David Cronenberg
New Film: Cosmopolis
Country: Canada
Age: 69
Best Known for: Stomach vaginas, mutating Jeff Goldblum, naked sauna fight, and plenty of other unforgettable, freaky shit
Cannes History
Cosmopolis will be Cronenberg's first trip to Cannes since 2005's A History of Violence. Prior to that film, he had taken two films—Spider (2002) and Crash (1996)—to the festival. Every time he attended the festival, his film was in Competition, though his only prize was a Jury Special Prize ("3rd place") for Crash.
His Resume
What is there to even say about David Cronenberg? Of all the directors playing a film at Cannes this year, I'd bet most would say he's the most overdue for major festival recognition (and yes, that even includes 89-year-old Alain Resnais). He started directing films in 1969 with a film called Stereo. The first sentence from its plot summary on IMDb manages to sum up the director's entire oeuvre quite well: "Sometime in the future, the Canadian Academy for Erotic Inquiry is investigating the theories of parapsychologist Luther Stringfellow."
Eroticism, psychology, Canada—these are all things that will pop up again and again over Cronenberg's next 18 films. They include such cult classics as Videodrome (1983), The Fly (1986), and Dead Ringers (1988). He had a renaissance of sorts in 2005 with A History of Violence, which both brought him back onto the public's consciousness, but also moved him more into the mainstream than he'd ever been before. Eastern Promises—a film that earned Viggo Mortensen his first Oscar nomination—was next, and last year brought us A Dangerous Method, a very "un-Cronenberg-ian" film in style and execution, if not subject matter.
Like many of his competitors at Cannes, Cronenberg works with a familiar crew behind the scenes. Ronald Sanders has been Cronenberg's editor for 15 films (including Cosmopolis), while Howard Shore has scored 14, and Peter Suschitzky has served as DP for ten.
Cronenberg On-Demand
Hulu Plus: N/A
iTunes: A Dangerous Method, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, eXistenZ, M. Butterfly, Dead Ringers, The Fly, Videodrome
Netflix Instant: Videodrome, The Fly
Vudu: A Dangerous Method, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, eXistenZ, M. Butterfly, The Fly, The Dead Zone, Videodrome
Cosmopolis
"Set in modern-day Manhattan, [Cosmopolis] covers a day in the life of a young billionaire financier, whose trek across town to get a haircut is beset with complications, obstructions and sexually charged encounters, as he sets about losing vast sums of money—his own and that of his clients" —In Contention
Along with maybe Moonrise Kingdom, On the Road, and The Paperboy, Cosmopolis has one of the highest profiles of any film in the Competition. It's probably the most anticipated, as well, for the online film crowd, of which I'm a proud member. That said, this one probably won't be too high on my list of must-see material, barring some unparalleled level of praise. Weird Cronenberg doesn't do it for me as much as "mainstream" (for lack of a better word) Cronenberg—like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises—and as you can see from the trailer embedded below, Cosmopolis is 150% weird Cronenberg.
All that said, I'm still more than a little curious how this film is going to play and what Robert Pattinson will bring to the table. Cronenberg is also the credited screenwriter for the first time since Spider ten years ago (the film is based on a novel by Dom DeLillo.) I mentioned earlier the sense that Cronenberg is overdue, so maybe he's a contender for Best Director, but I don't see the film taking home the Palme. Sorry, folks.
The trailer still rocks, though.
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