FANTASTIC FEST 2012: ANTIVIRAL

Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) in Antiviral.

Scanning an existence

By Don Simpson

I would expect nothing less from the son of David Cronenberg to craft his debut feature in the frigidly foreboding fashion of his father's oeuvre. Brandon Cronenberg does not necessarily mimic his father, but the cinematic likeness is still quite uncanny. That said, Antiviral is much more blatant and obvious than anything David Cronenberg has made in the last 30 years; the narrative lacks the intricate layers of subtext for which David Cronenberg is known, opting to project messages that are much more in your face.

First and foremost, Antiviral does not hide its repulsion for celebrity worship. Using an undefined future as its palate, Cronenberg literally turns society's desire to (figuratively) consume its stars into purposefully transmitted diseases and cannibalism. Seemingly as a side effect of this grotesque world, sexual desire is totally vanquished and human relationships have completely disintegrated.

So are the events that occur in Antiviral an unavoidable conclusion for our pop culture obsessed society? Will people eventually resort to injecting themselves with diseases and ingesting synthetic celebrity matter just to become closer to the celebrities they adore? It seems ridiculous absurd, but really just how far are we from that world? Do we not already rabidly consume celebrity culture via magazines and television? As much as it chills me to think it, a repressed sick and twisted demand for this strange world proposed by Cronenberg already seems to exist.

And, oh what a world it is... Cronenberg bleaches the backdrop of the future in white (then again, isn't the future always portrayed in glimmering white?), giving us a very black and white world, one with very little good and a whole lot of bad. The most innocent characters in Antiviral are the celebrities, so much so they are practically angelic. The consumers seem incapable of thought, so they too possess some level of naive innocence. It is the middlemen -- the salesmen -- that are the most lecherous and conniving. They milk the celebrities bone dry, leaving them to die, while telling the consumers exactly what they really want. The black market for these dealings is exponentially more menacing, as the scale of supply and demand is carefully manipulated.

If made by his father, Antiviral would have fit perfectly between Scanners, Existenz and Cosmopolis. In fact, there is a very fine line between Robert Pattinson in Cosmopolis and Caleb Landry Jones in Antiviral, just listen to their accents and speech patterns. They also seem to have the same fashion sense, though Jones is certainly more crumpled than Pattinson, with his unkempt hair and perpetually "sick" demeanor.

As a first film, Antiviral is pretty freaking amazing. It is very rare that a first film is produced with such high production value and accented with quality supporting actors like Malcolm McDowell; but, of course, with Cronenberg's impeccable pedigree, what else would we expect?

FANTASTIC FEST 2012: HAIL

A scene from Hail.

Invisible cage

By Don Simpson

What is it with Australians and gritty neo-realist working class dramas? The world of Hail is pure hell (or, with certain accents, "hail") on earth. It is clearly Danny's (Daniel P. Jones) past that puts him in this "his" place. Released from prison at the beginning of the film, Danny returns home to his girlfriend Leanne (Leanne Campbell). With no legitimate career to call his own, or even a resume, Danny takes a job as a lackey at a garage. Unfortunately, fate (or society) deems that Danny cannot live the straight and narrow for very long; he is a naturally angry and violent man whose only solace in life is Leanne. That leads us to wonder: what would happen if he loses Leanne? We can only assume that all hell will break loose.

Hail is a brilliant meditation on Danny's inability to break free from his economic class due to societal restraints. As an uneducated ex-con, Danny is destined to live a hellish existence. Life will never be easy for him. Daniel P. Jones' performance as Danny is astounding. This is a semi-autobiographical tale of Jones' life, so we can only assume that there is a very fine line between Danny the character and Jones the actor, making this one of the most chillingly authentic performances I have ever seen. The brutal realism is accented magnificently by experimental visual flourishes courtesy of cinematographer Germain McMicking. Hail is certainly not an enjoyable experience, but it is a transfixing experience nonetheless.

FANTASTIC FEST 2012: HOLY MOTORS

Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) in Holy Motors.

 

A short ride in a borrowed car

By Don Simpson

The man who we will refer to as Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) is a shape-shifting chameleon being shuttled around Paris in a sleek white limousine. At each stop, Oscar adopts a new disguise and persona, like an over-booked character actor tirelessly bouncing from set to set. Holy Motors might be a film about playing roles and fulfilling the fantasies of others, but there is so much more to it than that...

Even before we meet Oscar, the opening scene of Holy Motors puts everything in motion. A recently awoken man (Leos Carax) -- or is he sleepwalking? -- opens a secret door in his apartment only to enter a theater in which a mannequin-like audience watches King Vidor's The Crowd. By casting himself in the singular role that delivers us into the surreal world of Holy Motors, Carax suggests the nonsensically dreamlike nature of the film that stands before us. We quickly surmise that the pure, unadulterated dream logic of Holy Motors is the only thing that will tie the experimental narrative together. This set-up also permits Carax the opportunity to remind us of our roles as voyeurs in this hyper-cinematic world. We are the mannequins in the audience, coldly observing the on screen events; we are rendered desensitized, emotionless.

It is not long before we cut to Oscar as he exits a house and enters his white limousine, chauffeured by his loyal aid, Celine (Edith Scob). Whether this is Oscar's real life or just another play-acting gig, we will probably never know. For all we know, Oscar may be a character actor playing a character actor who is playing a series of characters. Regardless, Oscar performs a series of roles that showcase a kaleidoscope of cinematic genres including: science fiction, monster movie, gangster film, deathbed drama, and musical romance. Whether the menagerie of other people who interact with Oscar are on to the ruse we do not know -- for all we know, they might be actors as well.

Holy Motors is not about understanding what is going on, it is about freeing yourself of inhibitions and preconceptions and allowing yourself float in Carax's sea of surrealism for two hours. Like David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis, Holy Motors shuttles us through its narrative in a white limousine (Carax even permits us the opportunity to see where all of the while limousines go to rest), allowing us a tour of the decaying moral fiber of our post modern world. Holy Motorstakes on the crazed environment of internet culture in which people will do anything to attract web traffic. There are a few hints that suggest that is precisely what Oscar might be doing -- acting in a web serial. However, Oscar's career choice (it is a choice?) is an exhausting and dangerous one, as his relentless timeline could very well be the death of him.