Director Steve McQueen and star Michael Fassbender team up once more after prison starvation drama HUNGER to star in an equally realistic and depressing movie. For SHAME is a harrowing and heartfelt movie, a slice-of-life effort that explores one man's downward spiral as a result of his sex addiction.
SHAME avoids the sniggering attitude of its subject matter by playing it straight throughout. Through McQueen's lens, sex itself becomes a disturbing thing, as abhorrent as drugs or violence. Fassbender is perfectly cast as the outwardly charming and confident businessman secretly hiding some very dark secrets indeed, and both star and director should be commended for their approach to the subject matter.
SHAME isn't a film for everyone; it's extremely explicit in terms of subject matter and the relentlessly nihilistic narrative makes for depressing viewing (although not as depressing as, say, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM). It's certainly a very well made film though and one I was engrossed in throughout.
SHAME avoids the sniggering attitude of its subject matter by playing it straight throughout. Through McQueen's lens, sex itself becomes a disturbing thing, as abhorrent as drugs or violence. Fassbender is perfectly cast as the outwardly charming and confident businessman secretly hiding some very dark secrets indeed, and both star and director should be commended for their approach to the subject matter.
SHAME isn't a film for everyone; it's extremely explicit in terms of subject matter and the relentlessly nihilistic narrative makes for depressing viewing (although not as depressing as, say, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM). It's certainly a very well made film though and one I was engrossed in throughout.