#2: SHAME

EVERYWHERE IN CHAINS

Michael Fassbender is the only actor who can do full-frontal nudity… from behind.

Michael. Fassbender. It’s hard to think back to before he was a Hollywood star. But as recently as 2008, he was a Kerry bartender and part-time actor. Sure, he’d had small roles in Band of Brothers and 300. But you wouldn’t have picked him out of a line-up. In fact, his most recognisable role was probably “the fella who swims to New York in that Guinness ad”.

Hunger changed all that. First-time director Steve McQueen cast him Bobby Sands, leader of the IRA hunger strike. And Fassbender turned heads 5000 miles. Suddenly he was in demand. Inglorious Basterds, Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method, Haywire, Prometheus – he was hardly off-screen. He starred in more films in three years than he had in the lifetime before.

One of those films was Shame, where he once again worked under McQueen. Shame premiered at an opportune time. The Tiger Woods sex scandal was fresh in audience’s memories. It had been lampooned on South Park by late-night talk show hosts. Being a “sex addict” simply meant being  spoilt, entitled, cheating celebrity. People scoffed at the very idea of sex addiction. And here was a serious drama centred on that very issue. Could anyone possibly take it seriously?

Fassbender did. He is 100% credible as Brendan, a man addicted to sex. He is every ounce as addict, just as Jared Leto a heroin addict (Requiem for a Dream) or Paul Newman is an alcoholic (The Verdict). Fassbender is a slave to impulses. He stalks beautiful women on the subway. His apartment is cluttered with Playboy magazines. His company laptop is riddled with viruses from porn sites. He has more sexual partners than I could count. He tries to resist. He tries to have have a “normal” relationship. But the pull of his addiction is strong. Possibly stronger than his will.

The key relationship is between Brendan as his sister, Sissy, played flawlessly by Carey Mulligan in her follow-up to Drive. (She even pulls of a decent Irish-American accent!) Sissy reaches out to her estranged brother. She tries to appeal to his human side, his compassion. But Brendan uses women. For him, they are merely fuel for the the fire of his loins. His little sister is therefore useless to him. She is a nuisance, a burden.  The siblinhs share the scars of a troubled upbringing. (“We’re not bad people. We just come from a bad place.”) And Sissy is a constant reminder of the trauma Brendan wishes to bury. The film never delves into this trauma, and rightly so. It is better left to the imagination. Its aftermath is the focus: how we struggle to cope with our demons. How we strain to escape to the past. How our vices consume us.

Whoa, that one got dark. I’d like discuss the poisonous effect of NC-17 (formerly known as the X-rating) in the US on the box office and Oscar prospects of a film. (It cost Fassbender an Oscar nod.) Well, another time. Come back tomorrow at 6PM, for #1: the 2012 Corzie Winner and a ground-breaking Corzie-related annoucement!