Movie Review: Shame

Michael Fassbender's cock. Carey Mulligan's muff. Let's get them out of the way to begin with, since both take a starring role in Steve (not that one) McQueen's grim new critic's fave and potential Oscar-botherer Shame. I'm sure both genital organs are very nice if you like that sort of thing. Maybe I'm getting old.

For a movie about a predatory sex addict, Shame is a curiously cold and unerotic affair. Of course, that's the point. There's nothing remotely sexy about Brandon Sullivan's addiction. It's mundane and grey, much like the rest of his life. Porn viruses infecting his work pc, crafty wanks in the office toilets, nameless couplings with strangers in grubby car parks. The one time he does come close to a genuine relationship with an actual human being (Nicole Beharie's charming Marianne), he can't even get it up. Ironically, this is the only remotely erotic scene in the movie. And yes, that's the point.

When Brandon's crazy sister Sissy (Mulligan) moves in, she threatens his life of monotonous depravity. Brandon, meanwhile, threatens her plans for drinking, self-abusing, and shagging his oaf of a boss. And they should both learn to lock the bathroom door. There's probably a point in that too.

Shame isn't a bad movie: it's engrossing, atmospherically shot and features some top notch performances (Mulligan is very annoying... but she's supposed to be). My only complaint was that it felt a little too much like a film that was trying to make a point... and it didn't offer much in the way of resolution either. Kinda like this review...

Movie Review - Drive

Imagine you're listening to a piece of classical music performed by a string quartet. The music is slow and leisurely. There's rarely more than one instrument playing at a time and long moments of silence punctuate the pianissimo. You're enjoying this music. It's warm, comforting, hypnotic. You could listen to it all day.

And then, from nowhere, THE TRUMPETS burst in. An electric guitar SHRIEKS power chords. A drummer goes CHAOTIC. The bagpipes BLAST. It's AWFUL. SHOCKING. BRUTAL. But that's the point.

Drive is a very strange movie. It stars Ryan Gosling, a genetic hybrid of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, as a cool, detached getaway driver cum mechanic who begins a shy, reserved relationship with his neighbour, Carey Mulligan. The opening scene is a tense car chase (or non-chase) that sets you up for more of the same, then wrongfoots the audience by steering them into a romantic cul de sac. When Mulligan's ex turns up, you suspect things are going to go bad for our hero: just how bad you'll never guess.

Drive is a movie where bad people do bad things, and good people do worse. It has moments of horrific violence which might have passed unnoticed in an action movie yet stand out like the aforementioned bagpipes here. It has Christina Hendricks, like you've never seen her before. It has a magnetic performance from Mulligan and a mumbling intensity from Gosling that recalls Brando at his white-vested best. It has a weird soundtrack made up of 80s synth bands. It feels like it could be happening right now or any time in the last five decades. It might be one of the best films I've seen this year... but I'm still not sure I actually enjoyed it.

Never Let Me Go

I was torn over whether I wanted to see this film. On the one hand it features Keira Knightley (ugh). On the other, Carey Mulligan, who has yet to annoy me. On the third, Andrew Garfield, the Man Who Will Be Spider. And on the fourth hand, it's adapted from a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro who wrote Remains Of The Day, one of the most emotionally affecting films I've ever seen. Actually, that's three hands to one in favour. Louise didn't even need to cast the deciding vote. Good job, as it only takes one of Louise's hands to beat any number of mine. Never take her on in an arm wrestle.

Anyway, I'm glad we saw it at the cinema. It's a moving love story with a nice speculative twist. If you don't know, I won't tell you - but I was pleased by the way the script at no point actually uses the c-word to describe the characters in question. No, not that c-word. The screenplay credits its audience with half a brain. Not surprising as it was adapted by Alex Garland of The Beach and 28 Days Later.

There's a good reason to see this film even if you don't like Keira Knightley... you're not supposed to like her. She's the other woman, a selfish and spiteful creature who comes between our lovers and prevents them from living the life they should have lived. Of course she comes good in the end, albeit too late to make much difference. And she does ACT a little too much, as though someone's told her she might be in with a shot at an Oscar because the script requires her to "do illness". (Surprisingly, Never Let Me Go doesn't appear to have troubled Oscar at all. Which is a shame.) Mulligan is good value, and Spider-Boy shows great promise. (Let's hope he got the c-word out of his system though, we can do without any of those buggers cropping up in any future Spidey films.) Louise was in tears at the end, though I remained strangely unmoved. It's usually the other way round. I sobbed my heart out at the end of The A-Team. But I'm just an old softie...