Crimes of the Future (2022 film)

 

Written and directed by David Cronenberg, Crimes of the Future is the story of a performance artist and his partner who stage a show in removing live organs during a climate-ravaged future where an investigator takes notice to see how the show would play a role in human evolution. The film, which bears the same name as Cronenberg’s 1970 sophomore feature film, marks a return to body horror where Cronenberg explore humanity’s fascination with their own body parts in which a couple creates a performance involving body parts. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux, Don McKellar, Scott Speedman, and Kristen Stewart. Crimes of the Future is an entrancing and unsettling film from David Cronenberg.

Set in a futuristic, climate-ravaged world, the film revolves around a performance artist and his surgeon collaborator/lover as they stage shows to showcase the evolution of internal organs as they’re asked to take part in a project involving an autopsy with political and social implications. It’s a film that explore an underground subculture as people go to these shows to see people embrace inner beauty in a literal sense as well as see a growing evolution into the human anatomy. David Cronenberg’s screenplay definitely play into a future where food resources are becoming scarce while the human body begins to evolve as some can eat normally but others have to eat different things. Pain is something that no longer exists as Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) sleeps on a special bed to check on his organs while eats on a chair that is mechanical as he struggles to feed himself sometimes. His lover/collaborator Caprice (Lea Seydoux) is a former surgeon who helps in the performances by cutting aspects of his body and narrating it as it attracts the attention of a couple of investigators for the National Organ Registry in Timlin (Kristen Stewart) and Wippet (Don McKellar).

Timlin and Wippet are fascinated by Tenser’s show with the former wanting to get closer to Tenser while the latter is hoping to have Tenser be part of something bigger as it relates to the government. Yet, there is another person interested in the work that Tenser and Caprice are doing in an underground cult leader in Lang Doctrice (Scott Speedman) who wants them to perform an autopsy on his son who had been killed by his ex-wife Djuna (Lihi Koronowski). It all play into Doctrice’s fascination with human evolution as he wants to use Tenser’s profile to display a message though Tenser is unsure as he would have secret meetings with a detective named Cope (Welket Bungue) about what is going as Cope is investigating what Wippet is doing.

Cronenberg’s direction definitely bear elements that he is known for from past films that relate to the world of body horror yet it is presented in a more grounded idea of reality based on a world ravaged by climate change and physical evolution within the body. Shot on location in areas near Athens, Greece as this world that is seemingly in ruins as much of the film is shot in abandoned buildings. Cronenberg would use some unique wide shots to establish these locations that would include abandoned boats on the shore and buildings where many events occur as he would use wide and medium shots to get a scope into what people are witnessing. Notably as Cronenberg would create these shots that gaze into the activities that Tenser would do in public with Caprice at his side such as the images of him pulling an organ and revealing something. The world of body-horror would include a man filled with ears around his head, arms, and torso as he does a dance while a beautiful woman would get scars on her forehead and such to express her own ideas of pain.

Cronenberg would also emphasize on this idea of evolution as it relates to the fact that food resources become scarce as those with unusual evolution in their bodies are forced to eat something else as they struggle to eat with the machines they use. The film does open with a young boy sitting on a rock at the beach as he would later eat a plastic wastebasket as it would play into the underground subculture that Doctrice is involved in. There are also some close-ups that Cronenberg play into as it also play into the body mutilation that Tenser and Caprice would involve themselves in with people cutting themselves for sexual or personal pleasure with some trying to get that feeling of pain again. The film’s climax does involve this big event but also play into this idea of evolution where a lot is on the line as well yet there is also something personal from those involved. Even as it play into the need of trying to find meaning through this internal evolution in the body and soul. Overall, Cronenberg crafts an eerie and disturbing film about humanity’s obsession with inner beauty and its evolution.

Cinematographer Douglas Koch does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its emphasis on low-key lighting for many of the nighttime interior/exterior scenes as well as using natural lighting for some of the daytime interior/exterior scenes. Editor Christopher Donaldson does excellent work with the editing as it does have bits of style yet it manages to let shots linger on to play into the horror and suspense. Production designer Carol Spier, with set decorator Dimitra Sourlantzi plus art directors Dimitris Katsikis and Kimberley Zaharko, does incredible work with the art direction from the design of the beds, chairs, and chambers Tenser uses for his show and at his home as well as objects that are used for the shows. Costume designer Mayou Trikerioti does fantastic work with the clothes that some of the characters wear such as the black robe that Tenser often wear as well as some casual-looking clothes that the other characters wear except for some stylish work in some of the performance shows.

Prosthetics special makeup effects designers Alexandra Anger and Monica Pavez do amazing work with the design in some of the prosthetics and make-up design in how some of the performance artists present themselves as it is a highlight of the film. Special effects supervisor George Alahouzos and visual effects supervisor Peter McAuley do terrific work in making sure some of body parts look real in some bits as well as in the movement in some of the arms in Tenser’s machine. Sound designers Rob Bertola and Tom Bjelic, with sound editor Jill Purdy, do superb work with the sound in the way some of the machines sound as well as some sparse moments that help play into the drama and suspense. The film’s music by Howard Shore is phenomenal for its haunting electronic-based score that is driven mainly by synthesizers to play into the suspense and horror as well as creating some original electronic pieces for some of the performance art pieces.

The casting by Deidre Bowen and Stavros Raptis is wonderful as it feature some notable small roles from Sozos Sotiris as Doctrice’s son Brecken, Ephie Kantza as a curator who gives Tenser a card that relates to Doctrice, Tassos Karahalios as the performance artist Klinek whose body is filled with ears, Denise Capezza as a performer who has scars all over her body, Jason Bitter as Doctrice’s assistant, Lihi Kornowski as Dotrice’s bitter ex-wife Djuna, Tanaya Beatty and Nadia Litz in their respective roles as Berst and Dani as two women who work for the manufacturers of Tenser’s bed and objects who are big fans of his work, and Welket Bungue in a superb performance as a detective who asks Tenser to find out what Doctrice is up to while is becoming suspicious into the activities from both Wippet and Timlin. Scott Speedman is fantastic as Lang Doctrice as an underground cult leader who believes his dead son is key to a future as it relates to human evolution while also battling a government who wants to prevent all of this from happening.

Don McKellar is excellent as Wippet as an investigator for the National Organ Registry who is fascinated by what Tenser does as he wants him to be part of a pageant as well as be someone who can be the face for the government. Kristen Stewart is amazing as Timlin as an investigator for the National Organ Registry who is more fascinated with Tenser as a person as well as wanting to be his collaborator as she believes that surgery is the new sex. Lea Seydoux is incredible as Caprice as Tenser’s collaborator/lover who makes sure he’s well and also narrates the performances while lamenting over the project they’re about to embark on as well as wanting to be part of the culture that celebrates human evolution. Finally, there’s Viggo Mortensen in a phenomenal performance as Saul Tenser as a man who grows new organs in his body as he deals with his physical changes from the inside while also working with a detective in uncovering Doctrice’s activities where Mortensen brings a restrained approach to his performance.

Crimes of the Future is a phenomenal film from David Cronenberg that features great performances from Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart. Along with its ensemble cast, study of human evolution and its search for meaning, eerie visuals, and a mesmerizing score by Howard Shore. The film is definitely Cronenberg not just returning to his roots but using the genre he helped create to study the idea of humanity and their need to feel in a troubled future. In the end, Crimes of the Future is a sensational film from David Cronenberg.

David Cronenberg Films: Stereo - Crimes of the Future (1970 film) - Shivers - Rabid - Fast Company - The Brood - Scanners - Videodrome - The Dead Zone - The Fly (1986 film) - Dead Ringers - Naked Lunch - M. Butterfly - Crash (1996 film) - eXistenZ- Spider - A History of Violence - Eastern Promises - A Dangerous Method - Cosmopolis - Maps to the Stars

The Auteurs #26: David Cronenberg: Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2022

Barney's Version

Based on the novel by Mordecai Richler, Barney’s Version is the story of a man telling his own life story that includes three marriages where it also involves the disappearance of his best friend. Directed by Richard J. Lewis and adapted into script by Michael Konyves, the film explores a man’s life through different time periods as he tries to recall what happened in those years. Starring Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver, Rachelle Leferve, Bruce Greenwood, Scott Speedman, and Dustin Hoffman. Barney’s Version is a charming yet mesmerizing film from Richard J. Lewis.

TV producer Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti) has just learned a book about his life and his involvement in the disappearance of his best friend/novelist Bernard “Boogie” Moskovitch (Scott Speedman) had just came out. Going into his favorite bar in Montreal, Barney deals with retired police investigator O’Hearne (Mark Addy) who remains convinced that Barney killed Boogie. For Barney, he recalls about his life dating back to the early 70s when he and Boogie were in Rome as Barney was to marry a young hippie woman named Clara (Rachelle Laferve) whom he had just impregnated. Things got crazy when Clara turns out not to be the person she claims to be as he returns to Montreal to work for his uncle in the TV business where he would meet the woman (Minnie Driver) who would become his second wife.

After meeting her more uptight and wealthy family and introduce his father Izzy (Dustin Hoffman) to her family, Barney seems to be ready for another marriage he realizes he’s not in love with this woman. At the wedding, Barney sees a woman named Miriam (Rosamund Pike) as he falls for her as they briefly meet as she returns to New York City. Stuck in a horrible marriage with his second wife, Barney takes the strung-out Boogie to a weekend in the cabin where the wife also shows up. The weekend turns out to be a disaster as Barney is hung up on Miriam as he seeks advice from his father. After a drunken argument with Boogie that would lead to Boogie’s disappearance, Barney tries to deal with what happened as he gets divorced and then pursues Miriam as the two fall in love, get married, and gain two kids in Michael (Jake Hoffman) and Kate (Anna Hopkins).

During a trip to the country, Barney meets a man named Blair (Bruce Greenwood) who would eventually get Miriam a job working at a radio station interviewing authors including Barney’s old friend Leo (Thomas Trabacchi). Barney becomes suspicious of Miriam’s friendship with Blair as she goes away to visit Jake in New York where he would endure loss as well as his own screw-up. Just as the continuing investigation of Boogie’s death some more than 30 years after it happened, Barney tries to come to terms with everything he had dealt with in his life.

The film explores a man’s life as he recalls his memories of the past 35 years of his life as he would be married to three different women where his third wife would be the love of his life. Also told is a man’s friendship with a strung-out writer who is trying to catch a break where he would suddenly disappear leading to all sorts of questions. All of this told via long flashback sequences as an aging Barney deals with the past following the release of a new book about what happened on that day as he comes to terms with loss and everything else he’s dealt with. Michael Konyves’ script revolves around that narrative structure where it moves back and forth from the past to the present to dwell into Barney Panofsky’s life.

The script reveals Barney as a guy who is willing to fall in love with any kind of woman as he deals with the heartbreak over his first marriage that involves a lies and horrifying circumstances. In his second marriage, he thought he would find someone to be with only to find out that his second wife is a vapid and greedy woman who comes from a rich family as she turns out to be demanding. Notably as she would play part into the disappearance of his best friend Boogie who was in need of help due to his own substance abuse. Then there’s Miriam, the love of his life as she is a woman that represents everything Barney wants and more. She is kind, unselfish, and intelligent as she is also her own woman who doesn’t fall for Barney immediately but she is this woman that would ground and care for him.

Another relationship that is key to the film is Barney’s relationship with his father Israel who is also called Izzy. Izzy is a guy who provides a lot of humor to the film while hoping to get laid as he has already lost his wife. Yet, he would be the one person to guide Barney into the tribulations of his life until the third act when he’s not around and Barney becomes lost leading to a breakdown of his marriage as well as his entire life. While the third act is a bit drawn out than it should’ve been as it would also involve a very dramatic plot device. The script is still superb for the way it fleshes out its characters as well as playing to its narrative structure.

Richard J. Lewis’ direction is superb for the way it explores the drama as it includes some great scenes where Lewis would have the actors be placed into a frame or how he would direct a key dramatic moment without going overboard. With a lot of the film set in Canada along with a few scenes in Rome, Lewis manages to invest into getting inside this man’s life. While a lot of the direction is straightforward, it is still engaging in these subtle dramatic moments such as Barney and Izzy’s visit to the grave of Barney’s mother where it would also involve some light-humorous moments. Overall, Lewis creates a very solid and dramatic film tracing a man’s life and the loves he had in his life.

Cinematographer Guy Dufaux does an excellent job with the film‘s stylish cinematography from the lush look of Rome to the more straightforward yet entrancing exteriors for the nighttime scenes in Montreal. Editor Susan Shipton does a nice job with the editing as she emphasize in mostly straightforward cuts to play up the film’s drama and humor. Production designer Claude Pare, along with set decorator Elise de Blois and art director Michele Laliberte, does an incredible job with the set pieces such as the posh apartment that Barney and Miriam lived in to the quaint cabin Barney owns in the Canadian countryside. Costume designer Nicoletta Massone does a fantastic job with the costumes to play up the different periods of the time from the hippie clothing of Barney’s first wife Carla to the more calm yet stylish clothing of Miriam.

The film’s makeup by Adrien Mort and Micheline Trepanier is superb for the way the characters age without making it too fake. Visual effects supervisor Louis Morin does a good job with some of the minor visual effects for backdrops of 1970s NYC and other location spots. Sound editor Fred Brennan does a terrific job with the sound work from the raucous atmosphere of the 2nd wedding and bar scenes to the intimate moments involving Barney and Miriam. The film’s music by Pasquale Catalano is wonderful for its plaintive piano pieces to swelling orchestral cuts to play up the drama that occurs in the film. Additional music pieces include songs ranging from 60s rock and 70s disco along with cuts by Dusty Springfield and Leonard Cohen.

The casting by Deirdre Bowen, Pam Dixon, and Nina Gold is truly the film’s highlight for the ensemble that is created for the film. Among the people who make appearances for the film include filmmakers Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg as a couple of TV show directors plus Denys Arcand as a waiter, Ted Kotcheff as a train conductor, and Paul Gross as an actor on Barney’s TV show. Other notable supporting roles include Macha Grenon as an aging actress on Barney’s TV show, Harvey Atkin as Barney’s disapproving second father-in-law, Saul Rubinek as Barney’s cruel first father-in-law, Cle Bennett and Thomas Trabacchi in their respective roles as two of Barney’s longtime friends Cedric and Leo, Paula Jean Hixson as the bartender at the bar Barney frequents at, and Mark Addy as the pushy detective O’Heare.

Jake Hoffman and Anna Hopkins are very good in their respective roles as Barney’s adult children Michael and Kate while Bruce Greenwood is excellent as the very nice Blair whom Barney feels annoyed by. Rachelle Leferve is very good as Barney’s unstable yet artistic first wife Clara while Minnie Driver is very funny as the loud and demanding unnamed second wife. Scott Speedman is terrific as Barney’s strung-out yet creative best friend Boogie who helps Barney deal with the second marriage while resenting him for things he had. Dustin Hoffman is brilliant as Barney’s father Izzy who says some very funny things while being the caring father that Barney needs including a moment when Barney is in big trouble.

Rosamund Pike gives what is truly a mesmerizing and radiant performance as Barney’s third wife Miriam. Pike delivers a sense of grace and charm to a woman who is befuddled by Barney’s attempts to win her affections while her strongest moments are in the more dramatic moments where she displays an amazing sense of restraint to act out these emotive moments. Finally, there’s Paul Giamatti in an absolutely powerful performance as Barney Panofsky. Giamatti brings a lot of wit and humility to a character that wears his heart on his sleeve as he looks for love and happiness only to either find it in the wrong places or to become desperate when he feels alone. It’s a performance that allows Giamatti to be the romantic as his scenes with Pike are truly magical to watch in the way they care for each other including a key dramatic moment when no dialogue was really needed.

Barney’s Version is a remarkable film from Richard J. Lewis that features outstanding performances from Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, and Dustin Hoffman. While it’s a film that is a bit flawed and at times, feels overlong due to the overdrawn third act. It is still very engaging in its exploration of a man’s loss and desire to find love. In the end, Barney’s Version is a wonderful film from Richard J. Lewis.

© thevoid99 2012