Fresh and Exciting

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Wow. This was an outstanding film in both the acting and technical categories. I warn you, this is a heavy film and is 18 rated for a reason. Naked bodies left, right and centre. This is an uneasy story about the nature of need, being desired by other people and actually wanting to matter in life. We follow a middle aged man who lives a precarious yet carefully managed lifestyle. His sister comes along and he is unable to control it. Both of their lives spiral out of control. Brandon's addiction for sex and pleasure becomes unbearable as he does whatever he can to fulfil his requirements. Sissy's love life is unrepairable and she relies on Brandon to try and help her, but he views her as a burden. The consequences are horrifying to watch, this is an extremely powerful drama. We do not hate either of these characters. We may not understand them fully but instead we empathise with them. These are dark moments in their lives and yet the phenomenal portrayals by Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan convey a type of depression to an extent. Sex addiction, or any addiction, can and will destroy parts of your life. Social, career, family...all these important elements slowly crumbling away due to something that you just cannot control. The inner torment that Fassbender is able to express was palpable, sheer masterclass in acting. Director Steve McQueen was the standout. This was the very definition of confident filmmaking. So many long takes where the characters just come alive on screen. A 2/3 minute shot of Mulligan singing to then cut to a 2/3 minute shot of Fassbender becoming emotional. A technically perfect tracking shot of Fassbender jogging down a street. A 5 minute take where Fassbender is on a date. I was in awe of McQueen's style, adored every scene. The ending may not have been as hard hitting as I had hoped for, but still poignant nonetheless. A delicate subject matter explored thoroughly and intricately, driven by fantastic performances and perfect directing. Loved it.

Steve McQueen made his debut with Hunger, which held up a microscope to the hunger strikes of Bobby Sands and IRA co, and made political protest into exquisite martyrdom. Faeces was smeared onto walls in mesmerising, concentric circles. Urine trickled out from under doors like a cascade, in an almost silent, unblinking long take. Never had starvation been given such serene treatment. The decay of Fassbender in that film was purely physical, a pivotal political icon reduced to a withering shell. And to a lesser extent, Shame is also guilty of that touch of extra elegance. The beginning and end of the film is bookmarked by Harry Escott's haunting soundtrack, which sounds as if it was personally in mourning. Yet in the meat of the story, as Brandon's addiction and life unravel, it is a classical accompaniment that smothers the most visceral moments. His insides are churning, his mind running a million miles as he listens to his sister having sex with another man. He is aroused by this, and ashamed by this arousal. He must leave, and pours his frustrations into sprinting around the block instead. But what should be as aggressive as his mindless thrusting is watered down by a tinkling piano, and a heavy moment is made lightweight. Fassbender, to his credit, is fully committed to scrubbing the film clean of any sexual enticement. On any other day he might be a winter wear model himself, with those piercing eyes and windswept hair, but the numerous sexual conquests dangled in front of him only provide brief respite. The editing makes sure of that, cutting to and away from murky street trysts with hardly a moment to even orient the viewer, let alone allow them to savour it. Early on the camera caresses coworker Marianne, and she returns the favour as they struggle between the sheets, tenderly running her hands over his face and scalp, drinking in his gaze. But Brandon is unable to process intimacy like this, having scarcely been this close with his sister let alone an acquaintance, and his body rejects the idea. That scene builds upon an earlier one which lays out the attraction as a mutual, but also purely physical. The dinner date is a masterpiece of timing and body language, of nervous chuckles and furtive glances. Their dialogue dribbles from opening small talk to a quietly desperate attempt to find any semblance of similarity, to no avail. If she had a cat, he'd have a dog, and her final goodbye expresses a sentiment he is all too familiar with. He sees dating as a means to an end, and sex as the drip that allows him to last until the next encounter. Brandon presents himself as sleek and successful, his apartment a sterile front to hide his degeneracy. Hurricane Sissy arrives to threaten that image, and with her returns a backlog of traumas thought to have been hidden away. When he hears her moaning pleasurably in the other room he spews vitriol and venom, but some of that anger is directed at himself and his inability to experience the same. When they hurl spit and insults at each other Brandon must will himself to not make the wrong move; he doesn't know whether to hit her or bend her over. He all but straddles her after she catches him masturbating, and her laughter is like a slap to the face of his denial. Mulligan is Fassbender's antithesis. While he conceals and festers she doggedly pursues, never minding the fact that her past has left her ill-equipped to stabilise and find peace. McQueen offers her the film's most audacious moment, a near five minute unbroken closeup of a performance in which she bares her soul, practically pleading for an inkling of hope, begging the city of lights to respond, and seemingly awakening a part of Brandon that has been long buried. That McQueen immediately follows this tenderness with a humiliating sucker punch is a testament to his daring. It is as close to a human being as Brandon has been for years, and now she is in bed with another man. He returns to staring at strangers' wedding rings. It is in the climax of the film that both brother and sister willingly throw themselves into oblivion, having once again decided that the scars they bear are too great to be overcome. Brandon's vice is characteristically showy; not one or two but three lovers, including a man, tangled in an embrace of frozen ecstasy. But 'lovers' must be the wrong word. Brandon has had sex too many times, but has love ever been the focus of them? Over the shuddering bodies is a line so simple and sparse that it rings truer than any of McQueen's flourishes. The confession is what breaks the cycle. There is urgency in his step. There is care for another human being. There is an acknowledgment of grief, and perhaps even change.

Straight to the point. Drama of life possible when you stay alone. The movie as a movie is not so great but the story is so hard and so powerful that it's just amazing. I would not rate it that much high but as I am experiencing the same story in my life I can relate so much. Sadly my life is also turning to be similar to Brandon. Still not there of course but on the way. Unbelievable moment to watch this movie...S deeply touched. Who doesn't have this problems he can't understand this movie and would think about it as a sex movie and perversion but it's a life story very hard to tell about and people tend to close out and keep it for themselves. Also if you can't find a life partner your life can also go in this direction.

Shame tells a story that we hear so often that it gets rather tiring. In this masterpiece however Shame presents us with layered complex characters in a rarely seen divisive story. This is a movie were you think of were you stand on the situation throughout. They're moments were the movie will flip yourself on your head and make you question not only the characters but yourself as well.10/10