Crimes of the Future (2022) Movie Drinking Game
Do a Shot: for every Avant Garde performance.
Take a Drink: for every breakfast chair.
Take a Drink: for every tattooed organ.
Do a Shot: for any purple bars.
By: Movie Snurb (Two Beers) –
David Cronenberg is back after a nearly 10 year hiatus. Not only is he back, but he is back to his body horror roots. He’s back with his longtime collaborator Viggo Mortensen and newcomer Lea Seydoux. They play partners in a dystopian future where due to environmental reasons some people’s bodies mutate. Viggo’s grows extra organs, so he and Lea perform surgery in front of crowds as entertainment.
A Toast
I said it before, but it’s great to have David back in his body horror element. Though his run of A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Cosmospolis, and Maps to the Stars is great, it’s like going to a concert. Sure, the new songs are good, but we all came to hear the hits.
This film is less about how gross it can get; it’s more about how distinct and weird bodies really are. David’s career has been circling these themes and now they have all come together in this film.
Violence, Sex, and Bodies; three things David has always been fascinated with. Mix all of this with some real world problems that in certain aspects could very well be possible, and it’s not the surgeries in this film that is terrifying. It’s the real world futuristic possibility of what ourselves and our bodies could turn into.
Not in just the obvious themes, which I won’t get into to skirt around spoilers, but I found this movie to be an allegory for David’s life. Since he wrote and directed this film, it feels like a commentary on his career. Not knowing what to expect or how to keep giving his fans what they want and more.
Then having people like Kristen Stewart’s character coming to him and telling him they love his work. There are the fans that probably scare him and fascinate him all in the same breath.
Speaking of Kristen Stewart, she finally got a role that really let her lean into the nervous energy that she possesses in real life. She’s fully committed and it’s going to work for some and not for others. But I am firmly in the works camp.
Lea and Viggo are also great in their roles. Lea is constantly committed in everything she does and never misses. Viggo is excellent in a nearly transformative performance. He changes his voice and mannerisms, seeming to always be uncomfortable in the skin he is in. The surprise in this film is Scott Speedman, who I didn’t expect to be so good. He gives birth to a very complex and interesting adversary to Viggo and Lea.
Beer Two
It feels like there is about 10 minutes missing from this film. The third act seems rushed and the films just kind of ends. I do think this film will reward a rewatch, and maybe in the future I will recant this remark.
Verdict
It may not be my favorite Cronenberg, but it feels like David’s career has been culminating to this film. Any Cronenberg fan will love this return to form.
