Shame was one of my most anticipated movies to see this year.  I mean watched the trailer repeatedly for weeks anticipated, and that is usually reserved for the Christopher Nolan Batman movies.  This fulfilled every bit of what I wanted…and even added Michael Fassbender’s penis on the side which was pretty reminiscent of the Dr. Manhattan scenes from Watchmen.  Shame stars Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Haywire, 300) as Brandon Sullivan, a 30 something New Yorker with a sex addiction who manages to keep his sex life from his social and work life. Until his sister Sissy Sullivan played by Carey Mulligan (Drive, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Pride & Prejudice) comes to stay with him and throws his world upside down and spiraling.
 

The performances in this movie were captivating and subtle; Fassbender and Mulligan had a great chemistry together as brother and sister with scenes that were emotional and realistic.  The interaction’s Brandon has with certain characters in the film easily makes Fassbender one of my new favorite actors; and gave me the feeling of personal recognition with the character…almost.  The movie starts out like an averages guy’s day does wake up, walk around naked, use the bathroom, jerk off in the shower then off to work.  Until you realize that this is no ordinary guy; flooding his computer at work with porn, jerking off in the bathroom at work, ordering prostitutes…the list goes on.  Brandon keeps a cold and distant approach to most character in the film, and when he tries to be intimate with someone who actually cares for him he can’t even “perform.”  Carey Mulligan gives a great performance as well with her character Sissy, who is almost the opposite to Brandon except in terms of sexuality; she’s messy, can’t stay in one place for long, not that stable of a job history, promiscuous, and yet clingy and needy.  One of my favorite scenes is of Mulligan singing “New York New York” by Frank Sinatra.   The dynamics of these people were interesting and realistic, there were elements that I recognized from myself and even certain people I know and used to know.

The director Steve McQueen (Hunger) displayed cinematography that was absolutely captivating, making New York City a character in itself. The way in which McQueen shoots for certain scenes makes for an interestingly unique visual.  Also makes me very interested to see the next project from this director.  Shame has faced a good amount of controversy due to its NC-17 rating, enough for some movie theaters to go as far as to refuse to show the movie nationwide. Now let me say there is a helluva lot of nudity to the point where it’s not even attractive, not shying away from any part of the human body in any fashion. This movie was well worth the hour drive and I give it an enthusiastic Full Price, so find a theater that’s playing this movie and take as many people as you can to go see it…just don’t bring your mom.