One-hit wonder writer James Foster (Alexander Skarsgard) and his wealthy wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) take a holiday in the seaside county of Li Tolqa, hoping to find inspiration for James. But whilst the resort is lovely, and filled with activities and delicious breakfast, the walls are tipped with barbed wire, and te country oozes a sense of malice. When James falls in with British tourist Gabi (Mia Goth) and her French husband Alban (Jalil Lespert), the country, and his soul, are laid bare. Whilst we may not like what we see, James finds himself fascinated...
Brandon Cronenberg's 3rd effort is a fascinating, but inconsistent beast - much in the vein of his father! It has a dark, weird, unsettling atmosphere (the resort is in wahsed out colours, punctuated by sickly yellows, and later as our protagonist gets himself into deeper holes, we have closeups on the eyes and lips) and a deranged, gory nightmare sequence which would be right at home in his previous work "Possessor" or "The Neon Demon" (side note: "Possessor" fucking rules!), and when it plays its trump card and high concept idea: it's a fantastic one. The central premise (which I won't go into) really opens up ideas of rich, perverse, deranged examinations of the ugliness of the soul, and makes you go: "yeah, of course people would do that fucking thing! Because the rich are scum!" yet also looks briefly at what a society allowing such a thing would do. Its first half is easily the strongest: Skarsgard goes on his discovery, and the decadent games of Gabi, Alban and their crew of assholes is brutal and unhinged to watch. Plus the ever under-appreciated Thomas Kretschmann (whom I love) has a memorable part as a stern detective named "Thresh". It explores how we're, fundamentally, bad, and looks at the soul and who we really are.
Its second half (despite some great gore effects, lighting and aforementioned nightmare flesh orgy) is where it gets a little meandering and runs out of steam. A character just leaves the movie, and whilst it makes some semblance of sense, it loses something as a result, and spins its wheels for a while. Whilst its central premise could go many places, the twist and plot it ends up with don't quite work for me, going for a "you were always the one" culty angle which feels a bit like a cop-out. The ending is still strong, and it does all make some semblance of sense, but it lacks the electrifying plot and grip of "Possessor" or even "Antiviral".
I still recommend it, as a weird culty little film people will find stuff to examine and talk about, which is what I want from this sort of thing, and especially from a Cronenberg.
Plus, if you're into that sort of thing, Mia Goth breast feeds a man, Alexander Skarsgard shows trunk frequently, and has an extended scene where he puts on a dog-collar bollock naked and is referred to as "dog" and only growls.
Enjoy?
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