SHAME (Steve McQueen, Fox Searchlight, 2011)

One of the really great things that's happening in the world of film presently is the ability to make films independently with great ease and at lower cost. With technology expanding endlessly filmmakers can put stories to film that previously would never have been made. SHAME (Steve McQueen, 2011, Fox Searchlight) is just such a film. Whether a film like this should have been made, or needs to be made, remains to be seen.

So what kind of film is SHAME? It is an involving look into the world of a compulsive, in this case a sexual compulsive named Brandon (Michael Fassbender). The film magnificently shows the depths of depravity that Brandon will undertake to quell his demons. The film paints a brilliant picture of the lengths a compulsive will go to as well as how that compulsion will come before everything in the compulsive's life. That person's job, friends, family, safety and health become secondary concerns in such a person's life.

Yet, the film falls short for me due to a lack of a fully formed narrative. Too many questions remained for me after watching the film. I wanted to know why we were taken on this journey, where was it leading the audience? It was unclear whether Brandon had made a complete journey. I feel like the narrative does a nice job of showing that Brandon has had revelations and suffered, but at the films end where does he stand? Most of the supporting characters are dropped throughout the narrative and every character lacks a fully formed characterization. The two main characters are Brandon and Sissy (Carey Mulligan) yet neither ever has any motivations for their actions explained. We never learn why they take the actions they do or why they have such problems with each other and themselves.

Carey Mulligan does give a really nice performance as Sissy. At times her performance is brave and always very womanly. In fact she has an ethereal quality, much like the great actress she is often compared to, Audrey Hepburn.

The film belongs to Fassbender though. He gives a gripping and moving performance, one that is deeply felt. He welcomes us into Brandon's soul and bares it so we can see Brandon's hurt and anguish. And for lack of better terminology, he bares all in this film. Much ado has been made about his full frontal exposure and it is there, pretty much the first ten minutes of the film.

The director Steve McQueen (coolest named guy in film) does a really nice job. He likes to make use of some extensively long takes several times through the film. He does have an annoying propensity to use a two shot of his characters from behind the characters. At least twice this technique was used and I really wasn't sure why.

Ultimately this film felt like an exercise in seeing how far it's audience could be pushed and shocked. The film has great performances and good technical work, but in the end the question of why rings to loudly.