4/5
I try to watch a lot of films. I try to avoid the bad ones, but sometimes you just don't see them coming. The unfortunate thing is you can't get that time back. Life is short. I'll try to steer everyone in the right direction. I rate films on a 5 point scale. This will always be a Spoiler-Free blog.
Showing posts with label David Cronenberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Cronenberg. Show all posts
June 13, 2015
Maps To The Stars
David Cronenberg, 2015
4/5
Cronenberg is a man not afraid to go to dark places. With Maps he also shows he's a man not afraid to go to dark places and also not afraid to ruffle some feathers. Maps is an indictment on Hollywood and the celebrity culture that surrounds it. He does this all through a cast of rather dreadful characters. Sociopathic past-her-prime actress Havana Segrand (perfectly cast Julianne Moore in her boldest role since Boogie Nights). Mentally-ill assistant with a shady past Agatha Weiss (Mia Wasikowska). Charlatan health guru Dr. Weiss (John Cusack). Justin Bieber-esque spoiled rich actor kid Benjie Weiss (Evan Bird). Self medicating ghost in the house Christina Weiss (Olivia Williams). Nobody is really spared in the film. They are all figures that have their own ulterior motives, own selfish needs. There is nobody present that has much purity. And yet, with all of the darkness that is emanating through the story, its a completely seductive film. Maybe it's for the pure theater of it all. Maybe it's that you want to see certain people get what's coming to them. Maybe it's because you really want to see how far they will take it. What their personal limits really are. You want to see how low people really can go. How much of their own soul they are willing to sell for a piece of temporary success. Maps makes Los Angeles look like it's a city that belongs on another planet. Because the people in this story aren't really human. They are cold effigies. They are the hollow remnants of creatures that used to be human, but over time lost their souls. Can the L.A. culture really do this to you? Cronenberg would certainly have you believing so.
4/5
June 30, 2013
eXistenZ
David Cronenberg, 1999
4/5
Allegra Geller is a video game designer who is very proud of the new incarnation of her virtual reality game titled "eXistenZ". While showing the game to a group of enthusiastic fans, a mysterious assassin interrupts the presentation. Searching for clues, she figures the only way to get to the bottom of who is after her is to go into her own game and see what she can find.
If The Fifth Element and The Matrix had a baby, it would be eXistenZ. This is a film that perhaps can only be created by Cronenberg. The film is very Cronenbergy; absurd visuals, bizarre stop motion animation similar to his oddball creations in Naked Lunch. At times the film has a very The Fly-like feel to it combined with a very cerebral and intricate story. While a film like History of Violence likely took Cronenberg out of his comfort zone, eXistenZ is a film right in his wheelhouse. It's satirizes humans obsession with technology, specifically with video games and the sense of escapism involved in playing them - but doesn't stop there. Allegra (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is an enigmatic, yet accessible character. Because of the hours spent in seclusion developing her game, she lacks proper social skills and has an odd demeanor to her. When she pairs up with Ted Pikul (Jude Law) to search for the mysterious assassin (or assassins), it's really two opposites coming together. She is the quiet, awkward type and Pikul is the over-cautious extrovert. Jude Law, who is a quite consistent actor, was clearly still working on his American accent while working on this film (the process was quite humorous actually). Cronenberg does a great job of building up the anticipation of actually seeing the virtual world created by Allegra. When you do finally see it, it doesn't disappoint. You enter another dimension and you quickly indulge in the elaborate digital world constructed by Allegra. Just like a video game, the characters even have their A.I. limitations (ie. going off script to an in-game character may throw them off). The comprehensive story maintains it's pace all the way to the climax, and the ending is surprising yet very satisfying. This is a Cronenberg film that probably slipped through the cracks for a lot of people. It reminds me that he's probably one of the more under-rated directors out there. His unusual visual concepts can be compared to Lynch or Burton, and he doesn't just lean heavily on the visuals - with this film specifically he works off of a sophisticated screenplay that should leave viewers feeling satiated. Or at least the ones who like the weird, heady stuff.
4/5
If The Fifth Element and The Matrix had a baby, it would be eXistenZ. This is a film that perhaps can only be created by Cronenberg. The film is very Cronenbergy; absurd visuals, bizarre stop motion animation similar to his oddball creations in Naked Lunch. At times the film has a very The Fly-like feel to it combined with a very cerebral and intricate story. While a film like History of Violence likely took Cronenberg out of his comfort zone, eXistenZ is a film right in his wheelhouse. It's satirizes humans obsession with technology, specifically with video games and the sense of escapism involved in playing them - but doesn't stop there. Allegra (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is an enigmatic, yet accessible character. Because of the hours spent in seclusion developing her game, she lacks proper social skills and has an odd demeanor to her. When she pairs up with Ted Pikul (Jude Law) to search for the mysterious assassin (or assassins), it's really two opposites coming together. She is the quiet, awkward type and Pikul is the over-cautious extrovert. Jude Law, who is a quite consistent actor, was clearly still working on his American accent while working on this film (the process was quite humorous actually). Cronenberg does a great job of building up the anticipation of actually seeing the virtual world created by Allegra. When you do finally see it, it doesn't disappoint. You enter another dimension and you quickly indulge in the elaborate digital world constructed by Allegra. Just like a video game, the characters even have their A.I. limitations (ie. going off script to an in-game character may throw them off). The comprehensive story maintains it's pace all the way to the climax, and the ending is surprising yet very satisfying. This is a Cronenberg film that probably slipped through the cracks for a lot of people. It reminds me that he's probably one of the more under-rated directors out there. His unusual visual concepts can be compared to Lynch or Burton, and he doesn't just lean heavily on the visuals - with this film specifically he works off of a sophisticated screenplay that should leave viewers feeling satiated. Or at least the ones who like the weird, heady stuff.
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