"SHAME" (2011) Directed by Steve McQueen #michaelfassbender #stevemcqueen

“I just don’t understand why people would want to get married”.

“Brandon” (Michael Fassbender) We first meet Brandon on a New York subway train as he smiles and flirts playfully with a woman sitting further along the carriage and we depart from Brandon at the end of film as he looks at the same woman but on a different train and on a different day, this time without reciprocating her smile or her playfulness. Circle of life? Maybe. Doomed to constantly repeat the same actions time and again out of an in built circle of obsession, compulsion, addiction and personality disorders?

For Brandon, probably yes.

For me, this was/is a career defining performance from Fassbender as he characterises Brandon with such inner turmoil over his foibles and obsessions that I was crying long before he collapsed into an angry and rage filled weeping mess in the film’s final Act. He would go on to star in McQueen’s Oscar filled epic 12 Years a Slave in his third collaboration with the Director, adding to his already tortured performance as Bobby Sands in Hunger. McQueen certainly enjoys putting his star man through the performance wringer! But it’s here that Fassbender provides a portrayal of such raw intensity and emotion as he displays a character so tortured and unlikeable yet you can’t take your eyes away from the screen.

The above opening two paragraphs are taken from my spoiler free review of "Shame" I originally penned and published several years ago, then posted to my Medium blog site on 29th January 2023 and which can now be read in full and for free (please also consider subscribing for free too!) via my Substack blog site and the original article linked immediately below:

https://ramblingmusings666.substack.com/p/shame-2011-1f391ce868

This spoiler free review is also integral to volume 5 of my "essential film reviews collection". Each volume is available via e-book at £4.99 per volume or all 7 volumes can be read for free should you have an Amazon Kindle "Unlimited" package:

Volume 5:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C4N25YCW

All 7 Volumes:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C4HZSTTH?ref_=dbs_p_pwh_rwt_anx_a_lnk&storeType=ebooks

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