Yesterday afternoon, I caught a matinee showing of Shame, the slightly controversial, NC-17 rated movie starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan (An Education). The film, directed by Steve McQueen, who I'd say ranks third behind Alexander McQueen, a fashion designer, and Steve McQueen (The Great Escape), is the second collaborative effort with Fassbender, the first being Hunger [can be seen on netflix instant].
Shame has gotten notoriety for its explicit sexual content, but also for Fassbender's superb acting. In Fassbender's fourth film released this year, he portrays a sex addicted man. Like two of his other great performances this year, as Magneto in X-Men First Class and Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method, his portrayal of Brandon is that of a a reluctantly restrained being. For all the sex and nudity that happens in the film, you don't come away thinking so much about them as about Brandon and his troubles, and this makes the movie a fine success in my eyes.
The character is a man who clearly has deeply ingrained routines that allow him to live a life that he is able to accept. Once his sister, played by Carey Mulligan, arrives, his world begins to crumble as he must continue his life while hiding it from his sister. His waif of a sister, frequently playing the victim, tries his patience repeatedly with her lazy and desperate ways. She strains his ability to remain detached from her and others. Progressively, Brandon breaks down, unable to suppress emotions about himself while clinging to the routines that had worked for so long prior to his sister' reappearance in his life. The ending climax of the film was fantastic to me as it involved foreshadowing and a two curveballs that struck me out (impressive, given that only two pitches were metaphorically thrown).
The movie is intense and brooding, though thinking back to it, I still can't say who it best appeals to or who it should be seen with. It won't win any major awards but certainly is a dark horse for nominations that might cause other more well seen performances to be snubbed as a result.
Matt Brickell is a contributing writer and is attempting to get his act back together in time for the new year.
No comments:
Post a Comment