Shame: A 2nd Opinion
Following on from Jamie’s review yesterday, here are my thoughts on Shame.
Shame is a movie that will undoubtedly split the audience into lovers and haters. Void of a traditional linear structure, Shame is more reminiscent of a piece of art as opposed to a ‘cinema blockbuster’ in the truest sense of the words. This film brings you right into the fold, instantly making you the voyeur on the life of the main character Brandon (Michael Fassbender, X Men First Class) and his sexual exploits.
Steve McQueen directs the film fearlessly, with long lingering shots that make you pay attention to the finest of details of the movie. Shot on many occasions in beautiful hues of soft light, and in others, stark clinical flurocesant lights, the mood of the time is translated not only by the superb cast, but also by the cinematography.
Definitely not a movie for the fainthearted or easily impressed, the film touched me with it’s a ability to tell a story without ever addressing it, always skirting dangerously around the edges and just crossing the line of what we find acceptable and testing the audiences nerve. I found myself captivated throughout, not just because of the way it was so expertly shot but because I was on a knife edge, waiting to see what would happen and more importantly to find out what once did happen.
If for no other reason than the fact that you won’t see another film like this for a long time, make sure you hit the cinema and catch this in all it’s glory. It will make you want to look away, it will make you a little uncomfortable, but it also captivated me, floored me with it’s beauty and left me in awe for days after watching it.
