’re watching the movie.

Moving on from that, our favorite character was Marianne…easily. We labeled her “the only character with sense in the movie”. Her role prompted a discussion on whether or not she was a Magical Negro. I mean, she was secretary, right? A big part of being a Magical Negro is being black (check) and having the “lowest” job, career, or position in the film’s timeline (check). What do you guys think? Also, we talked about how “melting pot” is a dated term that implies assimilation rather than appreciation and how now “mosaic” is used, but is there another way to classify the Magical Negro character in literature and film? Then again, the title for this character carries a huge racial throwback; too much to dump it on any other phrase, maybe?

Quote of the night:

It’s all connected, full circle even. By the end of the movie, not only are you ashamed you watched it, but you’re ashamed that you invited your friends to a porno.

EDIT: I just got this sent to me! This article and its comments echo more of our conversation!

clingfilm:
Shame

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I resisted this film because the topic of sex addiction didn’t interest me and Carey Mulligan is annoying. I finally saw it because visual artists making a feature length films is impressive to me. I don’t know what the budget was but so much was communicated so economically.

I liked that the depictions of sex weren’t sexy. The addiction behaviors didn’t seem so risky in themselves and the viewer is unsure of how much this addiction is holding Michael Fassbender’s character back. The only time you get that sense is when he tries to f&#! someone he might date and cannot get it up. While Carey Mulligan’s character’s attempted suicide is one more annoying act from an annoying person, it doesn’t ruin the film for me.

thecinema-artist:

This movie was so tough to watch especially the ending. A sex addict whose sister comes to live with him, ultimately making his life even more complicated.

Just when I thought he would get better by finding a woman he could be with, everything spirals out of control for him. Never overcoming his addiction, the cycle starts all over again. It’s heartbreaking to watch this man fall apart.

akindofghosteffect:
shame: a british horror story



Much like their previous collaboration, Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender’s new release Shame anchors itself around a man in a cage.

In Hunger (2008), it was the physical confines of Irish nationalist Bobby Sands’ soiled prison cell. In Shame, the cage is the human psyche itself, a site of incarceration all the more devastating for its totalitarian permanence. Fassbender takes his inscrutable screen persona and taut physicality to new, unsettling places as “Brandon”, the corporate loner with a chronic compulsion for sexual diversions. His days are organised around anonymous encounters with strangers from the subway, hardcore pornography in the office and solo sessions in a clinically-arranged apartment reminiscent of another notoriously disturbed New York bachelor.

Brandon’s mechanised sex life is documented with an unrelenting stoicism familiar from Hunger, the assembly of full frontal d***, t**s, mouths and Fassbender’s piercing cum-face presented with a dispassionate casualness which flirts with gruesome banality. Such dispassion is, of course, at the root of the horror, the meetings of flesh laced with the quiet desperation of satisfaction without joy. While his sister Sissy (a brittle Carey Mulligan) is overwhelmed by her desire for (superficial) intimacy, Brandon is forced to endure the walking death of its absence, their unspoken scars estranging them from the promises of fulfilling personal connections.

Although frequently billed as a portrait of sexual addiction, Shame’s more pronounced terror is the inner emptiness which ferments, and is fermented in turn by, the dysfunctional sexuality at its centre. It is the unbearable tension of oppressive banality which gives the film much of its dramatic heft, the coiled tension of Fassbender’s frame threatening to explode at any moment in the suffocating proximity of the camera’s gaze. Brandon and Sissy’s shared, though still alien, sense of exile is crystallised during Mulligan’s beautifully melancholic rendition of Sinatra’s “New York, New York”, the lyrics’ mediation on exclusion and isolation forcing a shared moment of tearful introspection. It is the relative rarity of such displays of reflection, though, which gives the film’s title its mockingly ironic quality.

Brandon’s fate is tragic in the classical Shakespearean sense, but, cruelly, without the payoff of catharsis. Despite the leanings of its final act, McQueen’s script (co-written with The Hour’s Abi Morgan) wisely avoids the moralistic arc of redemption through self-obliteration, ending instead on an ambiguity which suggests the intransigence of learned neurosis. Brandon seems condemned to the hellish weight of vacancy’s unrelenting anxiety, an artfully rendered and unforgiving marathon, peppered with only the briefest moments of ecstatic escape.

Shame (101 minutes), directed by Steve McQueen, is out on general release

vicksflicks:
Shame.

It’s a shame(excuse the pun) that most of the hype for this film is for the full frontal nudity and graphic sex scenes, because Shame is much, much more than that. I’ll be the first to say that, when hearing Fassbender would bare all for the cameras, my brain did a little “yipeeee!” noise, but that’s just one of the pleasing things that Shame has to offer.

The story centres around Brandon, a sex addict from New York, who’s life of internet porn and prostitutes in interrupted by the arrival of his damaged little sister (An excellent Carey Mulligan).

The film is as much about their troubled relationship as it is about the addiction; incest is hinted at, but never confirmed. We can get vibes of a troubled childhood, but we’re never told, leaving the audience hungry for more information.

Shame is brilliant at demonstrating the intense, volatile relationship between the siblings. Without spoiling, one gruelling scene towards the end of the film between them leaves you shocked and maybe even a little heartbroken.

Mcqueens cinematography is fascinating to look at. The performances are superb, and although heavy on sexual content, none of it is erotic and instead cleverly shows the grubby emptiness of Brandon’s life.

Some will find it too much to deal with, but if you’re willing to give it a try (and not watch it with your parents. EVER.) then you’ll be rewarded with a fascinating piece of cinema that gets under your skin and will leave you thinking about it for a long time after.