eXistenZ
1999 Directed by David Cronenberg
Synopsis
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
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First time I saw it there was some ineffable quality that I thought kept it from being top-tier Cronenberg, now I'm swung around to thinking there's some ineffable quality that puts it near the top of the heap. Maybe it's the weird, hyper-stylized acting choices everyone in the movie makes, it takes a second viewing to really take this and the rest of the movie's strange atmosphere in and appreciate everything.
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It's kinda like The Matrix, only on a lower budget and much, much weirder.
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David Cronenberg's strangeness never fails to amaze me, and to say this is one of his oddest films really is saying something. It terms of content, it isn't anymore bizarre than most of his work, but in regards to methods of social commentary, it is more perplexing than provoking. Set in a world where video games are dramatized subconscious experiences that warp and twist reality. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Allegra Geller, the world's greatest game designer who is being hunted by revolutionaries. She is protected by Ted Pikul - played by Jude Law - a nerdy member of her security team.The film starts off slowly, warming up to its mind-straining style is a gradual process, but once it gets going…
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Happy Birthday, Mr. Cronenberg. Your movies are extremely gross, make my head hurt, and almost always delightful. Keep going. You're only 70. You've got at least another decade of pissing people off.
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When a focus group session is interrupted by murderous activists, game designer Allegra (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and security trainee Ted (Jude Law) must flee into the virtual world of her latest game to check it hasn't been damaged, and find themselves hunted in both worlds. One of Cronenberg's unsung gems, eXistenZ is great fun if you're prepared to go along with its gameplay; like Nolan's Inception, the action plays out on multiple levels, which makes for a complex but rewarding narrative, and its view of multiplayer games is very familiar to us nowadays. Fans of Cronenberg's wilder material will embrace the body-horror elements on show here with the sexual bio-ports and fleshy game consoles.
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Another mind fuck of a movie from Mr Cronenberg. I loved this, and thought is was so captivating and thought provoking. One thing I never really mention is Cronenberg's use of gore and body violence, which he uses to his advantage, and makes for memorable scenes and great filmmaking. So glad I picked this up on Blu Ray it looks awesome.
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For all intents and purposes eXistenZ is essentially David Cronenberg's reconsideration of his earlier work Videodrome, except where that film considered the vacuum of television and its effects on perceptions, here video games take center stage. As it stands people dismiss this film as misguided and absurd and it failed to do well at the box office. It is no coincidence I think that the same held true for Videodrome upon its initial release, failing to general audiences, while achieving critical acclaim. It is clear from the multi-tiered layers and open concern for meta-narratives that Cronenberg is taking a stride in the right direction as far what "addictive" and physically gratifying roles video games, and to a larger degree virtual…
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"Have I won? Have I won the game?"
Occasionally transCendenT.
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Of the several films around the turn of the century that dealt with the shifting nature of reality - The Matrix, Vanilla Sky, Waking Life, Dark City, etc. - eXistenZ is the most underrated. Directed by David Cronenberg it plays like a digital counterpart to the analog hallucinations of Videodrome. About a game programmer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is targeted for assassination while launching her newest immersive game and has to go on the run with a P.R. assistant (Jude Law), eXistenZ finds the two characters falling, Inception-like, into games within games and layers of unreality. While The Matrix represented its simulacra with state-of-the-art visual effects and breathtaking action sequences, eXistenZ depicts a future where technology and the flesh have…
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Wooden acting mars an otherwise serviceable Cronenberg.
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Killer killer movie. Cronenberg is really a genius. One of the best closing lines ever for me. I'm not really crazy about sci-fi but this was fucking special. Brilliant conclusion.
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Reasonable fun but not nearly as clever as David Cronenberg thinks it is.
It feels like its aged more in 14 years than Videodrome has in 30 years.
Not overly bothered by the "twist" ending either.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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I'm blown away. Every time I watch a Cronenberg film, I'm left in awe. This film just added to everything I love about Cronenberg.
To me this felt like Inception...before Inception was made, and with a better storyline. (Not that I dislike Inception in the slightest)
Cronenberg's mind comes up with these sci-fi thrillers that are so captivating and leave you on edge from the very beginning and then throw a quick curveball towards the end. I loved this film and everything that was a part of it!!!
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.