One-Track Mind: A Review of 'Shame'

Saw and thoroughly enjoyed British artist turned filmmaker Steve McQueen's unflinching new film, "Shame." Michael Fassbender -- who I didn't realize looks distractingly similar to Jon Hamm with lighter hair (or the other way around, depending on which actor's work you were familiar with fist) -- delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as Brendan, a sexy and sexually driven Manhattanite whose unconstrained life is upended when his flaky and clingy younger sister (played by Carey Mulligan -- who looks incredibly similar to Michelle Williams with her short blond 'do) shows up from Los Angeles needing a place to stay and two shoulders to cry on.

There's so much to like about this film: The continual full-frontal nudity of its leading man (no Irish curse here, kids). The contentious relationship between brother and sister, which practically nearly leaps off the screen in sometimes shocking ways -- Brendan is tired of cleaning up Sissy's messes, Sissy thinks Brendan has a responsibility to be there for her no matter what because they're the only family each other has. The cinematography, which oozes sexual desire (if "Sex and the City" made people want to move to Manhattan, "Shame" will make you want to have a one-night stand with it).

And the dinner scene with Brendan and a coworker, which just might be the most memorable film moment of the 21st century. (You won't believe it wasn't a hidden camera on an actual first date.) My only (tongue-in-cheek) qualm about "Shameless" is that I went into it thinking it was a film about sex addiction, yet found Brendan's private life -- a smorgasbord of porn magazines, porn videos, porn Web sites, online hookups, pickups on the street, pickups on the train, sex clubs, masturbating in the workplace bathroom -- to be oddly similar to just about ever guy I know here in Chelsea. If this is addiction, perhaps I spent the late '90s and early '00s in a 12-step program and just never bothered to get in touch with my sponsor.

My grade: A