Ryan McNeilLast week, not long after this trailer debuted online, a shitstorm was kicked up over the fact that it will play in America with an NC-17 rating.
The NC-17 rating is a funny animal. On its surface, it was designated to denote a film that wasn’t something kids under the age of seventeen should be permitted into. The weird thing though, was that over the years, it has very seldom been handed down for a film deemed too violent – it is almost always smacked on something with a sexual nature. Debate that leaning at your leisure.
If you’re like me, you might say “Screw it – If I were the filmmaker, I’d just take the NC-17 and run with it!”. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. An NC-17 film is restricted on when and where it can be advertised, there are certain theatre chains that won’t give them many screens to show on (if any), and certain retailers that won’t carry them for sale later. Mercifully, with dvd rental going more the on-demand route, the lack of shelf space for rental copies amongst the chain rental stores isn’t the issue it used to be.
If Hollywood wants to use NC-17 as a way to say “This is not a movie for kids”, that’s fine…and having seen this film, I can tell you that it really isn’t for kids. But at the same time, you can’t let the rating become a red letter “A” that the film has to work around. If that’s what you want to let it remain as, then you might as well go back to saying the film is rated “X”.
See for yourself, and try to track down this film later this year…if you can find it!
I find this hoopla over the NC17 to be quite silly. Here’s the deal: the MPAA is an unfair organization marked by poor priorities, terribly consistency, and rendered completely stupid by the fact that it’s actually run by the big studios. The application of the NC17 is inconsistent at best and irresponsible at worst, but let’s face it, Shame is very much and NC17 movie. It’s a movie for adults and not at all for young teens or children.
The issue then becomes the stigma, which I reject completely. This is a capitalist world and in the end it all comes down to money. The kinds of films that traditionally get NC17 ratings are not big blockbusters. They’re usually films that would get limited advertising for a limited release anyway. And guess what, if Shame gets a lot of awards buzz and a lot of interest from mainstream viewers, advertisers and theatre chains will make sure to get in on that money. The fact is, most ordinary people don’t even know what the NC17 is, so any stigma is crap. Completely manufactured and amplified by the fact that there are so few NC17 movies, they are usually given the rating for sexual material, and the films that get the rating usually wouldn’t play outside of the four or five major markets anyway.
I’m with you.
Back in the day, studios decided that they wanted to come up with a rating to denote that a film wasn’t for kids since the “X” rating had become so tainted. Allowing the NC-17 rating to get equally tainted is just as bad.
For the life of me, I’ll never understand why video games rated “M” get sold in droves, but everyone seems to get scared off by an NC-17 film.
Man, I wrote a whole piece about exactly this issue yesterday. It was half-inspired by this post and half by some discussion that was happening over at the Filmspotting Forum.
I’m in love with this trailer. Like, for some weird reason, every time I watch it I wanna make a movie. I find that extremely strange.
Anyway, of course I won’t be seeing this film in cinemas, as it will definitely be an R18 here (which is worse than an NC-17 age wise, but no-one actually cares about the rating here as much as they do in the US). So I’ll be seeing this half-way through next year. Until then, I’m just gonna keep on obsessing over Michael Fassbender!
While many who i saw it with were split on their opinion of the film, we were all in agreement that it looked very, very pretty. That could be what’s drawing you in.
In my part of Canada the rating is 18A…which very few films actually get, and seldom is it for sexuality. Interestingly enough, the last film I can remember getting slapped with the rating was KICK-ASS.
Keep that obsession going – hopefully Fassbender and all his shameful actions will get to you sooner rather than later.
Thankfully, I should be in Chicago at the time… thus allowing me access to the film. Looks and sounds great.
Major markets will of course get it – but it’s the fact that those outside of major markets won’t see it that bugs me. I truly wish distributors would wake the hell up.
You don’t know that. If the film gets enough buzz it might expand beyond the 10-20 major markets. But I think it’s useless to get up in arms over such things anyway. I don’t see people making a fuss about the fact that Take Shelter has only been playing the major markets. Or how about The Skin I Live In? Both, as far as I’m concerned, better films than Shame. It’s just the nature of theatrical distribution.
Even if it expands, it will be handcuffed by American theatre chains and their reluctance to give NC-17 films screen time.
Chains like Lowes and AMC would only give a film this arty small exposure anyway. Knowing that it’s coming with the rating of doom will lead them to give it even less exposure.
It’s a different kind of handcuff than just the small-rollout artiness of SHELTER and SKIN. It’s their low-exposure, plus the hot button of being “a dirty film”