I Call it Video Art

I always wondered how exactly Steve McQueen, a young British filmmaker, also a winner of the Turner Prize, was going to surprise the audience after his great 2008 debut film Hunger about the 1891 Irish hunger strike. Frankly speaking, I would never have come up with something like Shame. Telling us an oddly moralistic and slightly disturbing story, accompanied by Bach’s music, performed by Glenn Gould, which in fact exemplifies the routine, order and consistency of the lifestyle of the main character; and Blues that emphasizes the dramatic nature of the plot, every single shot of this movie looks like independent video art. This approach to filmmaking derives from McQueen's background in Fine Arts (Art and Design at Chelsea College of Art and Design, later Fine Art at Goldsmiths College). This film penetrates your mind, while you are watching it, not for its suicidal topic, it’s not the scenario this time, it is Steve McQueen creating a piece of art together with a brilliant cinematographer, Sean Bobbit, and the incredible Michael Fassbender. Don't expect to be amazed, this movie is different, sophisticated and powerful; definitely think of it from another perspective, don't see what you see on the screen; see what is behind it. Think of this film as of Art!

FP