The gay scene was absolutely necessary to show just how addicted to sex the Fassbender's character was. I saw an interview with a male porn star once who did straight and gay porn, but was essentially heterosexual. When asked how he felt doing gay porn as a straight guy he said "for me it's just about getting off, how I get off is irrelevant". As a sex addict Fassbender's character would just have seen it as a way to 'get off' without any emotional connection. Who cares if it's a man? As long as I'm getting off and feeding my addiction.
There's a line from an Outkast song: "Sex is always better when there are feelings involved." There are no feelings here, and that's the point. He's driven by something inside him and he's not enjoying himself, or capable of feeling anything for his partners.
saw this a few weeks ago. I thought that it was really good: quite engaging, well directed, existenital, sad, ambiguous. Crucially though, it's not boring, a real movie for grown-ups. Fassbender is great Even if you didn't fully engage with the film, you must agree that Fassbender not getting an oscar nod is strange.....
I think the girl Fassbender meets at the beginning and the end, the girl on the subway, is someone his character meets regularly. Notice her rings. They are different at the end than at the start. Anyone know about the Irish Claddah Ring? Wear the ring one way and it says 'my heart is open (and available), wear it another way and it says 'I'm taken(and therefor not available). My theory is Fassbender and the girl meet and have sex regularly. The rings is a code, as to whether she is up for it or not. At the start of the film ,my guess is she has just had a soul searching episode, like Fassbender will have later in the film. This is why she wears the rings a certain way. she's trying to give up being a sex addict herself. However, when they meet for the second time in the film, she has probably fallen off the wagon and is up for it again, although Fassbender is where she was at the start, he's now the one trying to mend his ways. Interesting too that that scene takes place on a train, where people pass by each other, having parallel journeys, but in opposite directions.
I saw somebody else suggest that by the end of the film she has started having affairs and so she is taking her rings off more and putting them back on differently.
that's a pretty good assessment. Fassbender and McQueen clearly work very well together. I kind of suspect if it was another actor in the lead role, the film may have been harder to like.....and easier to turn off :)
It’s purposely un self realised. It wasn’t necessarily a coming of age/character transformation arc. It was well this is his life and you do the rest. It sacrificed a lot of the narrative for other forms of expression, but purposely so. It’s like a fly on the wall documentary on an issue many people can relate to more than a transformation/growing story. Ironically putting it much closer to life than a conceptualised A-Z movie
@Playlistv2 It doesn't need to be a coming of age story to dig a little deeper, though. Why was he like that, and what the deal was with him and his sister? "we're not bad people, Brandon."
@@rossl5908 But that’s the point if you look for details in the past you will only contrive what the film is attempting to do and will lose all potential relatability. Most people and things although have a back story, is sort of immaterial to the wider scope of what’s happening in the here and now. As opposed to linking what caused it.
@@rossl5908 The causality would’ve been harder to depict and would’ve been easier to criticise. i too wanted that clarity, but the film didn’t need it. In fact, would’ve probably detracted from it. Use your imagination as to why him and his sis are so f%%ed up, since i believe, this is part of the films intention. i only watched it earlier that’s why it’s so fresh and your take is definitely valid, but also tells me you somewhat missed the point of the film. There are seemingly lots of interpretations to what happened and what each person represents etc
I thought "we're not bad people we just come from a bad place" was a cop-out. Why can't he just be addicted to sex and porn because he just is? Why does it have to be the result of implied abuse?
'Politically problematic' Is that your way of saying PC Mark? People are really getting sick of the loopy way that PC is being used as propaganda just like an accusation of anti Semitism to stop people thinking and talking and criticising.
