Film Details:
Directed and written by David Cronenberg (The Dead Zone, Scanners, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Videodrome)
Starring
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Hudsucker Proxy, Road to Perdition, Dolores Claiborne)
Jude Law (A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Road to Perdition)
Ian Holm (Everybody sing! "Bilbooooo, Bilbo Baggins! Greatest little Hobbit of them all!")
Willem Dafoe (Only a truly great actor can play both Jesus Christ and the Green Goblin with panache.)
Review: by Melissa (e-mail your faithful reviewer)
Paul actually summed this movie up nicely shortly after its release: "The Matrix has guns. Lots and lots of guns. eXistenZ has goo. Lots and lots of goo."
Personally, I think eXistenZ is a showcase of Cronenberg's best work. Aside from being a buffet of Cronenberg's unique filmmaking ideals and lurid visuals, this film is also accessible and, well, fun. It's not often that you can accuse Cronenberg of being fun. Looking at most of his films, you wouldn't necessarily think of him next time you're booking a trip to Disneyland. Anyway, anytime a film can be both thought-provoking, groundbreaking, and a good time... I'm all for it. This is the sort of movie that Cronenberg fans and non-fans alike can probably enjoy, since the stuff on the surface is just as interesting as the currents flowing beneath.
eXistenZ exists in a world where video games now plug directly into a person's spinal cord. The world's greatest game designer, Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh), is testing her newest game, eXistenZ, on a focus group when an assassin pulls out a wicked organic gun and shoots her. His bullet misses her vital organs, but Leigh's impromptu bodyguard (a PR nerd played by Jude Law) takes her on the run to protect her life. As they evade assassins, Leigh is concerned instead with her game: her only copy is stuck in her game console, which is a strange, organic machine that leaps to life whenever it's umbilical cord is plugged into the base of her spine. As characters drift in and out of the game, you start wondering what's real and what isn't. And the ending is a
eXistenZ is a playground of atmosphere and visuals. This world has strange yet believable features, and the way Cronenberg plays it, you can believe in this as a possible future. Mutant life abounds in this movie, but the characters react to these oddities not as monsters, but as a fact of life. The proliferation of life forms has not only opened up new avenues in the culinary arts, but also in game design (the game consoles twitch and shudder to life when turned on) and the weapons trade (the organic gun has to be seen to be believed).
This movie also comes packaged with a phenomenal cast. Not only are Leigh and Law in fine form, but you can also delight in seeing a whole smorgasbord of phenomenal character actors doing some fine work.
eXistenZ is part crime noir, part science-fiction, part art house. It's fun, it's lurid, it's smart, it's sexy. It's good. It's really really good. If you haven't seen eXistenZ yet, make a point to do so.
DVD Details:
