Ah, the Cronenberg’s. Like father, like son. David’s movie last year, Crimes of the Future, was a mess. A decent concept that turned to garbage. His son has a similar thing with this – an intriguing sci-fi satire with a splash of horror. It visually looks great. Alexander Skarsgard and Mia Goth are both good in it. But…yikes.
The first half of this is so interesting, but then it goes downhill fast. And I still don’t understand how this wasn’t rated X or NC-17. It has sex scenes and sex acts, and shows every bodily fluid you could imagine (of course there’s a barf scene; as I’ve been tallying, it’s now up to 73.8% of all movies having a throw-up scene).
The story involves a struggling author named James Foster (Skarsgard), who has what every writer in a movie has – writer’s block. His rich wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) brings them to a luxurious resort to hopefully inspire him. It’s on an island called La Tolqua, that’s surrounded by poor people that are rather murderous.
When a fan of the author named Gabi (Goth) strikes up a conversation, she and her husband Alban (Jalil Lespert) talk them into going out for dinner and…hijinks ensue!
There are strict orders not to leave the resort property. It’s even guarded with barbed wire and armed guards. Yet the new couple talks them into going out, where they end up getting drunk on the beach. When the lights on the old Cadillac malfunction, they run over a local farmer. Of course, they don’t get away with it, but I can’t tell you what’s done to them. I will just say – this is science fiction, and it’s rather fun. It’s also interesting to sit in the theatre and wonder what you would say and do, when being questioned by authorities and knowing they have no problem executing you on the spot.
Yet after we see the results of the punishment, things slowly go downhill. That doesn’t mean it’s not interesting visually. And, as we were warned in the beginning of the movie about people prone to seizures should be careful, there’s a frenetic energy to the dancing, orgies, and drug trips. The sex scenes feel gratuitous. It’s like they’re trying to shock the audience for the sake of shocking them, instead of serving the narrative.
There are a few moments of humor that work (I especially enjoyed seeing James smoke a cigar with one of those creepy masks on). And just as Skarsgard was great in The Northman last year, both movies end up being idiotic, but with terrific performances.
I also loved the propulsive, percussion-driven score from Tim Hecker. With the cinematography, it created a nice atmosphere.
But ultimately, this film felt incomplete and left too many unanswered questions and areas that weren’t explored properly. Yet my wife and I, despite being grossed out, were never bored.
2 stars out of 5.