Shame

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Lucy Walters, Nicole Beharie, Alex Manette, Elizabeth Masucci
Directed by: Steve McQueen
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Drama
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man (Michael Fassbender) with a sexual addiction struggles when his sister (Carey Mulligan) unexpectedly moves in with him.

Review:

Tim: While I loved the performance of Michael Fassbender here, I didn't especially care for Shame. I thought the movie moved far too slowly, just kind of plodding around. I didn't feel an emotional connection to the characters. The movie was fine, but it just didn't do much for me. That is disappointing, because I really hoped this would be good.

I do want to start with the film's strength- the performance of Michael Fassbender. Fassbender has launched his career in recent years, going from relative obscurity to being one of the most exciting, talented actors today. I love him ability to do big budget, audience fare like X-Men: First Class, and then switch gears to a small, NC-17 film about sex addition in Shame. The guy is truly talented, and I look forward to seeing where his career goes. In this film, he gives an emotionally raw, powerful performance. It was a brave move taking this role and not being afraid to (literally) bare it all. I did feel like he was a little too restrained and brooding, but overall, he gives an exceptional performance. Fassbender was by the far the best part of this film.

I thought Carey Mulligan was fairly good. I still have never been wowed by her, and I tend to think she's overrated. She did some good work here, but I just felt like her performance felt obscured by many similar performances in other movies. She did nothing to set herself apart. She was just a bit too forgettable, which didn't work well, because Fassbender was so good.

While the movie should be applauded for tackling such a risque, unspoken topic, I felt like the actual story itself was a bit underwhelming. There are certain points where it seems effective, but the movie ends in conventional fashion. I just felt like the movie strayed into the melodramatic, so by the time it ended, all I could do was shrug my shoulders. Throughout the film, I never really felt an emotional connection with the characters. I never really believed Fassbender and Mulligan were brother and sister. I know that they had an estranged relationship, but I never felt that spark of familiarity between them. That hurt the movie.

Shame is one of those movies (and there are many of them) that features an incredibly strong performance by one actor, but doesn't have the pieces in place around him to raise the film to the level of that one performance. This is a decent movie that features a great performance, and while Fassbender helps the movie, director Steve McQueen doesn't do enough to make this a truly good movie. I felt too bored and disconnected from the events of the film, and as a result, Shame just didn't work for me.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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