Shame (2011)
2011
NC-17
100 Minutes
Brandon is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister moves into his apartment stirring memories of their s...
User Review
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WHAT I LIKED: Unlike his debut piece which was more concerned with context than character, Steve McQueen's 'Shame,' is a meticulous character-study that spends its entire run-time examining a man with a sex addiction and severe emotional detachment. That means the film is always engaging as you're longing to understand him as the layers are slowly exposed, and by the end you really do understand him, as even though there's virtually no back-story told or much explanation, the time McQueen gives Michael Fassbender's perfect physical performance means every layer of understanding happens on a very human level rather than a logical one.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: There's not much of an arc or a narrative, as it is pretty much exclusively about building an understanding of a character and his problems rather than him changing or developing. That's not inherently a bad thing of course, but McQueen once again lingers a little too long in certain moments when the point he's making has already been made perfectly.
VERDICT: 'Shame,' sees McQueen turn his hand to an intricate and tragic character piece, and the result is a movie exclusively devoted unpicking the man behind an incredible physical performance from the brilliant Michael Fassbender.1 member likes this review.
