David Cronenberg has always skirted the edges of horror, only committing to it as a genre a handful of times with "Deadzone" , "the Fly" , "Rabid", " the Brood" and "Scanners". This is more dark sci-fi with an interesting commentary on art, celebrity and fetishes. In many ways making this like "Crash". The tone of the movie is very film noir. A detective has a man on the inside of the underground surgery scene. Self-mutilation with a di-mechanical twist. The gore is nothing like the hype it was given by Cronenberg himself who said people would be running from the film festival in the first 5 minutes. There is nothing really all that gruesome thanks to the odd special effects, None of the gore is hyper realistic.
Lea Seydoux pretty much steals the show. Kristen Stewart over acts instead of under acts. Viggo Mortensen delivers with the most demanding role of the film , but is less captivating on screen as Seydoux, who gives the kind of quiet urgency that works in Cronenberg's worlds. The chemistry with all the actors is not consistent and I expected things to be more stylized in terms of cinematography. Rather than watching this in one setting I split my viewing up in fifteen minute increments, the pacing was such that this made sense, I never felt compelled to keep watching it I just trudged through it once I stared determined to make it through. The weirdest part might be the deadly plastic candy bars.
I appreciate what he did here. It is different from his other movies in less ways than it is the same. There needed to be more tension. I am not rooting for anyone in this movie. I am not sure I can tell you who the protagonist is either. I think this however is a strong point as this movie does not conform to Hollywood expectations. It also does not feel the need to pander to any demographic and it simply is what it is depending on what you have the stomach for. Not Cronenberg's best but even his middle tier is better than most.
