Eric's Grade: C+
After watching a few minutes of 'Crimes of the Future' there is no doubt you are watching a Cronenberg film. It displays classic imagery of body horror that few directors outside of Cronenberg could conceive. To be fair for the last 20 years or so the auteur has made few films that delved science fiction or horror of any kind much less body horror. That said whenever we utter his name the images that come to mind are of body horror such as 'The Fly', 'The Brood' and 'Scanners'. He delves his specific body horror genre with a different methodology here as, while this features graphic displays of body mutilation, the scenes and the narrative are not designed to be horrific in terms of thrills or scares. 'Crimes of the Future' had been slated to be made back in 2003, but it was shelved and Cronenberg went on to other things before dusting it off and retooling his original story in 2021. Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart and Scott Speedman star in this science fiction drama.
In a future that does not seem too distant humans have started to change, some say evolve whereas others believe the changes lead to abomination. The changes that have been wrought seem to center around human physiology. Infection and pain have all but vanished, and some have even had spontaneous organs generate in their body. The cause of these changes are unknown as are what the ends are. The government wants to preserve and protect humans as they have been and thus guard against these changes with a National Organ Registry as well as a New Vice subset of police officers/investigators. Following these changes a culture has risen up surrounding body mutilation as art as well as erotic pleasure. At one point a character even says "surgery is the new sex". Mortensen plays Saul Tenser and Seydoux plays Caprice and together they are a team of celebrated performance artists who thrive in this new subculture. Tenser spontaneously grows new organs, and they put on shows where Clarice uses a special biomechanical to remove the organs during their performance of public surgery as high art. Different agendas surround our two leads as the National Organ Registry is pretty much an odd pair of people that appear to be lured by the performance artist subculture. There are also New Vice agents digging around attempting to maintain their hold on old humanity by controlling and containing the new evolution. Then there is a fringe group that actively advocates for human change by altering human physiology to turn themselves into plastic eaters. All this and more Saul and Caprice face as they navigate this strange and bizarre present into an unknown future.
This film is definitely out there which is par for the course for Cronenberg, but despite seeing some unsettling and graphic body mutilation this is not a true horror film. If anything it could be construed as existential horror, but really exists in the science fiction drama space more than horror. The idea of surgery as sex and performance art in the absence of pain and infection is a fascinating concept although I am sure the graphic nature of the film will dominate people's thoughts as the film closes. It also subtly works in governmental control over personal decisions disguised as welfare of the general populace, but what it really comes down to is them exercising fear and control. As weird as it sounds it would seem like the plastic eaters evolution is good for the future of the race from a survival standpoint, but the head of that movement is assassinated with little fanfare as his crusade is subverted. The actors are all good here at channeling some bizarre concepts, and it takes a second to really catch on to what is going on in this story especially walking in with no idea what you are getting into. If you can wrap your head around what Cronenberg is attempting to say as well as deal with the more graphic nature of the film then there is an enjoyable, thought provoking narrative here. While I found the idea interesting I the narrative was a bit too sparse for me to really get engaged and care about what was happening to any of these people.
After watching a few minutes of 'Crimes of the Future' there is no doubt you are watching a Cronenberg film. It displays classic imagery of body horror that few directors outside of Cronenberg could conceive. To be fair for the last 20 years or so the auteur has made few films that delved science fiction or horror of any kind much less body horror. That said whenever we utter his name the images that come to mind are of body horror such as 'The Fly', 'The Brood' and 'Scanners'. He delves his specific body horror genre with a different methodology here as, while this features graphic displays of body mutilation, the scenes and the narrative are not designed to be horrific in terms of thrills or scares. 'Crimes of the Future' had been slated to be made back in 2003, but it was shelved and Cronenberg went on to other things before dusting it off and retooling his original story in 2021. Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart and Scott Speedman star in this science fiction drama.
In a future that does not seem too distant humans have started to change, some say evolve whereas others believe the changes lead to abomination. The changes that have been wrought seem to center around human physiology. Infection and pain have all but vanished, and some have even had spontaneous organs generate in their body. The cause of these changes are unknown as are what the ends are. The government wants to preserve and protect humans as they have been and thus guard against these changes with a National Organ Registry as well as a New Vice subset of police officers/investigators. Following these changes a culture has risen up surrounding body mutilation as art as well as erotic pleasure. At one point a character even says "surgery is the new sex". Mortensen plays Saul Tenser and Seydoux plays Caprice and together they are a team of celebrated performance artists who thrive in this new subculture. Tenser spontaneously grows new organs, and they put on shows where Clarice uses a special biomechanical to remove the organs during their performance of public surgery as high art. Different agendas surround our two leads as the National Organ Registry is pretty much an odd pair of people that appear to be lured by the performance artist subculture. There are also New Vice agents digging around attempting to maintain their hold on old humanity by controlling and containing the new evolution. Then there is a fringe group that actively advocates for human change by altering human physiology to turn themselves into plastic eaters. All this and more Saul and Caprice face as they navigate this strange and bizarre present into an unknown future.
This film is definitely out there which is par for the course for Cronenberg, but despite seeing some unsettling and graphic body mutilation this is not a true horror film. If anything it could be construed as existential horror, but really exists in the science fiction drama space more than horror. The idea of surgery as sex and performance art in the absence of pain and infection is a fascinating concept although I am sure the graphic nature of the film will dominate people's thoughts as the film closes. It also subtly works in governmental control over personal decisions disguised as welfare of the general populace, but what it really comes down to is them exercising fear and control. As weird as it sounds it would seem like the plastic eaters evolution is good for the future of the race from a survival standpoint, but the head of that movement is assassinated with little fanfare as his crusade is subverted. The actors are all good here at channeling some bizarre concepts, and it takes a second to really catch on to what is going on in this story especially walking in with no idea what you are getting into. If you can wrap your head around what Cronenberg is attempting to say as well as deal with the more graphic nature of the film then there is an enjoyable, thought provoking narrative here. While I found the idea interesting I the narrative was a bit too sparse for me to really get engaged and care about what was happening to any of these people.
Tell Your Friends