The Movie
Remember the flap over the Henry & June that led to the creation of the NC-17 rating, which was expected to usher in a whole new era of "adult" movies that showed as much artistic merit as they showed naughty bits? Did that change ever take place? NC-17-rated motion pictures are few and far between (they're allegedly a marketing nightmare) so when I do have the opportunity to review one, like Shame, it's an occasion.
Michael Fassbender stars as Brandon, a sex addict whose obsession leads him to hire prostitutes, to pick up strange women on the subway, take care of--ahem--business in the men's room at work, and watch copious amounts of pornography in between. He seems incapable of sharing a meaningful relationship with a woman, but he has his life down to an unemotional groove, at least until his wayward sister (Carey Mulligan) drops in for a stay. She's very much his opposite, squandering too much affection on the wrong people, and we suspect that they are dealing with the lingering, self-destructive aftereffects of some childhood issues, each in a different way. The truth is never specified, but the hints are amply disturbing.
Director Steve McQueen's approach to the frank subject matter might best be described as unflinching. He tends to show events in their entirety: a dinner date, a song, a sexual encounter, an argument, often in an uninterrupted shot. It's an interesting approach, one that achieves far more drama than any sense of titillation.
It would be a shame to skip Sal Barone's review of Shame, while you're here.
The Picture
Shame was shot on film and displays a naturalistic, almost stark use of color that captures the bleakness of Brandon's daily routine in Manhattan. Black levels are acceptable but could definitely be better, and a thin veil of grain and noise hangs across an otherwise sharp 2.35:1 image. Brandon's a dapper fellow, and we can really appreciate the subtleties textures of his wardrobe, for example.
The Sound
The movie also reveals a quiet intensity, sometimes nothing more for us to notice but a faint room tone as someone sits and stares out the window. In-scene music--that the characters can hear, as at a nightclub--is a recurring motif, and the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1-channel track comes to fuller, more active life in those scenes.
The Extras
Most of the bonus content boils down to a series of three-minute promotional clips about the star, the director, the story and the collaboration between Fassbender and McQueen, who previously worked together on the movie Hunger. These are all in HD, but Fox Movie Channel Presents: "In Character with Michael Fassbender" (about five minutes) is in standard definition.
Disc Two is a hybrid platter carrying a DVD version of the film plus a Digital Copy for Windows Media and Android. Nope, no iTunes Digital Copy here, which represents a significant shift away from Fox's business model of the past several years. Whether Shame is an experiment, or an exception, remains to be seen, or if the days of Apple support in Fox Blu-ray combo releases are truly over. Oh well, I'm lovin' me some Android since my review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.
Final Thoughts
The graphic content aside, Shame is not for everyone. It creeps along in no apparent rush, but the ballsy performances of Fassbender and Mulligan (if you take my meaning) are worth at least a rental of this middling Blu-ray edition.
Product Details
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