SHAME directed by Steve McQueen (UK, 2011)
Shame is a defining film about manhood; as groundbreaking as movies like Taxi Driver, American Gigolo and Blue Velvet.
What each of these films have in common is that they don’t shy away from the darker aspects of humanity and the limitless ambiguities surrounding male sexuality.
If this movie had been made in Hollywood it would probably have starred someone like Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen or Russell Brand, all actors who have confessed and/or boasted about being addicted to sex.
With any of these in the leading role of Brandon, the film would have ended as either a vacuous, moralising drama or a titillating American Pie style ‘comedy’. English director, Steve McQueen takes a more courageous course of treating the subject seriously without feeling the need to judge the characters or tag on a token feel good ending. This is a film for grown-ups. Continue reading
