Shame
BB
(out of 5)
Pedestrian effort at examining sexual addiction is Steve McQueen’s follow-up to his much more impressive debut, Hunger. Michael Fassbender stars as a New York City corporate drone who spends his every waking moment chasing an orgasm, either by randomly following girls off the subway, masturbating in the office bathroom, watching porn on his computer or, most often, entertaining prostitutes. His lifestyle is hemmed in when his down and out sister (a miscast but still effective Carey Mulligan) shows up in need of a place to stay. Meanwhile, he attempts to pursue something legitimate on a date with a co-worker but eventually realizes that unemotional physical encounters are the only reality he can accept. McQueen’s moralizing is heavy-handed and his symbolism far too obvious from the get-go: we know within minutes that we are meant to see the irony that Fassbender is often connecting with other bodies yet is always alone; other times the sequences that prove his failure to link physical intimacy with human connection are explicitly described to the point of being intellectually insulting. The morality is pretty naïve (everyone cries during sex after one too many prostitutes, didn’t you know this?) and the stakes are never particularly high: if McQueen wants us to know that sexually compulsive behavior is destructive to Fassbinder’s life, he should probably show him having one in the first place. Instead he seems to have an endless amount of money to spend on hookers that never gets in the way of paying Manhattan-level rent, and he has no one decent to compare himself to considering that his sister throws away her own life on a bad relationship about five minutes after she enters frame. Unanswered questions about his life with his sibling are more frustrating than mysterious given the hackneyed symbolism and lack of humour, while the main saving grace is the work done by the cast, particularly a physically fetching and emotionally awe-inspiring Fassbender. The star does more than everything in his power to keep this thing from being a deadly bore and only partly succeeds, but it is not a reflection on his talent. The rest is a series of contrived situations that were dramatized better by Madonna’s Bad Girl video, which covers all the same territory without wasting this much of your time.
See-Saw Films, Film4, UK Film Council, Lipsync Productions, Alliance Films, HanWay Films
Directed by Steve McQueen
Screenplay by Steve McQueen, Abi Morgan
Cinematography by Sean Bobbitt
Produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman
Music by Harry Escott
Production Design by Judy Becker
Costume Design by David C. Robinson
Film Editing by Joe Walker
Film Festivals: TIFF 2011, Venice 2011
Cast Tags: Alex Manette, Amy Hargreaves, Anna Rose Hopkins, Calamity Chang, Carey Mulligan, Carl Low, Charisse Bellante, Chazz Menendez, DeeDee Luxe, Elizabeth Masucci, Hannah Ware, Jake Richard Siciliano, James Badge Dale, Lauren Tyrrell,Loren Omer, Lucy Walters, Mari-Ange Ramirez, Marta Milans, Michael Fassbender, Nicole Beharie, Rachel Farrar, Robert Montano, Stanley Mathis, Wenne Alton Davis
Golden Globe Award Nomination
Best Performance By An Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama (Michael Fassbender)
New York Film Critics Award Nomination
Best Actor (Michael Fassbender)
Best Supporting Actress (Carey Mulligan)
Los Angeles Film Critics Award
Best Actor (Michael Fassbender)
National Board Of Review Awards
Top Ten Independent Films
Spotlight Award (Michael Fassbender)
Venice Film Festival Award
Best Actor (Michael Fassbender)
Independent Spirit Award Nomination
Best International Film
British Academy Award Nominations
Best Leading Actor (Michael Fassbender)
Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film
European Film Awards
Best European Editor
Carlo Di Palma Award for European Cinematographer
Nominations
Best European Film
Best European Actor (Michael Fassbender)
Best European Director (Steve McQueen)
Audience Award
Toronto Film Critics Award Nomination
Best Actor (Michael Fassbender)
Boston Film Critics Award Nomination
Best Actor (Michael Fassbender)
