Super 8 (2011)

Starring Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning and Kyle Chandler

The story here is pretty generic - involving a military conspiracy and aliens. There isn't a lot that we haven't seen before, and it is a testament to the child actors and the characters they are able to create that the film is still very good in spite of this. I didn't grow up in the 70's, but I got a real sense of what the time was like and felt a childhood nostalgia while watching the group of adolescents in the film.

A group of kids lead by Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) are shooting a zombie movie. They sneak out at night to film a particular scene at a railroad crossing. During the shoot the train is derailed and a mysterious force escapes. The ensuing sequences of military intervention and the attempts by Joe's father - a deputy sheriff in town - to get to the root of the strange occurrences that begin to take place (animals fleeing, townspeople disappearing and unexplained electromagnetic events) are thrilling and well executed.

The kids are the key to this film. They are like a more mature version of the Goonies dropped into an interesting sci-fi mystery/thriller. Their dialogue and actions show a real knowledge on the filmmaker's part of how kids think and behave. These aren't your standard movie middle schoolers. They are smart, funny and resourceful. Hollywood tends to underestimate the intelligence of children, but not so here.

Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney are very good in their roles. They display an uncommon maturity and have a relationship that never seems forced or over the top. They play their mutual crush effectively and endearingly, and there is never a moment where you roll your eyes at their dialogue or presence.

The 2nd half devolves into a pretty generic action/sci fi picture, but the focus on the group of kids never waivers. They are the heroes of Super 8 - the adults are secondary characters. It's refreshing to see a film break away from traditional cliches in this way. The plot may fall into that trap, but the plucky and bright group of middle schoolers never do. They rise above the film and make it highly watchable popcorn entertainment.

3/4 stars

Shame (2011)

Starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan

I haven't had many movie experiences more intense than when I saw Shame, The latest from director Steve McQueen. It changed how I view the issue of sex addiction and addiction in general. It stars Michael Fassbender as Brandon, a wealthy New Yorker who works at a generic and sterile software company, and suffers from a crippling need to get to his next sexual gratification. He hoards pornography on his work computer, retires to his office bathroom for furious masturbation sessions and hires prostitutes when he arrives home to continue his cycle of sexual gratification. At no point do any of these moments appear pleasurable. He sulks through his days in a masturbatory haze, and is in a great deal of pain for the duration.

His routine is disrupted when his sister Sissy (played by Carey Mulligan) takes residence in his apartment after being thrown out by her abusive boyfriend. She is a free spirit who, like Brandon, has been damaged deeply. A reference is made to their childhood, which implies a deep scarring, but no specific details are conveyed. She has responded to this trauma by acting out, Brandon has collapsed in on himself in a downward spiral. The scenes of Brandon's rejection of her attempts at love and acceptance are searingly painful.

There isn't a complicated plot to be dissected, only two people's pain. Shame is one of the best films I have ever seen at showing this. It does so by giving us just enough of a glimpse into these characters to feel their suffering, but it does not go deeper. It's focus is on the aftermath of tortured lives. I've read some negative reviews of the film complaining that we didn't get to know the Brandon character deeply enough. I feel this misses the point. What McQueen is trying to convey is a person immersed in a hopeless battle to control his compulsions. A deeper analysis of the character would have distracted from that.

I never took sex addiction very seriously as a disorder, but after seeing Shame, my perspective has been altered. If the primal urges in a person can drive them to act the way Brandon does, there must be some deeper cause that simply enjoying sex. On the contrary, it very clearly causes him great pain.

There is a scene late in the film where Brandon visits two prostitutes and a detailed shot of their session follows. The look on his face as he is climaxing is not one of joy, but one of embarrassment and torture. He hates what he is and there is nothing he can do to change it.

The film got an unfair NC-17 rating. I speculate that this stems from the MPAA's ridiculous paranoia of sex in films. Have all the violence you want, but a few sex scenes that show a little too much of the human anatomy and that's apparently going to far. It would be sad if the rating prompts the Academy not to nominate Fassbender for an Oscar. You won't find a better performance all year, and it is one of the greatest I have ever seen in a film.