Critic Reviews
|
100
|
San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli
Shame has a lolling pace and stunning visual clarity. Structurally, it's close to perfect - its precision echoed in the Glenn Gould piano recordings of Bach keyboard works that Brandon listens to obsessively.
|
|
100
|
The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthy
Driven by a brilliant, ferocious performance by Michael Fassbender, Shame is a real walk on the wild side, a scorching look at a case of sexual addiction that's as all-encompassing as a craving for drugs.
|
|
90
|
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
It is Mulligan and most especially Fassbender that give the film its power.
The desperation, hostility and despair he conveys through the act of sex make Shame a film that is difficult to watch but even harder to turn away from.
|
|
85
|
Movieline Stephanie Zacharek
Mulligan is terrific here, and restrained in a way that suggests an actorly generosity unusual for someone so young: Her scenes with Fassbender don't so much say "Look at me" as "Look at him."
|
|
80
|
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
These characters are stripped bare in every sense, reflecting an extreme degree of inner confusion, vulnerability and fear. Betrayed and broken as children, they now have to define and rebuild themselves as adults...Sissy turns a nightclub rendition of "New York, New York" into a heartbreaking plea.
|
|
75
|
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Michael Fassbender delivers a bold and brilliantly immersive performance as a sex addict in Shame. He is so raw and riveting you won't be able to take your eyes off him.
|
|
75
|
USA Today Claudia Puig
Fassbender's portrayal is truly haunting, and when he sobs, dramatically unraveling, it's clear he's imprisoned by his physical urges.
|
|
75
|
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
McQueen finds the exquisite tension between the brother wanting to disconnect and the sister longing for connection. To paraphrase a line of Sissy's, it's a good movie that comes from a bad place.
|
|
70
|
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Much of the film is banal or pretentious, or both - vacuous vignettes about emptiness. Occasionally, though, those vignettes burst into life and burn with consuming fire.
|
|
60
|
NPR Mark Jenkins
It was frantic sex that earned Shame an NC-17 rating, but this arty drama is mostly slow and methodical. And thoroughly unsexy.
|
|
50
|
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The biggest surprise in Shame is how distanced, passionless, and merely skin-deep the director's attention is - how little he cares about the subject of his own movie.
|
More Critic Reviews
See all external reviews for Shame (2011) »See also
Awards | FAQ | User Reviews | User Ratings | External Reviews | Message Board
