MOVIE REVIEW: 'Shame' and The City

Movies like this generally tend to take place in LA, with its focus on isolation in a city of millions, not to mention graphic sex scenes that earn every bit of its NC-17 rating. Yet for all that, the movie has a strong sense of sterility amidst such excess.

A city as worshiped as New York might not be the right location. But the location works, because this is more of a portrait of particular life at a particular point in time.

In this case, the life is that of thirty-something Brandon Sullivan, superbly played by Michael Fassbender. On the surface, he seems to have it all. He's handsome, wealthy, successful, with a great job that he's good at. But look closer and you start to see the cracks. His apartment is almost devoid of personal touches, he has no close friendships and his longest relationship was four months.

All of these are due to the sexual compulsions that have grown into an overwhelming need that has taken over his life. Sometimes he pays for his various encounters, sometimes not. Other times he finds satisfaction via the Internet.

Whatever the case, he gets no real enjoyment out of it, and the sex itself is not eroticized. Like most addicts, what once gave him pleasure is now merely a need that must be satisfied in order to make it through another day. The only time that he is unable to have sex is when the knows the person, hence running the risk of an intimacy.

He is able to maintain his facade of normalcy until his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) re-enters his life, and his bubble of isolation pops, sparking a series of disastrous events. The interaction between the siblings suggests a shared traumatic past that is never revealed. In any case, it is clear that she is just as damaged as he is.

The actors both do a wonderful job of embodying their extremely dysfunctional characters, and Michael Fassbender's performance is as flawless as a man in a vicious cycle that's rapidly spiraling out of control.

The movie's only flaw is its unrelenting focus on the present, which means that the trauma that formed both siblings is never actually explained, only referred to. Thus, you feel like you never get a full sense of who either of the siblings really are.

Barring that, the movie accomplishes what it set out to do perfectly. If only it wanted to accomplish just a little more.

Rating: A-