Review of Shame (2011) by Sumanjit R — 22 Feb 2013

Wow.

Just... wow.

"Shame" is a spiralingly scary portrayal of an addiction gone wrong. How can I say this -- everything exudes pitch dark realism at its worst. "Shame" is easily the best NC-17 rated movie of all time and one of the most, if not, the most mature movie of 2011.

Michael Fassbender, man, I was a fan of yours after you stole the screen in "X-Men: First Class" and "Inglourious Basterds", but you took it to a whole 'nother level in this one. He is absolutely absorbing in every single scene he's in. Whether it comes down to Fassbender's quiet, soul-churning moments, or when his anger spurts forth, his performance speaks at thundering volumes. He easily steals the show. There were so many moments where I said to myself, "How did you act this part? You must've been through the same thing." Jean Dujardin won best actor for this year? Yeah, I agree he did an EXCELLENT job, but Fassbender easily kills it in this.

With a direction that is patient but unafraid to delve into the dark depths that many people choose to hide, director Steve McQueen makes a near masterpiece that rightfully chooses not to explain things through dialogue, but simply let the audience observe the chaos that spirals into play. The results are riveting; by the end, I was shocked, not particularly "Requiem for a Dream" status by how disgusting things got, but by how heartbreakingly scary it is to see an addiction involuntarily strangle its hosts into deeper and more isolated areas. Yes, this movie has a gratuitous amount of sex in it, but that wasn't what made the movie disgusting nor appealing. It was an everyday thing for Michael Fassbender's character, Brandon, and yes, his inner demons was the struggle over the sex addiction, but there was much more to it then that. This is a multi-layered, extensively deep film that addresses and shows the horrors of these issues, but doesn't care to explain or address them with blatant dialogue that's thrown in for the sake of explanation. "Shame" is about shame. If it were about sex, it would've been called "Sex".

For an NC-17 movie, this had one hell of a great production. It's cinematically beautiful and with editing that's unconventionally long but artistic. The score stirs and the direction is spot on.

"Shame" is easily one of my favorite movies of 2011. It's disquieting, unapologetic, and gripping. "Shame" does have a vast amount of sex scenes and nudity, but luckily, it isn't used to commercialize sex -- in fact, it's used to show how abominable it is when used incorrectly. Incredibly absorbing movie. A must watch though the NC-17 rating was slapped on for a reason so, viewer discretion IS advised.