Shame was that 2011 movie that most people heard about but few people saw. It happens to at least one film each year. In 2009, the movie identified with this label (The Hurt Locker) won a Best Picture Academy Award, putting the talented Jeremy Renner on the map for the first time. In the case of Shame, there was more of a reason for its obscurity than in some of the movies in other years. Shame is rated NC-17, and rightfully so. It chronicles the day-to-day lifestyle of Brandon (Michael Fassbender – A Dangerous Method, Haywire), a 30-something-year-old man addicted to sex. After earning similar recognition at other awards ceremonies, including The Golden Globes, Fassbender was considered a lock for an Academy Award Best Actor nomination. Fassbender, however, was not one of the five finalists for acting’s most prestigious award.
Continue reading Shame (2011)
Category Archives: Art House and Independent
Melancholia (2011)
After being thoroughly disappointed by Terrence Malick’s tone poem The Tree of Life, I was hesitant to watch Melancholia after watching its similar artistic trailer and hearing comparisons between the two movies. However, unlike The Tree of Life, which I went to see thinking would be a good movie, I decided to view Melancholia because some were calling it the best performance of Kirsten Dunst’s (Spiderman, The Virgin Suicides) career. While Dunst was deserving of the praise, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the experience of Melancholia.
Leaving (Partir) (2010)
Subtitled movies don’t bother me as much as they used to. There used to be a day when I would only watch a subtitled film if someone forced me to watch one in one of my high school classes. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I seek out movies with subtitles, but I no longer instantly reject them. In fact, before watching Leaving (Partir), I watched two other Kristin Scott Thomas French subtitled movies (Tell No One) e le Dis à Personne and (I’ve Loved You So Long) Il y a Longtemps que Je T’aime. I was a huge fan of I’ve Loved You So Long. I would have enjoyed Tell No One more had I been paying more attention to it. I may be willing to give it another chance one day. This brings up my next point with subtitled movies. If you hope to get anything out of a subtitled film, you’ve got to devote your 100% attention. I did that with I’ve Loved You So Long, and I did that with 2009’s Leaving as well.