From British director Steve McQueen (Hunger), I think I saw a short review for this film from Claudia Winkleman and Danny Leigh in Film 2010, and when I heard more about it I was certainly interested to see it, especially as it was a recent edition to the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Basically thirty-something Brandon Sullivan (BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Michael Fassbender) is the ambitious, well-educated and professional career city dweller with an outgoing and sociable lifestyle, but he is also a strong sex addict who masturbates frequently to magazine, home entertainment and online pornography, pays escorts and prostitutes to satisfy his needs, and thinks about sex when he's not having it, eyeing up women in any situation in the hope of having sex with them. There are people around he does not want knowing about his sex addiction and he does everything he can to hide it while being friendly towards them, but he does not have to do this as often with his boss David Fisher (James Badge Dale), who despite being married is very open talking to his male work colleagues about being promiscuous with other women, but his work computer and hard drive are full of pornography. The problem with Brandon having this addiction is that he cannot fully understand the emotional meaning or reason for sex, even when he is attracted to someone, this is made clear when he tries dating female colleague Marianne (Nicole Beharie), and when they do try to have sex he cannot maintain an erection, so sex seems like more of a need than a desire for him. The big change in his life comes though when his younger sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) arrives at his apartment, she works as a part-time singer who has small gigs in the city, and she asks to stay with him, and he overhears the reason she may be asking this is because she is having trouble with her lover, and as time goes he tries to accept her presence. With her being around Brandon finds it very difficult to do what he would normally do in privacy and sanctity, such as masturbating and going somewhere unannounced for sex with someone, and of course she sees the much more emotional attachment when it comes to sex, and with she is causing his life to spiral out of control. His shame for his obsession forces him to pay money for hotels to have sex with prostitutes elsewhere, he throws away all his magazine and DVD pornography, and he even puts his laptop computer in the trash, but trying to change his life he still has tension with his sister, it is after one particularly aggressive argument that he walks out and leaves her alone in the apartment. Following this Brandon goes on a one night bender, in other words a whole night of sexual and intimate pleasure, so he goes to a gay men's club knowing that he can easily get a blowjob and some kissing from someone there (so he may be bisexual), and he even ignores calls from Sissy while he is busy having a threesome with two prostitutes, of course he is angry at himself when he returns home. Brandon finds Sissy has slashed her wrists, she has cut herself many times before, and she is bleeding very heavily, but she survives and they reconcile in hospital, and sometime later we see Brandon on a subway train trying to not look at a married woman as he is trying to give up his obsession, but feeling desire he cannot help it. Also starring Mari-Ange Ramirez as Alexa, Lucy Walters as Woman on Subway Train, Hannah Ware as Samantha, Alex Manette as Steven and Elizabeth Masucci as Elizabeth. Fassbender gives a very poignant performance as the man who has a loathing for himself and keeps continues pursuing his next conquest for pleasure, Mulligan also gets some good moments as the sister who unintentionally catches him in some of his acts and cannot fully empathise or connect with him, the plot is pretty much just seeing the daily life of a man with a problem, naturally there is a lot of nudity, including from Fassbender himself, but you need that to understand his predicament, it is a dark and complicated story for the character, but it is certainly compelling, a most watchable drama. It was nominated the BAFTA Film Award for Outstanding British Film. Good!