Saturday, February 4, 2012

Jason watches SHAME

There's a point midway through SHAME when Brandon Sullivan (Michael Fassbender) is on an actual "date" date with a co-worker and they get to talking about relationships, commitment, and marriage. Brandon points out how old married couples never have anything to say to each other. Her response (that perhaps they are so connected they don't need to say anything) is almost irrelevant, given the crushing irony of how little Brandon has to say to anyone.

Brandon is a sex addict. And a successful...advertising man, I think? He works in an office and "kills it" for clients. And generally manages to keep those two worlds apart. That is, until his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) shows up. Sissy is either really messed up herself or she's a total drama queen. Either way, staying with her emotional distant/abusive brother is not a good idea for anyone. She gets little more from it than a temporary roof over her head and tons of abuse, and he gets his whole insular world blown to pieces.

The acting is great, and of course there's a lot of nudity so I guess you can say the acting is brave, too. But I can't shake the feeling that--smooshing private bits together aside--the revelations about addiction aren't much beyond an after-school-special level. Much like its main character, SHAME fucks around a whole lot, but never says much of anything.

Running Time: 101 minutes
My Total Minutes: 263,465

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