Review of Shame (2011) by Tomas T — 03 Dec 2012

Sexual addiction is a less encountered subject in Hollywood films, yet a newcomer director, Steve McQueen introduces the subject in a confrontational manner hit tittle Shame.

The film follows Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a relatively successful New Yorker who uses every opportunity available for him to indulge his relentless sexual addiction. While Brandon manages to keep his condition in relative order, his volatile daily life is turned upside down when his self destructive sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan) injects herself into Brandon's life.

Shame draws much of its impact from very explicit sexual scenes which are supposed to elaborate the challenging condition Brandon is facing, but due to the repetitive and lengthy nature of the scenes, they ended up hindering the films development than being an real asset. So the film does make a very vivid picture of the sexual addiction condition and sexualism it involves, but it fails to accomplish much else as a film.

However one might interpreter the film, one thing is for sure, the film is slow paced and rather heavy to digests, and as such it is definitely not the easiest film to enjoy.