Shame

An emotionally complex masterpiece, the likes of which have not been seen in a long time (especially within the genre). Steve McQueen, much like Woody Allen, revolves around societal relationship issues, but in a completely different way. He is shocking, he is perverse, he is minimalist and intense. Flawless in terms of acting, in terms of visuals, New York is squeezed to the maximum, and the music is brilliant. A magnificent musical motif for such a minimalist film, and yet it works. It would be difficult to improve anything. A film that defines the 21st century on a social level a work of art. (06/06/2013)

My low rating is not related to the shock of sexually explicit scenes or the lack of even minimal identification with the main character. It stems from the fact that Brandon was uninteresting to me from the beginning and I quickly felt from the film an artificially created situation and a superficial story. Simply put, I was bored and found the movie detached. Overall impression: 25%. (02/19/2018)

Step by step toward self-destruction. To live for oneself. Without commitments and without meaning. We can’t take off the mask of cynicism, love doesn’t exist and sex ruins us. I basically agree with McQueen and I find it pleasing that he did not in any way soften his cold-blooded observational style, when he works with the human body as an objet d’art rather than as a vessel containing emotions, which break through to the surface only a few times and seemingly by mistake. Brandon otherwise thoroughly resists emotion and thanks only to his sister, the sole person for whom he truly feels anything (perhaps responsibility), he realises how fragile his protective shell is. He stubbornly (and with devastating consequences) refuses to accept his own vulnerability. There is no room for that in his world of strictly defined rules. With the exception of the condensed and riveting introduction and climax, the boldly long shots are unpleasant in that for most of the time they do not adopt the point of view of any of the characters, who thus do not tell the story, but are studied. The aim of this “unempathetic” means of filming is not verism (or voyeurism), however. On the contrary, the composition of the shots betrays a well-thought-out plan. Brandon and Sissy complement each other in a given shot, as if they are two faces of a single person (alongside the close-up of Brandon’s face in the bar, for example, his sister’s singing fills the empty space). With admirable effort, Fassbender continues to work at not being pigeonholed as another dime-a-dozen pretty boy. If anything, his mental and physical full frontal makes him a hope for the porn industry rather than a heart-throb. Nevertheless, the film itself is not pornographic. It isn’t provocative due to the extent of the nudity that it contains, but due to the naturalness with which it approaches human sexuality; it doesn’t try to elicit in viewers a feeling of shame over the nude human body. Pointing out the normality of sex and nudity suggests that Brandon’s abnormality doesn’t consist (only) in his obsession with sexual gratification. That is just one of the many symptoms of the disease of indifference from which society as a whole suffers. Appendix: As with Hunger,  I don’t want to see McQueen’s second film again anytime soon. Shame is devastating not only for the protagonist, but also for the viewer. 85% (02/08/2012)

Whether you wake up alone in the morning, next to a steady partner, or with someone different every day, Shame attacks the core of each of us. Brandon's behavior may start out as just a casual walk with various sexual undertones, but the last half hour takes all the psychological weight and throws it into the viewer's lap. The mental pain, which increasingly radiates from Michael Fassbender's eyes, didn't repel me or destroy me, but instead incredibly fascinated me. A film that only in the last seconds definitively proves how complex and deep it is. (07/28/2012)

Although McQueen holds tremendous directorial promise for the future, he'd probably stumble a bit in this case if it wasn’t for Fassbender. This film, like few others, focuses on the psychology and nature of the individual, which essentially dictates the entire atmosphere and reflect all the moods and thoughts that surround McQueen's sexual experiment. And Fassbender sacrifices so much for his extremely difficult role that in some scenes he’s left standing, giving a performance worthy of at least an Oscar nomination. Some of the shots attacking the boundaries of porn are perhaps too violent, and the viewer should be prepared for a number of almost lyrical (I really can't think of another term) passages, but otherwise what we have here is a perfectly executed intimate drama that explores eroticism and passion from the opposite point of view, unfortunately often present in life. If there's ever going to be an adaptation of “50 Shades of Grey”, it should be a job only for McQueen. :) 85% (12/22/2013)