Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan
Trailer
Certificate: 18

Michael junior. Little Fassmember. Magneto’s helmet. It’s easy to get distracted by the carnal knowledge of Michael Fassbender on offer in Shame, but the film is much more than that. Following on from Hunger, Steve McQueen’s second film (co-written with Abi Morgan) is just as bold, equally uncomfortable, and perhaps even more mesmerising.

Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender are reuniting in Shame. The pair, who worked together on the incredible IRA prison movie Hunger (go watch it now), are set to do the same for McQueen's second directorial effort.

Shame tells the story of of Brandon, a 30-something who has trouble controlling his love life in New York. But this ain't no Sex and the City: co-written with Brick Lane's Abi Morgan, the aim of the film is to examine the human nature of need, and the way experiences can shape a person's life. Producer Iain Canning gets it, describing McQueen as a director who is "not afraid to turn a mirror on the world".

In short: expect something remarkable from this pair. After all, Hunger went on to nab the Camera d'Or at Canne and Venice's Gucci Prize.

Shame will be touting its business about at Toronto Film Fest this week. It starts shooting in January.

Mike Leigh has described Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's decision to abolish the UK Film Council as "totally out of order". The announcement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sports came yesterday, shocking both the public and the UK film industry.

"It's very shocking indeed," the Vera Drake director told the BBC. "It's from left of field in a very sudden and devastating way." Leigh's not the only one against the decision, which will see the organisation, established by Labour to to develop and promote British films, completely disbanded. 

The coalition government are putting the move forward as a way of cutting costs. The Culture Secretary said that the aim was to form a "direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute" - the DCMS have stated that the funding of British films will continue, but have released no further details on who would be distributing the money (which is why they invented the UKFC in the first place).