First a bit of context: as a passionate movie snob I have an hilariously complicated relationship with the work of David Cronenberg. The premises on which the bulk of his movies are based are very much inherently interesting to me. However the thing with DC is that, imho, he rarely follows through in bringing these excellent ideas to “fully delivered” status. The ones where he delivers in full: Shivers, Existenz, The Fly, Dead Zone (though this is a S King story). The frustrating ones: Naked Lunch, Videodrome (big swing and a miss, unfortunately), Rabid (though I bailed early on because sooooo slow and boring), Cosmopolis (same and also, the book itself ain’t half bad). Outlier Spider was a singular experience to have walked in on a whim one weekday afternoon; it was neither “good” nor “bad” in the conventional sense, rather, it was what I mentally needed at the moment in time.
So…Crimes of the Future last night: All the shortcomings of those aforementioned “frustating” ones have been pleasingly resolved in COTF. Also, I think it’s his masterpiece because it pretty much contains all of the themes that he’s consistently been dealing with since day one. Plus, within the context of our contemporary culture — which, as I see it, very much overvalues the work of young artists (for all the most shallow, unfounded of reasons) — it’s inspiring to see an elder filmmaker kick so much ass.
#Letterbox #Letterboxing🥊