Review of Shame (2011) by Joshua B — 08 Jan 2013
In Shame, director/writer Steve McQueen (Hunger) turns masculine sexual conquest from the stuff of sex comedy heroes to the stuff of horror movie curses. Shame tells the story of Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a well-off, devastatingly handsome New Yorker whose exterior hides a wounded soul plagued with sexual addiction.
There is frankly little in the way of story in this character drama: Brandon's sister (Carrie Mulligan) reenters his life, upsetting his comfortable routine, but little else actually happens to move the plot.
The storytelling is so ultimately parable-like that it will surely ring false to some, but McQueen's strength is not in the storytelling, but in the viscera. And Shame sticks to you like a sweat-soaked outfit you just want to shake but can't.
Rarely has a film matched such visual beauty with such a sense of revulsion. And rarely has a film so about sex been so unsexy. McQueen and Fassbender, who are reuniting here after Hunger, make Brandon a haunting, sympathetic, tragic full human within a world that always feels slightly dreamlike.
"We're not bad people," his sister tells him at one point, "we just come from a bad place." Brandon's uncontrollable submission to his basest instincts is so uncomfortable because it reminds us of the animal in the human.
Shame is not a film to enjoy -- in fact you probably want to watch it alone --, but it is most definitely one to see.
This review of Shame (2011) was written by Joshua B on 08 Jan 2013.
Shame has generally received positive reviews.
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