The Films of David Cronenberg

[Phillip]

his name has been coming up lately - and i am thinking we haven't devoted a thread to cronenberg. his movies seem to have periods ... right? like the early stuff seems concerned with the body and epidemics - there are obsessions with power and mind control, and there are the later films which, some of us have remarked, perhaps feel like they could have been directed by someone else - there is perhaps the illusion that he has lost his edge - but has he?

it could be fun to just toss out opinions or try to make a list or two - i'm always up for that.

here's my top 5 - and you can probably tell what period i have most enjoyed.

1) VIDEODROME
2) NAKED LUNCH
3) DEAD RINGERS
4) THE FLY
5) RABID

it's kind of tie after that for a lot of films that i like, but think are flawed, but they kind of rule anyway:

v) THE BROOD
w) SPIDER
x) EXISTENZ
y) CRASH
z) SCANNERS

and i like the more recent films - think they are really quite solid, but somehow - yeah, i guess i feel he's lost a certain edge that i used to really admire. even though his films are still kind of controversial, i don't feel they are quite as subversive as they once were.

anywayyyyy, i'm a fan, even when he fails, he has a way of getting under your skin that i love .... in a yucky kind of way, of course!

[Julie]

I've seen #1,2,3 and they all freaked me out! So did CRASH (loved Holly Hunter).

I'd forgotten that he directed SPIDER, which I really liked (with Ralph Fiennes).

I thought EASTERN PROMISES was quite good too. I liked Viggo Mortenson's performance, as well as Naomi Watts's.

The last Cronenberg I saw was A DANGEROUS METHOD, which I didn't particularly care for despite Mortenson and Fassbender. The film wasn't that interesting even though it was set in the world of Freud and Jung.

Can't say I'm the biggest Cronenberg fan, but his films are, for the most part, pretty interesting.

[George]

Well, I'm pretty big on him all in all. taken on a weighted average, he's well above most of his competition. I was rather disappointed with A Dangerous Method as well, but primarily as my level of expection is always high with Cronenberg.

[Terri]

THe Fly and Scanners

[Terri]

A dangerous Method was okay but I wasnt quite satisfied

[Phillip]

i'm wishing i had seen COSMOPOLIS when it was in the theaters ...

[Phillip]

Julie wrote: "I've seen #1,2,3 and they all freaked me out! So did CRASH (loved Holly Hunter).

I'd forgotten that he directed SPIDER, which I really liked (with Ralph Fiennes)."

yes, the top 3 are pretty intense films. i've seen NAKED LUNCH numerous times now, probably because i'm such a burroughs fan - i've grown used to how eerie it is. every once in a while i try to go back and watch DEAD RINGERS, but i can't. that film freaks me out - i can't say that about many films, so that's saying something. VIDEODROME also gets under your skin, but somehow there is a little cheese factor in there that helps distance me from some of the imagery. but DEAD RINGERS, there's no safety net there - just pure psychological terror and a fear of invasion of the body, which is one of the hallmarks of his earlier work.

[Tom]

Well let's see. When I like Cronenberg, I really like Cronenberg. When I don't like Cronenberg, it is usually because I just have no idea what the point of the film is. NAKED LUNCH and EASTERN PROMISES are just closed books to me, as beautifully done as they are.

My Cronenberg picks:

1. THE FLY, the first Cronenberg film to actually depict recognizable human beings as opposed to cardboard cutouts that spew blood and innards on demand.
2. DEAD RINGERS, probably his most disturbing film, Jeremy Irons' career best work.
3. CRASH, well, you know, it's CRASH, man.
4. HISTORY OF VIOLENCE despite the hideous miscalculation of William Hurt's idiotic performance.

The rest are hit or miss. SCANNERS just strikes me as being, despite the surface polish, a terribly silly and amateurish film. SPIDER had some fine moments, I thought. I rather liked parts of COSMOPOLIS, but it falls apart toward the end. I'm sorry to have missed DANGEROUS METHOD.

[Phillip]

films like SCANNERS and RABID kind of remind me of the ridiculousness of b-movies from the 50's. i think that's why i like them - they are seriously flawed and amateurish - indeed, and i think they have a certain (seriously flawed) charm because of it.

[Cate (The Professional Fangirl)]

I love his films starring Viggo Mortensen. They work so well together. Both are sort of dark and deep and does so much with so little words.

[Pickle]

i watched Videodrome recently and really didnt enjoy it but im a fan of Naked Lunch and The Fly.

[Tom]

VIDEODROME has always struck me as being particularly silly. All that New Flesh nonsense, I mean really.

[George]

I prefer The Fly as well. Your list would do well enough for me. As for A Dangerous Method, you disliked William Hurt earlier. I felt much the same way about Keira Knightly in that one. but for me that film just didn't go anywhere. just sort of a relatively limp costume piece. I liked Scanners well enough, but obviously it's not his best.