CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

David Cronenberg labeled himself as an existentialist and in an interview regarding his latest film, CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, Cronenberg said that an existentialist is often thinking or looking toward the future. He is correct in a Heideggerian ontological sense as in “being-towards-death” in Heidegger’s systematic philosophy book, BEING AND TIME. After seeing all of Cronenberg’s films, it is clear that Cronenberg’s recurring motif is “the flesh.” Cronenberg’s motif is the disintegration (the body horror), or sexualization and fetishization, of the human flesh. Cronenberg is a phenomenologist of the flesh and his films are a phenomenology of the flesh (VIDEODROME, DEAD RINGERS, EXISTENZ, THE FLY).The characters in CRIMES OF THE FUTURE are obsessed with the evolution of the human being to the point of fetishizing human organs through performance art. Live surgery as in removal of a human “neo-organ” or an autopsy of a presumably evolved corpse is a spectacle. The obsession of the flesh results in neurosis among a small human community and decrepitude in the background—every setting demonstrates old housing decay such as the walls are scratched and in need of restoration. The decay in the background illustrates that through passage of time, the priority of this neurotic obsessive community is only the flesh. In this future, the flesh is advancing but technology is behind—there are no cell phones, there are only old televisions and old cameras still being used, and the buildings are decrepit. The Kristen Stewart character behaves in a neurotic manner and becomes sexually attracted to Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) after seeing his performance art surgery removal of a “neo-organ.” Saul Tenser’s human flesh has the ability to create new organs. However, the being of Saul Tenser also seems like a form of cancer as the Tenser character is reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman’s Death in THE SEVENTH SEAL as he is cloaked in a black hooded robe hiding like a cancer chemotherapy treatment patient—and his new organs have to be removed like it is a form of cancer as it is assumed that he will die if the “neo-organ” is not removed. Saul Tenser in the end—I am assuming—is only a link to the evolution of the human flesh because of the tears in his eye in the end.

Not that I have anything against David Cronenberg's more "respectable" work, such as "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises", fine films that would do any director credit. But when I think Cronenberg, I'm thinking Body Horror. Weird anatomical distortions, terrifying morphologies, creepy organic weapons, an anything goes take on what the human body can get up to."Crimes of the Future" delivers. Wow, does it deliver. If you like your movies unhinged and literally like nothing you ever thought of before, let along what you've seen before, this is a gruesome romp for you.Probably not your best first date movie, but for connoisseurs of the extreme, first rate.No wonder nobody saw it in theaters. We're not in Kansas anymore.

#1 CAREFULLY! Remove the DVD from it's case without damaging the center hole,#2 break off the left/right hub lock tabs,now be drawn into a not so unbelievable movie about humanity changing physically due to food contamination.Don't believe it? You will after seeing Viggo Mortenson's 5* portrayal of the process! Lea Seydoux and all supporting actors are equally up to the task of making it real, discreetly and not so discreetly, horrible, sexual/sensual & sensitive,at times making you want to shut your eyes but you can't! Rent it, view it,buy it,I did! ( 4* rating only for some minor dialogue & special effects issues)

I'm a fan of Videodrome, Scanners, and several other Cronenberg films, so it's not as if this should have been a surprise...but it kinda was. The story is set in an unspecified future where pollution has resulted in some interesting twists in human evolution. The plot, such as it is, is a bit hard to follow at first, but it eventually draws you in, if for no other reason than you're trying desparately to figure out the multiple plot lines. Most of the effects are well done, although a few were surprisingly cheap-looking. The main characters are all well acted, with my favorite being Kristin Stewart as "Timlin". The ending took some serious thought after watching the film to "get" what happened, which to me is the sign of a good story.The 4K presentation was spot-on, with excellent colors (although a lot of the film has a dark or sepia tone) and good spatial separation. Overall, a good film that is worth watching. And rewatching.

I love Cronenberg, and this is a step up from Maps of the Stars, but it's not quite the return to form I think we were all hoping for. It's more like a series of elliptically rendered auteurist motifs than it is an actual story with an actual point, and while this description might have you thinking it's some kind of post-human fever dream that proles like me cannot appreciate, I assure it's really more like a lugubrious first draft of a movie that might have seemed fresh thirty years ago. Harsh? I don't mean to be. I love Cronenberg. I love him so much that I love Existenz and Fast Company as much as Videodrome and Scanners. I am prone to saying things like "no writer/director ever had as great a run as Cronenberg did from 1975-1999." So why am I here on Amazon slagging his most recent effort when a real fan would give it five stars in hopes that heady blu ray sales might encourage funding for his next film? Well the Amazon review thing promised to "tell me a joke" if I reviewed six more items and I'm really helpless to resist such a clarion call. Post humanism, funnily enough, turns out not to be designer tumors and performance art autopsies, it's actually just following the dictates of an algorithm until the day you attain the real post-humanism, ie: the one that eventually claims us all. To that end, maybe it's okay to waste some of the time you have left watching Crimes of the Future, but you probably don't want to waste too many of your material resources as well.