Last week my sister and I decided that we literally could not go on living if we didnt watch 'Shame'.
We are huge Michael Fassbender fans for obvious reasons and also the fact that he's an amazing actor.
There'.s been a huge hype around the film, for Fassbender's performance, the subject matter of sex addiction and ofcourse Fassbender's supposedly ingratuitious and ironically shameless full frontal nudity.
My feeling is simply that South african audiences are not ready for something like this. In a country where most mental illnesses are not even recognised its very difficult to pass off sex addiction as a proper problem. In some parts of the film i was totally convinced that I was watching porn if not for the blaring classical music and Fassbender's forlorn glances while having a threesome i would have been thoroughly confused as to what I was watching.
My sister thought up a very apt description for the film: it is a haunting tale of Michael Fassbender's penis.
The opening scenes of the film are so focused on Fassbender's member that at one point the camera was literally on cock level while Fassbenders head was cut out of the top of the frame.
I didnt hate the film. In fact i thought Fassbender's performance was brilliant. he was like a complex and pensive Patrick Bateman without any of the malice but maybe even double the charm.
The relationship between Fassbender's character and his sister is explored with a subtilty that makes it more interesting. And the idea of sex addiction as a debilitating illness is explored well for the first half of the film but becomes slightly lost towards the end. The fact that there is one scene in which gay sex is implied in the midst of scene upon scene of explicit hetero sexual sex is indicative of the society we live in. Be only controversial enough as to not offend the delicate sensibilities of a pseudo-liberal cinema audience.
In my opinion, this film was sitting on the fence and thats what spoilt it and turned it into nothing more than porn in the guise of an oscar nominated film. hey all they needed was a 'penis-cam' and the film would have been complete.
