Shame

Shame is one of those films that actors just love to be in. It’s edgy, they get their kit off, they plumb the emotional depths…..goddamit, can’t you see they are exposing their souls to us? OK, I’m being cynical here, but there’s a truth in what I say. This is a film for the director (Steve McQueen) and his actors (Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan), but is it one for an audience? The storyline concerns New York thirty-something Brandon (Fassbender) and his sex addiction. He keeps himself to himself, but his private life is soon disrupted when his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) drops in to stay and never looks like leaving. Annoyed by her presence, and with his addiction stopping him from having meaningful contact with other people, Brandon begins to go off the rails. Being a McQueen film this is a mixture of smarts and pretentiousness. It’ll annoy some as much as it will capture the minds of others. For example, is the scene where Mulligan sings for minutes and we’re treated to close ups of her and Fassbender’s faces a pivotal point in the plot explaining a number of unspoken things or just an excuse for actress and director to show off? You’ll have to make your own mind up. There are plenty of explicit sex scenes and to be fair to McQueen he does make having such an addiction look like a depressing, soulless and dirty business. Other areas don’t work though and it’s not addressed as to why there is such a strained relationship between brother and sister. This has been done on purpose, but if we don’t know what the problem is, well, do we really care? Overall this actually reminded me a lot of American Psycho (just without the Psycho part). However, whereas that film really did make you think the protagonist was basically a human being with a hollowed out inside, this one just makes the main man look like a bit of a perve with a moody side. On the plus side, at least this McQueen film doesn’t have a five minute shot of something cleaning up a load of piss. Having said that, it does have a scene of Fassbender actually having one. Classy.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Not a bad film per-se, but another one for the art or arse discussion methinks. Rating: 5/10.