‘Shame’ Is The Projector’s Movie of the Week

Every week, The Projector gives you our Movie of the Week, the one film that we agree you should run out and see before any other this weekend. We'll recommend a movie, with links to great interviews, our own writings and where you can get tickets. We're not afraid to be service-y!

So, this week's pick is "Shame," a movie we've been unable to get out of our heads since seeing it at the Toronto Film Festival back in September. Directed by "Hunger" filmmaker Steve McQueen, "Shame" stars actor-of-the-moment Michael Fassbender as a Manhattan sex addict coping with the unexpected arrival of his flighty sister (Carey Mulligan). Yes, it's rated NC-17, but this isn't porn: It's a mesmerizing, haunting portrait of a lost soul trying to keep his demons at bay. (We're pretty sure New York City won't be using anything from this movie for its tourism ads, though.) You should definitely check "Shame" out. Here's all you need to know, and how to make that happen:

The Projector Movie Pick of the Week: "Shame."
Director: Steve McQueen.
Quote From Our Review: "On a purely cinematic level, 'Shame' is a massive experience to behold. Director Steve McQueen's approach, in a strange way, isn't light years' different than Nicolas Winding Refn's in 'Drive;' have one real point, don't dig much deeper than that and let your overflowing filmmaking skill (and striking setting, LA in 'Drive' and NYC in 'Shame') carry you the rest of the way."
Quote From Another Critic You Respect: Andrew O'Hehir, Salon. "Fassbender and Mulligan both give massive, irresistible performances (the former won the acting prize in Venice) as people drowning in a hostile sea of commodified sexuality and self-hatred. (For all the nakedness and all the screwing, if you go to "Shame" hoping for a prurient spectacle you'll be disappointed.) McQueen combines '80s disco-pop and 19th-century Romantic music brilliantly, in one of the best soundtracks of the year, and his cinematographer, Sean Bobbitt, uses the antiseptic interiors of contemporary Manhattan as no one has since Mary Harron's 'American Psycho.'"
Quote From Smart Interview With the Director: "I'm grateful Fox wants to release the movie. I mean, it just shows you that there is an audience for serious movies, and I think audiences deserve this cinema. We have to keep cinema alive. It's very important to me. It's not just superheroes and romantic comedies. We need a space for serious film. So I'm just so grateful."
Metacritic Rating: 74.
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 80 .
Clips: Right here .
Where It's Playing: "Shame" opens on Friday in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. If you don't live in one of those five places, hopefully it'll be coming your way soon. Get tickets here.

So, what are you waiting for, people? Go see it! (If and when it's in your city!)

Previous Picks:
November 17, 2011: "The Descendants."
November 10, 2011: "Into the Abyss.
November 3, 2011: "Margin Call."
October 27, 2011: "Like Crazy."
October 20, 2011: "Martha Marcy May Marlene."