Belated Review: Shame

We’re not bad people. We just come from a bad place.

Shame feels like the forgotten child of the awards season and in general just a forgotten film. Receiving plenty of kudos for Michael Fassebender’s performance but losing traction as The Artist, Hugo and Harvey Weinstein took control in the lead-up to the Oscars. It’s a shame then (cough, cough) because Steve McQueen’s second film is an intelligent, emotional drama that pulls few punches in its exploration of sex addiction.

Fassebender’s Brandon (again with another strangely fluctuating accent) is a successful, outwardly confident worker who pretty much bangs (are we still using that word?) any lady that sidles up to him. When his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) comes over to stay it throws his carefully controlled private life into turmoil as he contemplates whether he wants her in his life while trying to keep his addiction under control.

The immediate problem of Shame is its content. How do you take a subject like sex addiction and explore it without being gratuitous? The film doesn’t downplay Brandon’s desire for shallow relationships or his preoccupation with meaningless pursuits. Brandon’s wants slowly cripple him and the appearance of his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) speeds up his descent into an immoral abyss. Fassbender is fearless in the role, portraying Brandon as the sort of person who is uneasy in his skin, his confidence in attracting women belying his hopelessness in having a relationship that isn’t predicated on sex.

Shame’s only failing (if it really is one), is that it’s not a film you’d want to revisit anytime soon. It may be artful and graceful in some aspects, but it’s a bit of a misery fest, one that’s introspective and thoughtful rather than mindlessly entertaining. A challenge to watch at times, but one that’s worthwhile.

8/10

Belated Review: Easy A brings the charm but isn’t quite A-grade entertainment

Soon after it was released in the US I read reviews heralding the birth of a star, an actress who hard the charm and acting chops to carry a film. A film the reviews said was great, fun and accessible. It is fun, it is accessible, Emma Stone is great and it should have been seen by everyone but it is not quite as revelatory as I imagined and that’s partly down to my own expectations.

Belated Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps proves a leopard never changes its spots – except when it does

“Someone reminded me I once said “Greed is good”. Now it seems it’s legal.”

 

I liked Oliver Stone’s previous film W. It wasn’t the biting, damning portrait of former president George W Bush that some wanted it to be and I was fine with that. It struck me as more of a sympathetic portrayal of a man struggling to break out of his father’s shadow; a man with his, how shall I put it, foibles that became as much a part of his legacy as his decision to invade Iraq or his reaction to 9/11. So when Stone picked the banking crisis as the subject of his second Wall Street film, the crisis that has caused so much consternation I expected a return to the biting, stinging (if not too insightful) rebukes that he’s known for. What we get however is a rather disappointing film that says very little about anything.

Belated Review: Let Me In is an intelligent horror well worth your time

“You have to invite me in.”

It’s the film that didn’t need to be made. I was against the remake from the off not because I felt it was destined to be some Hollywood abomination; rather, it would have the same impact at the box office as the original did. Let the Right One In was a very good horror film and much more compelling than Hollywood’s recent vampire output. The setting, mood and performances of the child actors were excellent. So as a friend and I entered the screening room already a little late (but managing to get there to see that annoying Gulliver’s Travels Orange ad) and realised we were the only ones there, alarm bells were ringing in my head. The film had been out for just under two weeks, it was an evening screening and here were the two of us sitting in the auditorium waiting for the film to start.

This film deserves so much better than that.

Belated Review: The Last Airbender disappoints and bores

 

“Wake up, young man. I am Commander Zhao. I set this trap for you.”

 

Oh Shyamalan…what were you thinking?

Reading interviews it seemed he went into the film with the best of intentions, understood what was required from the film and respected the source material. That said I still had my doubts about his ability and who wouldn’t after the successive disappointments of The Village, Lady in the Water and The Happening. The Last Airbender was a chance to recover some of his credibility and the film he churned out was disappointing. So very, very disappointing.