Shame

   I've been meaning to catch up with Shame for the better part of 6 months and I must say that I wish I had seen it when I listed my favorite movies of 2011, because it would have certainly bumped one out of the top ten.  This movie was spectacular, tragic and heartbreaking.  Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan - wow.  Steve McQueen (no, not the Steve McQueen) directs Fassbender as Brandon, a man with flaws as deep as any you will ever see on screen.  He is addicted to sexual pleasure and will do anything to reach his goal of satisfaction.  He is intensely self-destructive in his endeavor and it affects his life profoundly.  We see girls come and go, some he pays for, some he doesn't.  He is like a serial killer looking for his next kill or a heroin addict trying to cop his next bag.  Once the act is complete, it leaves him feeling empty and even more depressed than ever and all that he can think of is how to get his next fix.  We see Brandon quite literally charm the pants off of women but we also see the dark side of his pursuit.  His good looks allow him to lock eyes with women for uncomfortably long periods of time, and during these takes, McQueen doesn't cut away - he allows us to see Brandon's charming smile turn into a monstrous stare.  McQueen loves to keep his camera static and allow us to watch a scene in its entirety.  He first directed Fassbender in the 2008 film Hunger, about IRA soldiers banding together in a hunger strike to fight for better conditions in British prisons in the early 1980's.  In that film, which you must see -- it is streaming on Netflix -- there is an 18 and a half minute conversation scene between Fassbender and a Catholic priest.  McQueen sits the camera a few feet from the table, and with a side view, allows us to listen to the whole dialogue from start to finish while the two men smoke an endless amount of cigarettes.  It is something to see.
   In his latest film, McQueen has several extended, single-cut scenes, although none of which rival the one in Hunger.  During one that stands out, Brandon is on a date with a girl from work who he actually might have feelings for, and it is during this scene where we get a glimpse of Brandon as awkward and uneasy.  He doesn't know how to talk to women without trying to get them into bed.  This is the only woman who causes us to see Brandon as something other than a confident predator.
   Mulligan plays Brandon's sister, Sissy, who moves in with Brandon, claiming she has nowhere else to go.  I believe her.  Her personality is all over the place.  She sings in a nightclub and, like her big brother, is quick to get into bed with a man.  Brandon hates having her in his space because she "is a weight on him" and prevents him from satisfying his urges as he would like to.  He fights with her regularly.  McQueen doesn't tell us exactly what happened in their past that caused them to be the way they are, but does allude to some tragic event that brought about great pain: "We are not bad people, we just come from a bad place."
   Sexual addiction has been under skeptical review as of late but this film makes a pretty good case that it is a real disease - one that causes great pain and suffering to those afflicted.  Brandon does not possess the ability to care for people.  His relationship with his sister is cold and distant (and strangely incestuous).  Sissy tells her brother that it is his responsibility to care for her since she has nowhere else to turn.  He resists.
  Towards the end of the film, Brandon shows signs that he truly does care about his sister, but still we get the sense that his disease will never leave his side.
  Shame is rated NC-17 for explicit male and female full-frontal nudity.  It is not, however, sexy at all.  Rather, you will find it grotesque and tragic, like you would a film about someone deeply addicted to drugs or murder.