The Cronenberg Thread

loved it. beth's right - this is like ahov with the fat removed.

i've read several capsule reviews that mention cassel being miscast and thus the weak link, but i didn't see it.

I just saw Eastern Promises - I thought it was fantastic.

Very much one of those films where you can spend the train ride home thinking of another and another detail whose significance didn't immediately occur to you. The bathhouse fight was incredibly gripping - although I could have done without the "Oh shit, fat dude is still alive!" moment.

I just got my copy of Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Vol 2, the first volume of which, when delivered into Cronenberg's hands, provoked a rewrite of the original script of Eastern Promises. It's quite beautiful; I mailed Fuel today asking whether vol 1 would come back into print. (Volume 1 goes for several hundred $, as best I can tell.)

although I could have done without the "Oh shit, fat dude is still alive!" moment

fat dudes die hard

i liked this, but then i ran into a girl from kiev who hated it, and now i'm not so sure. it was cool and entertaining. and the bathhouse scene was pretty amazing and it brought back old(er) cronenberg for me (not just because of the blood, but because of the staging.) but it was a little too contrived at the same time, a couple of lines peeked through that built-up noir world.

I think the Hitch comparison was a good one - it was more of a tightly written thriller than a realistic crime story.

Just saw a History of Violence. Holy shit it's intense and suspenseful and man, that guy's head sure gets shot open. Want to know what happens to his son.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/15520/naked-lunch

two-disc edition of The Fly now at HMV for $4 (in toronto, at least). The second disc has a 2 1/2 documentary + the usual extras.

man ahov was great, finally saw it for the first time -- generic 'is dr. morbius wrong about everything' comment here -- i dont get why ppl think its 'pretentious' or whatever. it avoided camp i guess, in a way that made it seem really severe/stark. i also dont think it was at all about 'violence behind the scenes in small towns!', more about how the cost of peace is violence, and how violence exists in a lot of diff forms & whathaveyou throughout history ... nothing particularly pretentious about it tho, other than the discourse around it being 'ppl took this film seriously'

http://jaded4good.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/jameswoods.jpg http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/080408/Viggo-Mortenson_l.jpg http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/pv/Peter%20Weller-3.jpg

Has anyone else noticed this?

lol @ viggo's flag pin

you left out Jeremy Irons

but yeah he likes guys with pronounced cheekbones and penetrating stares

http://imstars.aufeminin.com/stars/fan/jeremy-irons/jeremy-irons-20060115-102615.jpg

His eyes are brown tho U SEE

http://www.jdmfilmreviews.com/images/existenz-teeth-gun.jpg

cherubic outlier

http://www.nbc.com/Raines/images/bios/jeff_goldblum.jpg

See he doesn't look like that in the Fly BUT Goldblum-in-the-Fly does look sort of like the-Fly-era-Cronenberg

http://www.northernstars.ca/NSCollection/cronenberg_videodrome.jpghttp://www.channel4.com/film/media/images/Channel4/film/F/fly_1986_xl_01--film-A.jpg

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00020/David_Cronenberg_Oct_20278t.jpghttp://www.erratica.us/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/easternpromises.jpg

stephen mchattie:

http://incrediblycool.ca/wp-content/uploads/stephen-mchattie-watchmen.jpg

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00020/David_Cronenberg_Oct_20278t.jpghttp://www.moonbattery.com/archives/richard_belzer.jpg

Am I really going to have to be the first person to mention Cosmopolis on this thread?

Yes, please do.

but what about?

http://www.evilontwolegs.com/uploads/jon/jon10vamps/vampire7.jpg

He's making a movie of DeLillo's Cosmopolis.

I'm afraid that's all we know.

That's... intriguing? I guess?

Halfway through Cronenberg's screenplay Elias Koteas crashes into Packer's limousine and starts furiously humping the armrests.

Yeah, no doubt whatever that turns out to be, it won't be Delillo. Maybe he liked the idea of it because it's one of those "plots" that you can hang anything off of, and of course Cronenberg shows up at every party with a big aged oak cask of his own neuroses.

so are you saying it's gonna be a kegger?

You know it.

He has mellowed out in his middle years, to be fair. He no longer holds your feet up and screams at you to chug.

Am I forgetting something, or was Rabid the only film he made with a female lead?

eXistenZ, kind of?

I FINALLY watched A History of Violence. I've seen Eastern Promises three times but I have no excuse for not watching this like four years ago.

I also finally watched A History of Violence last night! And then read through most of the comments about it that were posted or linked upthread, many of which are frustratingly wrong-headed -- "well jeeze david, of course violence is terrible and icky and doesn't solve anything, we all know that already! also just FYI you sort of accidentally showed violence solving some things in your movie, you might want to fix that before the DVD comes out."

also, I didn't see anyone comment on one of the elements I found most interesting: the fact that Tom/Joey almost never intimidates people. he doesn't use violence as a threat, he just remains calm as long as possible, then flips the switch and kills everyone as quickly and efficiently as possible (highly significant exception: when he slaps his son for talking back). this isn't necessarily a good thing, though, and it's not portrayed as one; there are good and bad people on both sides of the intimidation/violence divide (Tom/Joey, his son, and the serial killers vs. the mafia, the police, and the bullies). in some cases, the movie seems to suggest, a telegraphed show or threat of violence, unpleasant though it may be, can defuse a situation before it goes too far. the whole bullying subplot illustrates this pretty well -- the bully isn't really a violent guy, he's just a prick who gets a kick out of going through this bullshit macho posturing ritual with kids who are lower on the totem pole. the son's response is 'violent' in the sense that it breaks the rules of this game -- in fact, this is kinda the film's thesis: violence is something that always appears excessive and uncalled-for. even if it's not explicitly pro-intimidation, it certainly calls into question the morality of the archetypal "good man who's been pushed to the breaking point".

basically I think this film is operating beyond the simplistic "hey guess what, there is VIOLENCE in the heart of EVERY MAN!!!" analysis that people are accusing it of; it takes that as a starting premise and asks, okay, now that we all agree on this, does that knowledge entail any moral obligations for us, either as individuals or as a society?

Just saw Naked Lunch again. Has he ever used a supporting cast this well (Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Roy Scheider, Julian Sands, etc).

dont think i posted abt it, but 'shivers' is pretty great

xp - I think the supporting cast in Naked Lunch was probably the best of all of his, usually there are only one or two standouts.

Eastern Promises is the first Cronenberg in a while that I've really loved. I think Viggo Mortensen gave one of the best performences I've ever seen.

So funny this got revived. We just finished watching Videodrome 10 minutes ago.

He is apparently re-remaking the Fly. After already adapting it into an Opera.

This is either depressing or Next Level Shit on the order of Herzog doing a Bad Lietennant movie with Nic Cage.

the fly is def one of those movies where there's no way the CGI fx are gonna be nearly as gruesome and effective as the old-school latex and karo syrup gore was.

for sure. though i doubt senor c-bergo would over-rely on cgi.

i don't know if it's gonna be a straight-up remake or some other new thing. a cinematic adaptation of the opera would be kind of hilarious.

Just like Michael Mann and Miami Vice, I guess.

flyami vice

Where's that JBR names thread.

Watching 'The Brood' now. Saw 'The Dead Zone' and 'eXistenZ' two days ago.

Thoughts?

Also, I didn't know Oliver Reed was in this.