game option: Futuristic dystopia
On Thursday, September 1, Russian cinemas begin showing the tape "Crime of the Future" by Canadian director David Cronenberg ("Dead Zone", "Fly", "Linked to Death").
The filmmaker is widely known for his sci-fi thrillers.
As in previous works, Cronenberg does not change his style and continues to explore the theme of the emergence of superpowers in a person.
If in The Fly Cronenberg's hero is faced with metamorphosis, and in The Dead Zone he discovers the gift to foresee the future, then in Crimes of the Future the character's body is endowed with the ability to grow new organs.
According to the plot, in the distant future, people undergo transformations in the body due to the syndrome of accelerated evolution.
If for the “chosen” the body itself literally stimulates the growth of new organs, then others - people in the classical sense - initiate these transformations, both external and internal.
Anyone who exhibits these changes has to deal with the vice police.
The plot centers on Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) and Caprice (Lea Seydoux), who call themselves artists.
They put on performances during which Caprice removes Sol's newly formed organs.
A woman does not use anesthesia, because in a futuristic world, people have partially lost the ability to experience pain, and at the same time enjoy physical intimacy.
Representatives of the law in the face of cutesy Timlin (Kristin Stewart) and gambling Whippet (Don McKelar) intervene in the artists' case.
Timlin is fascinated by Saul and sees something more in their performances, linking his activities to physical intimacy.
“Surgery is the new sex,” she believes, which is not surprising: all the scenes with surgical intervention are very sensual.
The scenes of operations, even the cuts themselves, are shot very aesthetically, so they do not cause disgust, but especially impressionable viewers should still close their eyes at some points.
At the same time, we must remember that this is primarily a scientific reflection of Cronenberg, and not a master class in medicine.
Many directors touch upon the problems of ecology, humanism, the unity of nature and man in their works.
If James Cameron (Avatar) and Adam McKay (Don't Look Up) clearly show what people's actions lead to a catastrophe on a universal scale, then Cronenberg demonstrates the world of dystopia, which the actions of the consumer society, whether it be technology or beauty, have led to. industry.
© Shot from the film "Crimes of the Future"
In Crimes of the Future, the inhabitants of the planet could not cope with the problem of environmental pollution, and nature itself showed them a miracle in the face of a boy whose body is able to digest plastic.
But will people be able to accept such a generous gift?
Cronenberg draws a very fine line between man and technology (which can be especially clearly seen in the example of the cradle in which Tenser sleeps).
The cinematographer's fears for the future of mankind seem completely unfounded.
Firstly, if a person loses pain, it means that he loses the feeling of fear that has helped the human race to survive since ancient times, and secondly, in the realities shown, the question arises: will the transformations that everyone undergoes in the future allow us to preserve the concept of humanity?
All these factors, as well as dysmorphophobia and the desire of modern people to change their appearance under a surgical scalpel for the sake of trends, according to the author's vision of the director, lead to the screen world that he created.
Only in Cronenberg's movie world do women no longer want to be beautiful.
On the contrary, they call art and a way of self-expression what the women of our reality would call ugliness.
At least voluntarily, hardly anyone would agree to do what the characters Denise Capezza and Lea Seydoux did to themselves.
The cinematographer immerses the viewer in reflections on the possibilities of the human body, skillfully and aesthetically exposing the insides of a person.
At the same time, the audience is not shown gushing blood - the scalpel slides over Viggo Mortensen's stomach like a knife through butter.
With a thin thread that turns into a strong rope over the course of the film, the director reminds people that nature is a living system, and it has its own way of resolving pressing problems.
Perhaps, for some people, the solutions she offers are a curse, a danger, or simply a profitable venture in which to achieve popularity.
For others, it is a blessing and salvation, and not only for themselves, but also for the future of the whole world.
Cronenberg filled everything and everyone in the picture with meaning, and Caprice does the same - through art, she tries to give meaning to everything that is hidden under the skin of a person.
Deprived of special effects, the film keeps the viewer in suspense with the help of measured narration and soundtrack.
The atmosphere of the future in Cronenberg turned out to be depressing and gloomy: in the screen world, both in the interior and exterior, there are practically no bright colors (except for the outfit of the main character and her scarlet lips).
Although coolly received by the mass audience, the film, however, may be of interest not only to the fans of the director.
Cronenberg broadcasts old ideas that were previously displayed in the cinema, including by himself, but now he wraps them in a new, specific wrapper, accompanied by the music of Howard Shore, who wrote compositions for the film The Departed, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and other high-profile film projects.
The film as a whole is very rich in ideas, but there is no drama in it - except for the emotionally heavy scene at the beginning.
The crimes of the future are no different from the present, and the ending of the film, although not unexpected, breaks off in mid-sentence.
In 1970, Cronenberg made a film of the same name, which was presented at the Adelaide International Film Festival (Australia), it was released only in 1984, and then was shown at other venues in different years.
The main idea of the first "Crimes of the Future" was that as a result of mass poisoning from cosmetic preparations, women lost the ability to reproduce, and men had to adapt to the new world.
One of the heroes could grow new organs in himself with the power of thought.