CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (May 2022)

  

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

(May 2022)

BODY IS REALITY

 

The senior Cronenberg is back ‘round these parts with Crimes of the Future.

No, not his second, hour-long feature from 1970, but an all-new film that feels like a thematic extension to some of his previous works like Videodrome and eXistenZ. (Little wonder, that, since the screenplay was originally written over two decades ago.)

“‘Human’ is the operative word. Human evolution is the concern. That it's going wrong. That it's... uncontrolled, it's... insurrectional. It might lead us to a bad place.”

We find ourselves in an indeterminate point in the near-future, when the human body has begun to spontaneously grow new organs of equally indeterminate function (so-called “neo-organs”), and thus, bear witness to the violent (and virulent) collision of biological evolution, art, society, politics, pollution, and revolution.

“The creation of inner beauty cannot be an accident.”

With a haunting sonic backdrop by frequent collaborator Howard Shore, the senior Cronenberg once again drops us into an unsettling, disorienting reality, a world where the most mundane of activities like sleeping or eating become disturbing visions of the human body juxtaposed with pieces of shuddery, nightmare furniture.

“An organism needs organization. Otherwise, it's just designer cancer.”

So, yes, if it sounds like old school Cronenberg is back, then you heard right.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Eastern Promises, and as he himself has asserted, he sees no difference whatsoever between that kind of film and this new Crimes.

In his personal assessment, there is no such thing as “body horror.”

But what there is, is that very Cronenberg obsession with carnal transfiguration, the (r)evolution of the human body, and the impact that has on the world outside of all that shuddering skin and mutating meat.

“Long live the New Flesh,” indeed.

“We understand human bodies are changing. I know this quite well.”

(Crimes of the Future key art courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com.)

THE FALL
(Review)


All right. Full disclosure.
I love Tarsem’s The Cell. It has its flaws, yes, but it’s got a whole lot of amazing, noteworthy stuff going for it.
There’s Howard Shore’s score, there’s Eiko Ishioka’s costumes, and of course, Tarsem’s very particular visual flair.
So it was that in the wake of The Cell, I began to actively track his possible feature film work. There was a moment in time when his name was associated with the then-in development Constantine, though that ultimately didn’t happen, due, in part, to what he fondly calls “this autistic child of mine,” The Fall.
And now, here we are, some four years and 24 countries later (the story behind the making of the film is equally as interesting as the film itself), and that “autistic child” is now ready to receive guests…


Following a haunting opening credits sequence in which many clues to the subsequent narrative may be found, we find ourselves in Los Angeles, once upon a time (or the early 1920’s, take your pick), as the paths of 5-year old Alexandria (an impressively unaffected Catinca Untaru) and injured Hollywood stuntman Roy Walker (Pushing Daisies’ Lee Pace), cross due to a misdirected message.
What follows is a tender friendship born out of necessity, a poignant celebration of the power of storytelling, and a breathtaking display of Singh’s artistry and passion.
Those who may have mistakenly written off the baroque imagery of The Cell as a barrage of hollow, MTV-styled trifles, would be well-advised to seek out the heartbreaking wonders of The Fall.


Helping Tarsem author this astounding piece of cinematic wonder are a returning Ishioka (who first impressed me deeply with her work on Paul Schrader’s Mishima, and then blew me away with her Oscar-winning efforts on Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula), first-time feature cinematographer Colin Watkinson, editor Robert Duffy (who’d also worked on The Cell), production designer Ged Clarke, and composer Krishna Levy (also responsible for the music of François Ozon’s Huit Femmes).
And of course, the central performances of Pace and Untaru, which anchor the narrative in a very human space, giving the film and its fantastic visuals, the beating heart any good story requires.
Many of today’s crop of feature directors with their roots in music videos and adverts seem much too preoccupied with framing the pretty pictures without paying enough attention to the narrative. With The Fall, Tarsem safely joins the likes of Mark Romanek, David Fincher, and Spike Jonze, as directors who are as much storytellers as they are visualists. (Incidentally, Fincher and Jonze are producers on The Fall, “presenting” the film to us, its eager audience.)


With his autistic child, Tarsem took home, not only a Crystal Bear from last year’s Berlin International Film Festival, but also the award for Best Film from Sitges, considered by some as the Cannes of genre film.
The Fall is a moving, breathtaking tale about the unbridled, impressionable imagination of the young, and how reality and fiction can bleed into each other in a child’s mind.
It’s also about stories, as both lifeline and currency. It’s about their mutability and elasticity, of their organic nature; how the listener can shape the story even as it unfolds. How, in the end, the story is as much the listener’s as it is the storyteller’s, and how the listener can, in influencing the story, also influence the storyteller in turn.
It’s a daring and wondrous piece of work, The Fall, and anyone who loves stories (as any film geek should), really does need to see this.


Parting shot: The Living and the Dead’s Leo Bill is here as Charles Darwin, as you’ve never seen him before…
Really.

(The Fall OS courtesy of impawards.com [design by The Arterie]; images courtesy of moviereporter.net and premiere.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (79)
THE FLY THE OPERA

The world premiere of the LA Opera/Théâtre du Châtelet-produced opera of David Cronenberg’s The Fly—first mentioned ‘round these parts in an Afterthoughts past—is set for July 2, 2008, at Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet, with subsequent performances on July 5, 8, 11, and 13.
LA Opera will then present The Fly in Los Angeles on September 7, at 2:00PM, for a month-long run at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, officially opening the Company’s 2008/09 Season.

Directed by Cronenberg, the opera is composed by long-time collaborator Howard Shore, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang.
The opera also serves to reunite the director with other long-time collaborators, sister Denise (Costume Design) and Stephan L. Dupuis (Makeup and Creature Design). Handling Makeup, Creature and Puppet Fabrication is Mark Rappaport’s Creature Effects, Inc. Before establishing Creature Effects, Inc., Rappaport worked as a puppeteer on the Chris Walas-directed The Fly II, when he was a mechanical engineer for CWI.
Set design is by veteran production designer Dante Ferretti.

Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch plays the title role of Seth Brundle, Romanian mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose plays Veronica Quaife, and Tristan und Isolde lead Gary Lehman plays Stathis Borans; Okulitch and Donose are making their LA Opera debuts.
The Fly will be conducted by LA Opera Broad General Director, Plácido Domingo.

Of The Fly, Domingo had this to say: “… there is no scientific formula for commissioning [an opera] but only one’s instinct when one listens to a composer’s already existing works. I have heard many of Howard Shore’s scores for such films as The Lord of the Rings and, of course, The Fly and knew that here was a musician who should write an opera. That feeling became a reality when The Fly was chosen as the subject, the acclaimed David Henry Hwang came aboard as librettist and David Cronenberg said yes to recreating his film.”
On Shore’s part, there is this: “I always believed The Fly to be a classic opera story. It’s a tale of love and death, true love surviving in the face of physical decay and ultimate sacrifice. To bring this work to the opera stage has been a longtime dream. I am very proud to be working with these fantastic collaborators in the realization of this dream.”
And from Cronenberg himself: “To be involved in this opera of The Fly is, for me, to travel back not only in time, but to another dimension. It’s a magical re-living of a part of my life, this time playing a completely different role in the creation of a very different animal. I can’t wait to see what happens.”

Neither can we.
I can still recall seeing The Fly for the very first time over two decades ago, and being absolutely blown away by it. Being the Cronenberg diehard that I am, I’ve naturally seen it quite a number of times since then.
Never once did I imagine it would become an opera…
It’s such a magnificently surprising world, isn’t it?

For more details on The Fly, you can visit the opera’s official website.

Parting shot: Reviews of a number of Cronenberg films can be found in the Archive.

(Images courtesy of howardshore.com and theflytheopera.com.)

reVIEW (49)

THE BROOD

As I mention elsewhere in the Iguana, I first discovered David Cronenberg via Scanners. Fascinated by anyone who would put an exploding head on the big screen, I played Betamax Detective and quickly immersed myself in two of his earlier films, Rabid and The Brood.
Journeying ever deeper into Cronenbergia, 1983’s Videodrome saw me as a full-fledged citizen, and though the place isn’t quite as disturbing as it once was, I believe I’ll forever be a happy resident.

Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed), author of The Shape of Rage and head of the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics, believes that rage is an emotion which must be externalized so that his patients can properly deal with their psychological problems. And when his theories find their perfect vessel in Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar), murder and mayhem, Cronenberg style, ensue.

The Brood, David Cronenberg’s fourth feature, explores the idea of will—specifically rage—sublimating into physical form, how pent-up emotions can trigger physiological changes in one’s body. In zeroing in on the troubled marriage between Nola and Frank (Art Hindle), and (through her role-playing sessions with Raglan) Nola’s relationship with her estranged parents (Henry Beckman and Nuala Fitzgerald), Cronenberg also explores how a family’s dysfunction can be passed on from generation to generation, how the scars—physical, psychological, or otherwise—can be handed down from mother to daughter to daughter’s daughter.
(It’s interesting to note that Cronenberg has attributed the inspiration of the film partially to the experience of a painful custody battle with his ex-wife over their daughter Cassandra.)

With an interesting visual echo of Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, Cronenberg’s The Brood is a disturbing piece that boasts fine performances from Eggar and Reed.
The film also has import beyond itself, in that it signaled the beginning of a long-term—and extremely fruitful—collaboration with composer Howard Shore.

The Brood is horror with significant subtext, and in light of news of an impending remake, I’d be remiss in not directing you to the real thing.

(The Brood OS courtesy of impawards.com; DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.com.)

(Thanx go out to the J&R Travel Agency, for arranging my renewed access to the Somafree Institute.)

reVIEW (48)
RABID

Before today, I last saw David Cronenberg’s Rabid in the very early ‘80’s, on Beta. Beyond some key moments, my memory of the film had grown terribly fuzzy over the years.
Now, having seen it again after over two and a half decades, I can safely say it’s got the dodgiest acting I’ve seen in a Cronenberg film, and of all of them that I’ve seen, is the one that can benefit tremendously from a responsible redux (certainly more so than either The Brood or Scanners, both reportedly on the remake block).

In Cronenberg’s second feature film, porn star Marilyn Chambers stars as Rose, whose injuries from a motorcycle accident are treated to a revolutionary skin grafting technique by Dr. Daniel Keloid (Howard Ryshpan), whose Keloid Clinic, Inc. happens to be in close proximity to the accident site.
The surgery though will cause Rose to become a carrier for a rabies-like disease, whose vector was a bizarre, Cronenbergian bit that had never before been seen, and actually has also never been seen since, as far as I know.

The most noteworthy aspect of Rabid is quite possibly the fact that this film is the precursor for recent horror fare like Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, and, from everything I’ve heard about it, Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza’s [REC].
Here, we track the spread of the disease as the narrative follows the characters who have the terrible misfortune of crossing paths with Rose, whose newfound compulsions inadvertently cause the contagion to eventually reach civilized areas.

Scenes of armed security at the mall, and roving garbage trucks assigned to gather the infected and the dead, are just some of the chilling sights Rabid has to offer, scenarios which are arguably more troubling now than when the film was first released in 1977, what, in our post-millennial age of bird flu and SARS.

And, given the sexual trappings Cronenberg surrounds the manner by which Rose inadvertently spreads the disease, Rabid (as with Cronenberg’s debut feature, Shivers) can also be read as an eerily prescient portrait of AIDS.
As timely as Rabid is though, as I mentioned above, the acting leaves a whole lot to be desired. The original score is also rather horrific.* (Howard Shore, why must you still be two films away?)

All told though, Rabid still leaves an impression, in its depiction of the breakdown of civilization in the face of a virulent disease, and the disturbing visual of exactly how Rose spreads the contagion.

* It’s interesting to note that Ivan Reitman—yes, that Ivan Reitman—is an executive producer on Rabid, as well as Music Supervisor. (He also served in similar capacities on Shivers.)

Parting shot: Reviews of other Cronenberg films can be found in the Archive.

(Rabid DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.co.uk.)

(Thanx must go out to Jeb, for making this reunion with Rose possible.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (64)

64.1 CRUISING TRIBECA 2008 (2)
From a field of 120 films in competition, Tomas Alfredson’s vampire film, Lat den ratte komma in (Let the Right One In) took home the feature prize at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, while Thomas Turgoose and Piotr Jagiello (both from Shane Meadows’ Somers Town) shared the acting trophy.

Among the festival jurors this year were Doug Liman, Josh Schwartz, Oliver Platt, Peter Dinklage, Callie Khouri, and Whoopi Goldberg.

A rundown of the other winners this year can be found here.

And, in further Lat den ratte komma in news, in a bidding war for the film’s remake rights—in which Warner Bros., Paramount, and Overture figured in the wheeling and dealing—Hammer Films and Spitfire Pictures emerged victorious.
A writer for the English-language Let the Right One In redux will be chosen shortly.

64.2 THE FLY OPERA ABOUT TO OPEN
Iguana regulars will know I love me my Cronenberg and Shore, so I’d just like to do my part and make note of the fact that the two-act opera of The Fly—directed by David Cronenberg and composed by Howard Shore—is almost upon us.
It’ll be conducted by Los Angeles Opera general director, Plácido Domingo, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang (whose M. Butterfly was taken to the big screen by Cronenberg), and set design by Dante Ferretti (who took home the Oscar this year for his work on Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street).
Scoot on over to http://www.howardshore.com/ for info on tickets.

64.3 REPRISE GETS U.S. RELEASE
Joachim Trier’s Reprise will get its U.S. theatrical release on May 16, and will then subsequently be available as a Netflix rental.

Parting shot: Reviews of Shane Meadows’ This Is England (which also stars Thomas Turgoose), a number of David Cronenberg’s films, and Joachim Trier’s Reprise can be found in the Archive.

(Let the Right One In OS courtesy of shocktillyoudrop.com; The Fly opera image courtesy of howardshore.com; Reprise UK quad courtesy of impawards.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (47)
DREAMS OF GENIES-COME-TRUE 2008

Eastern Promises may have been scarce at the Oscars, but it’s the most nominated film at this year’s Genies, tied with Roger Spottiswoode’s Shake Hands With The Devil (a dozen nominations each). Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, meanwhile, received 7 nominations.
Below are the nomination breakdowns for both films, as well as those for Paul Fox‘s Everything’s Gone Green and Andrew Currie‘s Fido.

Away From Her:
Best Motion Picture
Achievement in Direction (Sarah Polley)
Achievement in Editing (David Wharnsby)
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Gordon Pinsent)
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Julie Christie)
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Kristen Thompson)
Adapted Screenplay (Sarah Polley)

Eastern Promises:
Best Motion Picture
Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design (Carol Spier)
Achievement in Costume Design (Denise Cronenberg)
Achievement in Cinematography (Peter Suschitzky)
Achievement in Direction (David Cronenberg)
Achievement in Editing (Ronald Sanders)
Achievement in Music – Original Score (Howard Shore)
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Viggo Mortensen)
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Armin Mueller-Stahl)
Achievement in Overall Sound (Stuart Wilson, Christian Cooke, Orest Sushko, Mark Zsifkovits)
Achievement in Sound Editing (Wayne Griffin, Robert Bertola, Tony Currie, Andy Malcolm, Michael O’Farrell)
Original Screenplay (Steve Knight)

Everything’s Gone Green:
Original Screenplay (Douglas Coupland)

Fido:
Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design (Rob Gray, James Willcock)
Achievement in Costume Design (Mary E. McLeod)
Achievement in Music – Original Score (Don MacDonald)

To one and all, congratulations. (You can download the complete list of nominees here.)
The 28th annual Genie Awards will take place on March 3, 2008.

Parting shot: Reviews of Eastern Promises and Everything’s Gone Green can be found in the Archive.

(All OS’s courtesy of impawards.com.)

EASTERN PROMISES (Review)

EASTERN PROMISES
(Review)

I have two all-time favorite directors. One is David Lynch. The other is another namesake of mine, David Cronenberg.

My first exposure to Cronenberg’s virulent brand of cinema was in the now vanished (and still sorely missed) Magallanes Theater. The film was Scanners. Enraptured by visions of exploding heads, and aided by the magick of the Betamax, I subsequently sought out this man’s earlier work, and was further mesmerized by Rabid and The Brood.

Moving forward, his became a name I vigilantly kept an eye out for...

Cronenberg’s latest, Eastern Promises, sees him team up once again with his A History of Violence star, Viggo Mortensen.

It’s an excellent and controlled morality tale involving a young English midwife, Anna (Naomi Watts), who crosses paths with the Russian Mafia when she comes into possession of a diary belonging to an under-aged girl who died while giving birth to a baby.

Like A History of Violence before it, Eastern Promises observes the shuddering impact that occurs when the world of crime collides with ordinary, everyday life, and perhaps even more tragically, with the dream of an ordinary, everyday life.
Like Violence, it also boasts some very impressive performances.

Aside from Watts and Mortensen, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Vincent Cassel also grace the screen, as father and son, Semyon and Kirill. (A tattooed Mortensen plays Kirill’s driver, Nikolai.)
Considering the accents involved in this one, the performances here are arguably even better than those in Violence. One has to acknowledge the fascinating display of thespian prowess when an Australian plays an Englishwoman, and an American, a Frenchman, and a German, all play Russians, and you wouldn’t know it by listening to them.*

Granted, the plot isn’t terribly complicated, but what Steven Knight‘s script manages to do is to lay down some very interesting characters, with complexities that are skillfully tapped into by Cronenberg and his brilliant cast.
Cronenberg also brings in frequent collaborators Howard Shore on music, and cinematographer extraordinaire Peter Suschitzky, to make Eastern Promises an even more fulfilling viewing experience.

Yes, there are no Mugwumps or Brundleflies or video assassins here. Not any longer. Cronenberg has apparently left behind his days as the so-called King of Venereal Horror.

As evidenced by A History of Violence, and now, Eastern Promises, his characters no longer find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. These days, we’ll have to settle for extreme instead.

Despite the grounding in the more mundane aspects of existence though, current Cronenberg cinema continues to be riveting and absorbing, and still displays textured performances that draw the audience in, and seduce them to stay, despite instinctive feelings of revulsion towards the on-screen action.
The spell he weaves today is still as potent and all-encompassing as it was in 1977, when a porn star’s armpit became a vector for disease, or in 1979, when Samantha Eggar externalized her rage into murderous dwarves, or in 1981, when a man’s head exploded in full Technicolor glory, and a 13-year-old boy became a life-long devotee.
Yes, Cronenbergia may no longer be as bizarre as it once was, but it’s still a brilliant place to visit.

* Well, technically, Watts was born in England, then raised in Australia, thus, her Australian accent.
And perhaps ironically—given his role in Eastern Promises as a displaced Russian living in England—Mueller-Stahl was born in Tilsit, in East Prussia, Germany, which was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945, and populated by Russian citizens once the original German residents had either evacuated or been expelled.
Tilsit is now Sovetsk, Russia.

Parting shot: Aside from the 3 Golden Globe nominations (Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for Viggo Mortensen, and Best Score for Howard Shore), Eastern Promises has also been recognized by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, who gave a nod to Mortensen for Best Actor.
Check out the 2008 Golden Globe nominees I’m excited about in Afterthoughts (33) in the Archive.

(Eastern Promises OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (33)
2008 GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES (I’m excited about)

So another awards season has begun, and amidst a sea of critics’ nods, the Hollywood Foreign Press releases the first big salvo before the Oscars and the BAFTAs.
Below are the Golden Globe nominations that got me stoked.

Eastern Promises:
Best Motion Picture Drama
Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama (Viggo Mortensen)
Best Score (Howard Shore)

(Sorry, but it’s the only nominated film I’ve actually seen, so it’s the only one I can legitimately get excited about, though below are some nominations for films I’ve mentioned ‘round these parts before.)

Juno:
Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Ellen Page)
Best Screenplay (Diablo Cody)

Lars and the Real Girl:
Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Ryan Gosling)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Best Director (Tim Burton)
Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Johnny Depp)
Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Helena Bonham Carter)

And since I’m also a Sarah Polley and Coen Brothers fan…

Away From Her:
Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama (Julie Christie)

No Country for Old Men:
Best Motion Picture Drama
Best Director (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Javier Bardem)
Best Screenplay (Joel and Ethan Coen)

On the TV end of things…

Dexter:
Best Actor in a Drama Series (Michael C. Hall)

Entourage:
Best Musical or Comedy TV Series
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie (Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven)

Pushing Daisies:
Best Musical or Comedy TV Series
Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy TV Series (Lee Pace)
Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series (Anna Friel)

Congratulations, one and all, and to Pushing Daisies, an additional pat on the back, for scooping up three nominations on the strength of only 9 episodes to date.

You can find the complete list of 2008 Golden Globe nominees here.

Parting shot: Regulars here to the Iguana know I follow Dexter, Entourage, and Pushing Daisies, so you’ll find episodic recaps and reactions in the Archive, where a review of David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises also resides in happy comfort. (Feed it some peanuts. It likes those.)

(Images courtesy of screenhead.com [Eastern Promises]; latimes.com [Dexter]; hbo.com [Entourage]; and thepiemaker.com [Pushing Daisies].)