2011 Directed by Steve McQueen
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 shared painful past, Brandon's insular life spirals out of control.
95/100
A wailing and desperate cry of anguish and pain constructed within the leering jungle of NYC, Shame isn't so much a study of sexual addiction as it is a tortuous insight into crumbling relationships of the modern world. In Steve McQueen's film (which is possibly his masterpiece), feelings aren't told or even visualized as much as they're already within the details of the frame. Genuine conversation and aching truth make up every speck of grain from the gorgeous 35mm photography, and the result is a work of unpleasant frankness and harrowing sincerity.
Michael Fassbender is the obvious highlight here, and he's just as incredible, engaging, and unrelentingly sad as you'd expect from him in a role such as this,…
Film#30 of 'It's June Jim, but not as we know it '
This isn't a film about sex addiction. It's a film about a man torn in half by himself. The addiction is a mere vehicle for an exploration of control, humanity and self destruction.
Fassbender is amazing and easily gives one of the best performances I have seen in a couple of years. He is reprehensible, charming and unbelievably sad. His character, a man desperately running away from himself yet totally dependent on himself, is intriguing. What McQueen is able to do like no other director is to allow us to enter the mind of his characters. He is an observer and that is how he shoots his films,…
i've never come out of a movie genuinely surprised a character did not fuck their sibling
Review In A Nutshell:
Arguably, Shame finds director Steve McQueen at its peak, a sophomore opus that blends his arthouse sensibilities with commercial accessibility, a striking balance that never favours the latter over the former, neither condescending nor insulting, bolstered by a performance by Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan that never ceases to be striking, constantly soulful in their existence and brimming with stimulation, a bond between siblings that may leave others discomforted, but for others provoked, essential to their characterisation and compelling in their subtleties. Demanding but deeply rewarding, Shame is an unforgettable piece, deliberate in its pacing and casual in its arc, it demonstrates an artistic flourish from McQueen that would seem likely to drift away as he currently finds himself in renowned fame, let us hope he remains true to his roots.
Sex addiction is often seen as a rather silly and trivial addiction, one that celebrities wheel out when their infidelities become public knowledge. Yet in Steve McQueen's second feature it is portrayed as potentially serious, debilitating and life destroying as drug or alcohol addiction. The film is as utterly empty as Brandon's own existence and whilst that may sound like a flaw it really isn't. McQueen puts you in his world and gets under the skin of Brandon's hollow life and ambiguous family backstory. It is odd coming out of a film where you feel so little, normally they aim to heighten emotions not numb them, but it is crucial in understanding the character and the world he inhabits for…
This film really does speak about addiction and can be compared to Don Jon. However, not in the same way. It is possibly one of my favourite films I've seen so far in 2018.
A man. Lost in solitude. Lost himself. Reeks of loneliness.
Magneto has some big dong tho...
The only bit in this film that made me feel anything at all was the ~big bit~ and besides that I was just mildly ashamed at how relatable I found it
This is the best Christopher Nolan film I've seen. I don't understand why Fassy made those faces during the threesome though, he seemed sad.
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