David Cronenberg’s latest is not a great film, but it’s a very good one. However, over time I believe it might be considered his magnum opus. It a late-career statement from a major auteur.
In fact, Cronenberg has been building his entire career towards making “Crimes of the Future.” It’s a meditative work that encompasses all of the obsessions he’s tackled in his legendary 45 year career.
The 79-year-old director has made a film about his ultimate topic: the body. ‘Crimes’ is set in a future where the body is slowly disintegrating, to the point where it has become an artifact, it’s own form of art. I mean, how much more Cronenbergian can it get?
In this Cronenbergian future, people can’t feel pain, but Saul Tenser sure can. He’s played by a very playful Viggo’s Mortensen. His body is a muse to artist Caprice (Lea Seydoux), they put on performance shows where she cuts him open and takes out his unusual organs, which she’s tattooed for good measure.
It’s a future where human species are adapting to a synthetic environment, so much so that Saul’s organs may be going through some kind of metamorphosis. He can’t swallow properly anymore, nor can he walk without Caprice’s assistance. He wants answers as to why his body is degrading.
Meanwhile, a detective hires Saul as a mole to infiltrate an underground group that is seeking him out. They might have an answer and cure for what’s going wrong with him. Led by Lang (Scott Speedman), they believe Saul might be the next phase of human evolution: plasticization.
I won’t lie, some of the plot of “Crimes of the Future” is dumbfounding, even Kirsten Stewart admitted it. K-Stew plays a worker at the government-funded National Organ Registry, where she and Wippet (Don McKellar) keep track of all the new and unusual parts evolving in the human body. They become obsessed with Saul.
The film, unlike any I’ve seen before, embodies elements of science-fiction, noir, horror and romance. Cronenberg doesn’t hold back on the gore either, especially when it comes in depicting Saul’s interior anatomy, not to mention the brutal murders of several characters.
Sex, violence, gore and, most especially, body-horror are featured in “Crimes of the Future,” which isn’t as shocking as one might think, but rather contemplates the role of anatomy and what makes us human. Cronenberg is right at home here, and he invests his moviemaking with the passion of a visionary madman. [A-/B+]
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.