Counting down to the EFAs | Shame

Country: UK
Director: Steve McQueen
Screenwriters: Abi Morgan, Steve McQueen
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan

NOMINATED FOR: Best Film, Director, Actor (Michael Fassbender), Cinematography (Sean Bobbitt), Editing (Joe Walker)

The follow-up to previous Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender collaboration Hunger (2008), Shame has nabbed a healthy amount of awards already, and the sex addict drama has enjoyed critical support almost before it was even released.

With Hunger, video artist McQueen successfully created a visceral, largely non-verbal masterpiece about the final days of imprisoned IRA agent Bobby Sands, and Michael Fassbender dove into the role of the hunger-striking with disturbing dedication.

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With Shame, the duo carry over the same determination to create high art out of psychologically troubling scenarios, although they swap the grime of high-security prisons with the dehumanising landscape of contemporary New York, where Fassbender's Brandon - an office worker with a generous pay packet - systematically and secretly indulges his sex addiction with a variety of high-end prostitutes.

But this clinically preserved lifestyle threatens to crumble once Brandon's sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), unexpectedly barges back into his life, bringing a deluge of unresolved issues down to New York with her.

Though sex addiction is ripe for parody and/or comedy (see: Clark Gregg's Choke), McQueen, armed with an array of cruelly metallic shots of New York, an almost consistent dirge of mournful music and a consistently unhappy Fassbender, ensures that this is nothing if not Serious Cinema.

Perhaps this po-faced polish is one reason why it was an easy sell to critics. But while it can definitely stand proud as an unflinching character study, Shame is almost by-the-numbers in its perfection, its sheen undermining any real emotional impact.

Where Hunger was a focused portrayal of a body breaking down, here we get a polished but meandering narrative that is both striking and forbidding. 

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