Steve McQueen's critically applauded and culturally polarising film Shame that was released in the UK in January of this year, receives a DVD release this coming Monday (14th May).
Starring Michael Fassbender (in all his glory) as Brandon, a seemingly straight-laced young man who works in a healthy office environment yet harbours a dark addiction of sex-related stimulation. His laptop is full of porn, he masturbates at work and numerous times a day. He has unprotected sex with women he meets in bars, and never sees them again. Brandon is a sex addict.
Brandon is happy with his life, he has a routine. He works hard at work, to fund his addiction and his lust for sex. Yet he lacks a certain amount of intimacy with his day-to-day contacts due to his still exterior, yet inside he is awash with shame from his behaviour. Hence the title of the film.
Brandon's routine and level of comfort is turned upside down when his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) comes to visit. They are the only siblings from an Irish family, yet Sissy does not know of Brandon's addiction/problem and she feels compelled to help him or cement their relationship as stronger than it should be.
There is a real commitment by the two actors in their roles; Fassbender showed potential in McQueen's film debut Hunger, yet he goes further here with this performance; he appears in every scene of the film, and the arc of the character with its fair bit of dips and troughs must have been emotionally exhausting for the actor. It is a credit to the performer, that a really nasty piece of work is turned into a sympathetic character by the film's end.
Mulligan is the opposite of Fassbender; her character is extrovert and keeps a lot out there; whilst Brandon is an introvert until he becomes involved with a sexual act. Yet for such a small-ish role, she sparkles on screen and has a highlight when singing a stripped down version of 'New York, New York' which allows Brandon to have a moment of reflection and even well up at the sight of his sister singing.
A telling piece of the film is when Brandon attempts a date with Marianne (Nicole Behaire) from his office, there is a connection and chemistry between the two. And when they attempt to have intercourse, where they feel the moment and Brandon attempts tenderness he is unable to fulfil the act. The timidity and recklessness of the character is amplified when he then calls a hooker, and screws her in the window of his multi-story apartment. Brandon is in control with the hooker, whilst with someone he could care for he is not and so unable to commit.
Brandon's journey gets worse and it comes to a head when Sissy needs his help and he is unable to. By journey's end he is at the end of a dock and starts crying, the last scene revolves around a chance encounter with a girl Brandon saw at the film's beginning. These two scenes that bookend the film are intriguing; the first one shows Brandon as a sexual predator as simple eye-flirting becomes more for him, and less for her. The concluding scene has a certain sense of ambiguity to it, does Brandon smirk his Mona Lisa smile at the thought of being able to have sex with this woman finally, or the sight of her wearing a wedding ring mean his words to his sister about his boss feel hollow now.
Shame is a film that feels longer than it is, thanks in part to the installation pace of the work, the compelling hold the performances have on you and the message of the film will stay with you; and it is brave to film something about an addiction that is prevalent in this day and age of immediacy and emotional highs.
Shame is out on DVD from Momentum Pictures and Film4 on Monday
Showing posts with label Carey Mulligan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carey Mulligan. Show all posts
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Drive
At Cannes last year, it seemed that Drive flew in under the radar somewhat. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring flavour of the year, Ryan Gosling - it became a word of mouth stormer on the Croisetter culminating in a Best Director award for the Danish filmmaker. Ironic, that a Dane left Cannes with anything to shout about following the shameful exit of Lars Von Trier in the same week.
Drive now revs up for its DVD release in the UK on Monday 30th January and the film should do well on the small screen as it continues an impressive theatrical release where it garnered numerous acclaim and a film that set my personal twitter timeline into over-drive.
Drive is based on the novel by James Sallis , and stars Gosling as a man who is simply known as Driver/Kid who works as a mechanic and part-time stunt driver for the movies in Los Angeles. He is also a getaway driver for robbers of property and banks, he promises them a five minute window where he is their's for those five minutes. A minute under or over and he walks away, but he will get them safe as he knows the streets of LA better than anyone. The thrilling prologue perfectly sets up the stealth mettle of the driver as he avoids police pursuit and cleverly gets involved with the finale of a NBA game.
My only complaint of the film is not really a critique of this opening scene, but without this scene the film would take a long time to get going. Only after the death of a peripheral character, does the film explode into this smorgasborg of ultra-violence.
To that effect the film is really a B-movie in the same vein of the oeuvre of Walter Hill (Driver) or Sam Peckinpah (The Getaway) that is elevated to exalted heights by an amazing ensemble performance. All the main characters are played by established and credible actors who take a lot of the economic writing and create real characters.
Bryan Cranston as Shannon, the Driver's boss at the garage, is especially good with a limp for added effect but there is a humbleness in his eyes as his years of experience speak volumes. The real surprise is Albert Brooks, as the moneyman Bernie Rose; Brooks is a comedian but there is a real coldness in his performance thanks in part to the delivery of his lines.
Yet the legend of this film will be built around the chemistry and central performances of Gosling and Carey Mulligan as Irene, the next door neighbour whose life impinges upon the Driver as he attempts to lend support. Mulligan has this innocence and purity about her that will lend to a number of roles in the next few years, it could be the making or detriment of her career.
As for the violence I was shocked by the European feel of the violence, only a Danish director could make a film with this much gore and make it look stylish. At times the film is a victim of style over substance - slow-mo's as the Driver comes home and he parks very slowly, a slow-mo kiss in the elevator ends with an eruption of violence that paints the Driver in crimson.
The DVD includes a theatrical trailer and an intriguing Q&A with Refn held at the BFI Southbank where he refutes stories about the casting process of the two females and his pleasure in blowing one of their heads off.
It is available from Icon Home Entertainment, my thanks to Think Jam Movies for the check disc.
Drive now revs up for its DVD release in the UK on Monday 30th January and the film should do well on the small screen as it continues an impressive theatrical release where it garnered numerous acclaim and a film that set my personal twitter timeline into over-drive.
Drive is based on the novel by James Sallis , and stars Gosling as a man who is simply known as Driver/Kid who works as a mechanic and part-time stunt driver for the movies in Los Angeles. He is also a getaway driver for robbers of property and banks, he promises them a five minute window where he is their's for those five minutes. A minute under or over and he walks away, but he will get them safe as he knows the streets of LA better than anyone. The thrilling prologue perfectly sets up the stealth mettle of the driver as he avoids police pursuit and cleverly gets involved with the finale of a NBA game.
My only complaint of the film is not really a critique of this opening scene, but without this scene the film would take a long time to get going. Only after the death of a peripheral character, does the film explode into this smorgasborg of ultra-violence.
To that effect the film is really a B-movie in the same vein of the oeuvre of Walter Hill (Driver) or Sam Peckinpah (The Getaway) that is elevated to exalted heights by an amazing ensemble performance. All the main characters are played by established and credible actors who take a lot of the economic writing and create real characters.
Bryan Cranston as Shannon, the Driver's boss at the garage, is especially good with a limp for added effect but there is a humbleness in his eyes as his years of experience speak volumes. The real surprise is Albert Brooks, as the moneyman Bernie Rose; Brooks is a comedian but there is a real coldness in his performance thanks in part to the delivery of his lines.
Yet the legend of this film will be built around the chemistry and central performances of Gosling and Carey Mulligan as Irene, the next door neighbour whose life impinges upon the Driver as he attempts to lend support. Mulligan has this innocence and purity about her that will lend to a number of roles in the next few years, it could be the making or detriment of her career.
As for the violence I was shocked by the European feel of the violence, only a Danish director could make a film with this much gore and make it look stylish. At times the film is a victim of style over substance - slow-mo's as the Driver comes home and he parks very slowly, a slow-mo kiss in the elevator ends with an eruption of violence that paints the Driver in crimson.
The DVD includes a theatrical trailer and an intriguing Q&A with Refn held at the BFI Southbank where he refutes stories about the casting process of the two females and his pleasure in blowing one of their heads off.
It is available from Icon Home Entertainment, my thanks to Think Jam Movies for the check disc.
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