19 May 2012

Shame

He's lonely. He's handsome and has this sad, icy blue, desperate look on his unsmiling face which is not without reminding me of Ryan Gosling's mesmerising character in Drive. And like Ryan Gosling's character, he also possesses a form of burning rage, scorched violence within him. In Shame, it translates into sex addiction and withdrawal from mundane attitudes. Michael Fassbender, who was playing the troubled Carl Jung (troubled in strangely similar ways) in A Dangerous Method (read my corresponding post), is simply fantastic in this movie. Crying for help – with a music soundtrack ripping one's heart – but terribly alone.

Personal rating: 8/10 after hesitating with a high 7 but the aesthetics of the film are also great, from the starting scene, to the fragile, white innocence of the main character's sister, to the dark alleys of the night and of the underground, to the spotlights of hope and love.