review by David Valkenet
Cosmopolis 2012
Watched Aug 02, 2012
David Valkenet’s review:
I've just come from the cinema after my first time watch. To give you an idea of the context: I'm a huge Cronenberg fan and have seen all his films. Ever since I was exposed to him I have been charting his progression and transformation as a filmmaker and have been nothing short of impressed and astounded at how he reinvents himself and takes chances.
Cosmopolis oddly sees him progress even further into the future/modernity mixed with the detached and glacial style of Crash.
I have found that Cronenberg's early work was so affecting to me because he would always perform a 'one two' punch: he'd hit you on a visceral level and just as you've doubled over clutching at your stomach and grasping for air he'd hit you on an intellectual level. This has been his strength in just about all his films (Fast Company can stay out of this), even Crash.
From the very start you realise this is not trying to operate on both levels equally. Sure the intellectual element is there, and I feel like there is much to explore on rewatches, as I did not pick everything up the first time around, but without the visceral aspect the films feel a little hollow and unemotion.
It is an easy choice to have the characters be alienated and distant from the audience as that is how they relate to each other, and found it in many films that I did not like, specifically for that reason (for instance La Dolce Vita). Just because the characters aren't emotionally connecting to one another doesn't mean we can't connect to them. After all we are watching a movie and need something in which to invest. However, in Cosmopolis even though I wasn't really emotionally connected to Eric Packer, I was always interested in him. Plus there are moments of genuine emotion (the barber scene) that inform the way I think about the earlier scenes - and that's why I can't wait to see this film again.
I feel this review to be incomplete as I have yet to solidly grasp the film, but there is something stimulating about a film that is elusive and tries to do something new, fresh and interesting visually, verbally and emotionally. I will report back after seeing it again in a week or so.
i need to watch this ASAP!
Yes you do, my friend. Can't wait to see what you think. Probably going to watch it again in a couple of days time. The Melbourne International Film Festival is on at the moment so I'll have to squeeze this in between the 10 films I am seeing at the fest.
I've been dying to see this one since its teaser trailer was introduced about three months ago.
Ohh, well I'm not sure how possible this might be, but wipe that teaser from your mind completely. I watched the trailer and teaser after the film and it grossly misrepresents it. The trailer is fucking incredible and the film it is advertising looks amazing, it's just not the one you are going to see.
This review is making me so jealous.
I also am a huge Cronenberg fan and loved this. I went back to see it again two days after I initially saw it and picked up twice as much as I did the first time, now understanding what it's all about. It's a movie you can come back to and dig much, much deeper in. It lacks the visceral Cronenberg you mentioned but I think it's probably his deepest intellectually.
I think it takes a while to adjust whatever expectations you may have of the film on the first time watch. Having seen it once now, I know where it's going and what it's trying to do so I won't have unrealistic expectations. I think many of my problems with the film come down to the film not being what I wanted it to be, which is a totally unfair criticism. Luckily I work at a cinema and get staff comps to films.
Yeah that makes total sense. I expected it to be a sort of return to gritty, violent earlier Cronenberg, but it definitely wasn't. Going back again realizing that it's actually MORE talky than A Dangerous Method helped me focus on the actual movie and not my expectation.
I saw the film again and talk about this in my new review but seeing it with adjusted expectations and the realization that the dialogue isn't something you wade through to get to the exciting stuff, but that the dialogue is the exciting stuff makes a lot of difference. On a second watch I loved it and will be back at the cinema to see it a couple more times I think.