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Profile - David Cronenberg

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David Cronenberg is similar to David Lynch in a lot of ways: He's apt to tackle projects that sound completely off the wall, and which one would assume would fall flat on their face in anyone else's hands. He has directed original material, and he's adapted works of literature and they've all been very distinctive in their subject matter and execution. More recently, however, he seems to be leaning towards making good films which derive from novels that most mainstream directors have shied away from because they couldn't figure out how to film them. Cronenberg seems to relish this and the adaptations of famous 'unfilmable' novels he's decided to tackle - Naked Lunch and Crash - have, I think, worked very well. There's a lot think about, philosophically, in a David Cronenberg film; the nature of disease, our own body image, addiction, compulsion, strange fetishistic motivations - he invests a huge amount of intelligence in his films and this is why he gets away with some of the outrageous things he puts in them. He has directed more films than I've presented here, but these are my favourites and the others are never less than interesting.
   
Scanners (1981)
If you remember the review section of this web site you'll have noticed the guy whose head explodes. This image is from Scanners and it's really the scene that sells the film. It defines the film aswell, and David Cronenberg's intentions in telling his story. There are a small number of people who have the ability to control people from afar - to inflict pain for example. The plot concerns the government trying to round up these 'scanners' and use them for their own ends. It's an involving story with some good set-pieces, played out to a satisfying conclusion, and it's only let down by Stephen Lack who as far as acting goes, is well named.
Videodrome (1983)
For me this is where Cronenberg really came into his own. It's an original story that really could only be told by David Cronenberg. James Woods stars as a sleazy TV executive who discovers some strange unnamed S&M style porn being broadcast and sets about tracking down where it's coming from. The rest of the film is his hallucinogenic journey which involves kinky sex, body metamorphoses, a big jelly telly that swallows him up - you get the idea. This film is unique in it's twistedness; Woods inserts videotapes among other things into his stomach and the film gives a whole new meaning to the word 'handgun'.
The Dead Zone (1983)
An adaptation of the Stephen King novel and it's one of the best King adaptations. Christopher Walken stars as a Johnny Smith - a man who wakes up from a coma years after an accident with the gift of second sight. However he finds it hard to adjust to his new life and is tormented by visions he doesn't want and which only seem to cause him pain and misery. There's a sub-plot involving his attempts to track down a local killer, which works well. The disturbing events that Johnny can see coming and what he must do to stop them are handled effectively, helped by a very creepy performance by Walken.
The Fly (1986)
Cronenberg could not have cast anyone better for this part than Jeff Goldblum - with big bulgy eyes and twitchy hyper movements and diction. He stars as Seth Brundle, a scientist working on teleportation, whose DNA gets melded with a fly's and who then begins to slowly metamorphosise into a giant fly - a Brundlefly as he calls himself. There's much gunk and slime, but also pathos and humanity involved in the telling of Brundle's tale as we accompany him through each stage of his evolution from man to fly in graphic detail - a far cry from the 1958 classic starring Vincent Price. Geena Davis provides good support as the girlfriend who tries to help Brundle through his ordeal.
Dead Ringers (1988)
This is the story of twins, both working in Canada as gyneacologists. One is an ambitious, confident person and the other is shy and introverted. Their lives become more complex and intertwined as they pretend to be each other, in more and more personal ways. Eventually they achieve some sort of weird symbiosis where the balance between them must be maintained to a minute degree through drugs and drink. The destructive effects of this kind of behaviour is expertly demonstrated by Jeremy Irons who plays both twins with an impressive precision. Once again, Cronenberg hires the right man for the job. Genevieve Bujold is very good as the confused girlfriend of the twins.
Naked Lunch (1991)
The first of the unadaptable classic novel adaptations, and a fine job he does too. William Burroughs wrote this drug-addled tale of his experiences as an artist (and a raging homosexual) in Tangiers in the fifties. And then he mixed up all the pages and voila! you've got Naked Lunch, except you're now in Interzone and your typewriter talks to you and there's a lot of suspicious characters around and weirdoid creatures called mugwumps start bending your ear in the casbah. Well, if you like your films to look exotic, and never be quite sure what the hell's going on then this is for you. It's not the easiest introduction to Cronenberg if you've never seen his films, but it's too weird to miss.
Crash (1996)
The second unadaptable adaptation. This time it's J.G. Ballard's subversive and ultra-weird novel about a group of disparate people obsessed with testing the limits of their sexual tolerances. James Spader and Holly Hunter seem to feed off the intense extremes of emotions inherent in car crashes and they each become obsessed with this road they've chosen to travel in their own way. Cronenberg explores fully the motivations and fetishistic obsessions of each of the main characters in much more detail than most mainstream audiences cared for, and the resulting film is utterly compelling - like a bad car accident, you might say.
eXistenZ (1999)
Any film which deals with the subject of video games taking over people's realities sounds pretty unoriginal. That's pretty much the plot of eXistenZ, but with Cronenberg at the helm you know it'll be much more thought-provoking, intriguing and intelligent, and it is. The genius of this film is the nature of the virtual reality that the protagonists are thrust into - it's just like the reality they know, but with little kinks here and there. Very much inspired by the works of SF author Philip K. Dick, this is a very satisfying, convoluted head-trip where reality is hard to identify and the fate, or even identity, of the characters is in doubt right up to the end of the film.
 

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