Shame

Shame is a very realistic, at times almost salacious, probe into the life of a man who is obsessed with sex, unashamed of it, but circumstances demand that he re-evaluate his current (and really empty) life. The performances are breathtaking, with both Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan tackling their roles with bravado and verve. While the story isn't exactly perfect (at least for me), it is often chilling, mainly because of the level of authenticity. I must also commend Harry Escott's seemingly bland but all the more depressing score. All in all, a film that, while it didn't blow me away or put me on my ass (as many have), is still worth a watch. (27/06/2013)

Although McQueen holds tremendous directorial promise for the future, he'd probably stumble a bit in this case if it wasn’t for Fassbender. This film, like few others, focuses on the psychology and nature of the individual, which essentially dictates the entire atmosphere and reflect all the moods and thoughts that surround McQueen's sexual experiment. And Fassbender sacrifices so much for his extremely difficult role that in some scenes he’s left standing, giving a performance worthy of at least an Oscar nomination. Some of the shots attacking the boundaries of porn are perhaps too violent, and the viewer should be prepared for a number of almost lyrical (I really can't think of another term) passages, but otherwise what we have here is a perfectly executed intimate drama that explores eroticism and passion from the opposite point of view, unfortunately often present in life. If there's ever going to be an adaptation of “50 Shades of Grey”, it should be a job only for McQueen. :) 85% (23/12/2013)

I won’t claim that this is a film that everyone will love. With his film Hunger, Steve McQueen—not the legendary and already deceased actor—made it clear that his films will not be easy. After the depressing hunger strike, we now have Michael Fassbender in the lead role again, but this time he won't be suffering from hunger but from sexual desire. This is not just a desire; it is truly lust. He is willing to do it with any woman, anywhere. No, he isn't just willing; he needs it. We follow a man who is addicted to sex, a man who is sinking deeper and deeper in human relationships because of it. He wears a mask around his coworkers that he never removes; it only falls off in front of his own sister. Only with her does he realize who he is becoming. The film has many powerful scenes, but one in particular has stuck in my mind. Brandon, played by Michael, truly indulges anywhere and anyhow, but at the moment when he should be making love based on feelings, perhaps love, he becomes unable to consummate the relationship. He becomes impotent. Is this our society? Is love and feeling disappearing, and are we becoming just those who need to fulfill basic needs? In this sense, McQueen's indictment is perfect. It is explicit, it pulls no punches, and it cuts to the quick. McQueen is emerging as a great auteur from whom we can expect more depressing work. Most people will find it hard to accept his film Shame, but it is definitely worth it. (24/02/2013)

Step by step toward self-destruction. To live for oneself. Without commitments and without meaning. We can’t take off the mask of cynicism, love doesn’t exist and sex ruins us. I basically agree with McQueen and I find it pleasing that he did not in any way soften his cold-blooded observational style, when he works with the human body as an objet d’art rather than as a vessel containing emotions, which break through to the surface only a few times and seemingly by mistake. Brandon otherwise thoroughly resists emotion and thanks only to his sister, the sole person for whom he truly feels anything (perhaps responsibility), he realises how fragile his protective shell is. He stubbornly (and with devastating consequences) refuses to accept his own vulnerability. There is no room for that in his world of strictly defined rules. With the exception of the condensed and riveting introduction and climax, the boldly long shots are unpleasant in that for most of the time they do not adopt the point of view of any of the characters, who thus do not tell the story, but are studied. The aim of this “unempathetic” means of filming is not verism (or voyeurism), however. On the contrary, the composition of the shots betrays a well-thought-out plan. Brandon and Sissy complement each other in a given shot, as if they are two faces of a single person (alongside the close-up of Brandon’s face in the bar, for example, his sister’s singing fills the empty space). With admirable effort, Fassbender continues to work at not being pigeonholed as another dime-a-dozen pretty boy. If anything, his mental and physical full frontal makes him a hope for the porn industry rather than a heart-throb. Nevertheless, the film itself is not pornographic. It isn’t provocative due to the extent of the nudity that it contains, but due to the naturalness with which it approaches human sexuality; it doesn’t try to elicit in viewers a feeling of shame over the nude human body. Pointing out the normality of sex and nudity suggests that Brandon’s abnormality doesn’t consist (only) in his obsession with sexual gratification. That is just one of the many symptoms of the disease of indifference from which society as a whole suffers. Appendix: As with Hunger,  I don’t want to see McQueen’s second film again anytime soon. Shame is devastating not only for the protagonist, but also for the viewer. 85% (08/02/2012)

Emotional deprivation, bandaged in vain with more than just casual sex, can never do anyone any good. I liked that Steve McQueen didn't mess around with it – he just took a knife, stuck it in the flesh, and gouged and gouged until the wound was so gaping it could hardly be healed. I am referring now to the overall feeling of the film and the really very "nice" fate of the main character. An attitude and a world in which love and moral principles have completely disappeared, leaving only something dubiously empty – physically satisfying for the first few tries, but utterly unable to quench the desperate thirst for mental satisfaction. In some ways, this is also how you could characterize the group of (a)socials (I deliberately did not say (a)social group) that Steve McQueen targets in his second film. Michael Fassbender is convincing and his acting is really excellent. Yet rather than being an "intimate and personal look at the life of a very sexually frustrated man", the whole film struck me as a parallel to Western, consumerist society that simply doesn't know what to do, so it seeks out all sorts of hobbies. Of course, it will be slightly more complicated in the end (I wouldn’t have it any other way, otherwise they wouldn't make dramas, only comedies :)) My point is more to suggest that even an ordinary bumpkin duo with below average incomes can be many times happier and more mentally balanced than many corporate elites. When you have money and a lean little apartment with an even leaner view in one of the busiest cities in the world, you just think about how and what way to escape boredom:) (03/05/2012)