Movie: Shame
My Rating: 4
stars
Hmmm. I’m not sure
whether it’s ok for me to admit that I liked this film in public, because it’s
about some pretty dark, terrible stuff.
Then there’s all the explicit sexual content, the full-frontal male and
female nudity, and the NC-17 rating. I
wouldn’t want my readers to think I’m a total
pervert. Although, I haven’t shied away
from this kind of material in the past, so I don’t know why you guys would all
of a sudden sit up and take offense now.
But all that smuttiness aside, I did think the story in this film was
very compelling in a very heartbreaking and human way.
As we all know from the salacious promotional material and
media hype, Michael Fassbender plays a sex addict in this film. And, it’s not your casual, man-slut, sleeps
with a lot of chick from bars, kind of sex addiction. It’s more of a, regularly hiring prostitutes,
blowjobs from strangers behind dumpsters, visiting gay bathhouses even though
he’s not gay, computer hard drive ruining, kind of affliction. This is the
serious kind. But, this guy has got
some other pretty serious issues too.
There’s a much deeper kind of mental illness at work. And, Fassbender does an excellent job of
portraying the almost alien way that a man with this much mental and emotional
damage would interact with other people.
He has almost no comprehension of normal social boundaries—how he should
interact with new acquaintances, his co-workers, or more skin-crawlingly, with
his own sister. This guy really feels
like a completely foreign creature—not understanding why his behavior is so
upsetting to other people, but trying to pick up on enough social cues to fit
in. It’s a very chilling image. But, I guess Michael Fassbender has always
been pretty good at this kind of role.
He plays a wonderfully terrifying android in Prometheus.
This is definitely not the movie you’d want to sit down and
watch with your family. Although, I
trust your judgment enough to know that much already. But, you know what? I still feel the need to warn you guys that
this is not a date movie. Or, even a “go
see it with your friends” kind of movie.
Trust me. The mood will get
pretty weird, really fast. I watched
this one alone, and that’s really what I recommend for you guys too. Although, I suppose there’s a little wiggle
room if you’re in one of those long-term, comfortable, yet sexless
relationships. (Haha! I kid.)
4 comments:
We will have to come down on different sides of the like/don’t like coin again on this movie. I had hopes for this film, and they were far from materialized. I much enjoyed Michael Fassbender in A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, and Inglourious Basterds. Steve McQueen was much hyped. With all this, Shame left me with hours-long discussions as to why the film did not work for me. Unlike you, I did not watch it alone, so I will try to recall some of those discussions…
Most importantly, I could not build any empathy with the characters. The characters of Brandon and Sissy were not able to connect with me. I could not feel for them as they struggled with their inner demons. Also, I had issues with the emphasis that McQueen and his editor Joe Walker up on some of the scenes. Why was the bathroom scene in the beginning of the film (to me at least) so overly long? Sissy’s singing in the bar also seemed very drawn out. To what point? The film failed for me on the erotic, the prurient and the insightful levels. There is a good film to be made on this topic, but, sadly, Shame is not that film.
Yes, I definitely did notice that certain scenes were inexplicably long. Didn't think about that again until now. And, I agree that this film wasn't as sexy as people seem to think it is. But, I did connect with the characters somewhat. I really did feel both of their confusion as to why they were the way they were--and that they wanted something different for themselves. Of course, it's all subjective.
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