My Review: Hunger (7/10)

"I have my belief, and in all its simplicity that is the most powerful thing."

Steve McQueen's feature debut, Hunger, is a realistic and brutal portrayal of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) activists who are protesting their miserable treatment at the Belfast prison known as The Maze. Hunger is a challenging film to watch due to the brutal and unflinching portrayal of such a dark period in our recent history. If you have a weak stomach then you might want to stay away from this film because it is really gruesome. The way McQueen's camera captures the events and allows the images to tell the story is truly remarkable. We get extreme close ups of characters faces and hands that tell us a lot more than words possibly could. The film doesn't actually center on one character as it begins by following one of the prison guards as he goes off to work, then we are introduced to one of the prisoners who has just arrived at the Maze and is refusing to wear a prison uniform, and finally the film focuses on Bobby Sands a prisoner who is protesting their treatment with a hunger strike. What he is looking for is political prisoner status and despite their efforts they have been refused. The images in Hunger are disturbing but powerful. Of his three films, Hunger is possibly his weakest one, but it is still an extraordinary movie. He has perfected his craft with each upcoming film and is slowly inserting himself among my favorite directors. 

Steve McQueen and Enda Walsh's brutal screenplay centers on the battle between the IRA imprisoned activists and the British guards that took place in 1981 in the Maze prison of Northern Ireland. It opens with  a scene of a prison guard (Stuart Graham) heading for work. His knuckles are full of blisters and before he gets in his car he checks that there are no bombs hidden under it. It's an interesting way in which McQueen portrayed the constant threats and fear of retaliation the guards were under. Once he arrives at the prison we are introduced to Davey (Brian Milligan), a new IRA prisoner who is refusing to wear his uniform and claiming for political status. The guards refuse to listen to him and lock him up with another prisoner named Gerry (Liam McMahon). Their cell is smeared with excrement all over the walls and the conditions are pitiful. It's their way of expressing their resistance towards the brutal treatment they receive from the guards. Their efforts are useless. Halfway through the film we are introduced to another IRA prisoner, Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), who has decided that the best way they can protest is by beginning a hunger strike. In a memorable scene between Sands and a visiting priest (Liam Cunningham) we hear his reasoning for behaving this way.

The performances in this film are really amazing, Michael Fassbender especially as he undergoes an incredible physical transformation. I think his work in all 3 films with McQueen are absolutely breathtaking. He is perhaps one of the best actors working today. The scene between him and the priest which is about 17 minutes long is shot entirely on a single take and it really stands out in the movie. In a film that has very little dialogue that long scene worked extremely well and the dialogue was extremely well written. The rest of the cast also deliver a strong performance, but it isn't until Fassbender shows up on screen that the film truly picks up and engages us. Hunger is carefully crafted and McQueen uses every single shot to such an incredible effect that those images speak more than words. Hunger may be disturbing for most audiences, but it is extremely well made and hugely effective.

My Review: 12 Years a Slave (9/10)

"I will not fall into despair till freedom is opportune!"

Steve McQueen is a brilliant filmmaker who makes movies that are sometimes difficult to watch, but at the same time are powerful and engaging. His characters usually are troubled souls who experience some sort of physical, psychological, or emotional torture. They are slaves of their circumstances, and no character literally captures these elements as well as Ejiofor's Solomon Northup as he is chained and sold into slavery. Some people claim that films about slavery and the Holocaust are overdone and exploitive, but I disagree, if made right they can be powerful and sensitive like was the case with 12 Years a Slave. The same people that make these claims are the ones that don't mind going to see five or six superhero or vampire films a year. There are good superhero movies and terrible ones, and it's the same thing with films dealing with these dark historic moments. This film isn't just a movie about slavery, it's a movie focusing on Solomon's story, it's a character study focused on an exceptional man who is determined not to lose hope or fall into despair. I'd even go as far as saying that more than a film about slavery, this is a dramatic and thrilling movie about the lack of human compassion. There are several villains in this film and they aren't only the slave masters, we see several scenes were even slaves turned their backs on each other, and that lack of compassion is what truly captured the essence of this film.

This beautiful screenplay adapted by John Ridley from Solomon Northup's autobiographical book, Twelve Years a Slave, tells the story of Solomon (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man and New York citizen who was kidnapped, sold into slavery, and forced to work in several New Orleans plantations during the mid 1800's. This is where Solomon's fight for survival begins as he is determined to regain his freedom and return to his wife, Anne (Kelsey Scott) and two children. Once Solomon is sent to New Orleans he is sold by Freeman (Paul Giamatti) to a wealthy slave owner named Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch). Ford is a kind Christian, but ultimately he really wants to look out for himself and when Solomon has trouble with one of the overseers, Tibeats (Paul Dano), he sells him to a ruthless slave owner named Epps (Michael Fassbender). This is where Solomon's soul is really put to the test as Epps cruelty is unbearable. However, Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) suffers the most from her Master's cruelty as she is raped and despised by Epp's Mistress (Sarah Paulson). We follow Solomon through these tormented 12 years as he experiences all sorts of horrors until he finally finds a compassionate heart.

This superb film benefits from a powerful lead performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor who deserves all the awards he's been receiving. His facial expressions and agony transcend the screen and break our hearts. The same could be said from the supporting performances from Paul Dano, Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays the more complex character and probably the only one that isn't either white or black morally), and Michael Fassbender who is the personification of cruelty. Fassbender, who was also brilliant in McQueen's two previous films, plays one of the most despicable characters in recent film history. McQueen's direction is outstanding and several of his scenes were beautifully shot while at the same time very disturbing. His trademark long takes stand out in this film. The whipping scene is horrifying and the long shot where he is tortured and left hanging while we see everyone else going on with their normal lives is a testament of the central theme of this film which had to do with the lack of human compassion and mercy. This is one of the best films of the year and completely deserves all the hype it's been receiving.

My Review: Shame (8/10)

¨We’re not bad people, we just come from a bad place.¨

It is a shame that Shame did not receive more love from the Academy voters last year because it truly is a powerful film with one of the best performances of the year coming from Michael Fassbender. This is the second time that Fassbender teams up with director Steve McQueen after his feature film debut, Hunger. That film opened up a lot of doors for both McQueen and Fassbender who have outdone themselves again with this raw and dark film about a man who is so addicted to sex and porn that he has completely lost touch with human interactions and relationships. On the surface he looks like a very successful man, living on his own in a nice apartment in New York and being congratulated for his work by his boss who enjoys hanging out with him at night and hitting on women. The viewer could assume that this man is very privileged, however from one of the early scenes we see how out of touch Fassbender’s character really is to human interaction when he hits on a girl on a subway who is feeling uncomfortable with his glances. She tries to avoid contact with him showing him her ring and that she’s married, but Fassbender completely misinterprets these signals and follows her, only realizing later that she is not hitting on him but rather running away from him. We later come to understand his character when he tries to go on a normal date with a co-worker and mentions how he doesn’t believe in relationships. Many people probably don’t consider sex an addiction, but McQueen makes a valid point here showing how negative and destructive it can be on a person by making them completely lose their touch on reality and human interaction. It is similar to Hunger in that the main character begins to lose touch with reality, but on a whole different level here. This film is rated NC-17 because of the strong sexual content, but believe me this is not a sexy or romantic film, it really shows you how addictive sex can be and the toll it can take on people when there is no love or relationships involved.

Brandon (Michael Fassbender) seems to have a very successful life living in New York City and meeting a lot of attractive women. He seems to spend all day obsessed with sex however as we see him with prostitutes and looking at porn in his computer. From the very beginning we see how Brandon enjoys his life while delving into this sexual addiction he has. His boss David (James Badge Dale) even warns him that they have found a large amount of pornography on his computer in the office, but concludes that it had to be an intern that was playing a joke on him because it would take a very sick man to have all that filth on a computer at work. He ends up congratulating Brandon on closing a very important deal at the office and they decide to go out and celebrate with the rest of their co-workers. When David tries to hit on a hot looking girl in the bar, we see how Brandon manages to flirt with her without saying a word and ends up sleeping with her. Brandon seems to have a perfect life, he enjoys the control he has over his life and the fact that he doesn’t have to have a serious relationship. However he loses that sense of control when his sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan) shows up at his apartment and asks him if she could stay with him for a couple of days. They share a very strange relationship, and Sissy seems to come with some baggage of her own, but you can tell that they love each other in a very bizarre way. Nicole Beharie plays Brandon’s co-worker, Marianne, who goes out on a couple of dates with him and is probably the closest thing to a relationship that he has experienced in years.

I already mentioned how well Fassbender and McQueen worked together in this film, but I also have to give credit to Carey Mulligan who gave a very strong performance here as well. She doesn’t get as much screen time as Fassbender, but she holds her own next to his powerful performance. She even has a three minute scene that was shot in one take of her singing her own version of New York New York at a restaurant. She did a wonderful job here as well in this very complicated, dark, and raw human drama. The film plays out really well as this character study and explores sexual addiction in a very different light than most Hollywood films do. This shows you another side to sex and pornography in a very dark light. I think it will play out as a cult film in the same way Requiem for a Dream did. This film delves more on sexual addiction while the other one had to do more with drug addiction. I still can’t believe Fassbender and Mulligan didn’t receive Academy nominations for their strong performances here. This is a very powerful film, but probably not for all considering the dark subject matter.

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