Review of Shame (2011) by Stuart K — 05 Aug 2013

Directed by Steve McQueen (Hunger (2008) and Twelve Years a Slave (2013)) McQueen had made a name for himself with Hunger, and made a star out it's leading man Michael Fassbender. They both wanted to work together again, and McQueen and co-writer Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady (2011)) created this film, which is a powerful and shocking drama about sexual obsession and addiction, a subject seldom treated seriously on film, but it's a difficult film to watch.

In New York, Brandon (Michael Fassbender) works as an advertising executive, but he's addicted to sex and he's crashed the network where he works by looking at porn websites but no-one blames him, and he meets girls in bars and takes them back to his place where he has sex with them.

However, his life is thrown into disarray when Brandon's sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) arrives unannounced at Brandon's apartment, begging to stay. She's been dumped by her boyfriend, and Brandon reluctantly agrees.

Sissy is a jazz singer, and after persuading Brandon to see one of her spots at a club, Brandon's boss David (James Badge Dale) tries to chat Sissy up, much to Brandon's dismay, which annoys him even more when David and Sissy have sex in Brandon's bed.

It's a very uncomfortable film, but McQueen directs the film in a very matter-of-fact way, taking it's taboo subject matter seriously, and showing the characters in a sympathetic light too, even if they are unlikeable.

But, McQueen is courageous to have pulled off a film like this, and already Hollywood have been knocking on his door, it'll be exciting to see what he does next.