TIFF 2012 REVIEW: ANTIVIRAL
ANTIVIRAL
(Canada,
2012)
Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Malcolm McDowell,
Douglas Smith
Written by: Brandon Cronenberg
Directed by: Brandon Cronenberg
Brandon Cronenberg claimed in the press notes and at the
post-screening Q&A that he's never seen any of his father's films. His father, incidentally, is none of other
than David Cronenberg, once crowned "King Of Venereal Horror" and
known for such distinctive horror classics as "Shivers", "Rabid",
"The Brood", "Scanners", and "Videodrome", before
becoming more mainstream later in his career with the likes of "A History
Of Violence" and "Eastern Promises".
I can't imagine how one could reach his late 20s and not
have at least accidentally come across his father's work on television, even
while channel surfing, but assuming this statement is true (c'mon, he wasn't
ever curious--not once?), then there's something to be said of David's
statement that "biology is destiny".
. It defies any categorization
but one, and that is the term Cronenbergian...but
not to belittle Brandon at
all--despite an overlapping sensibility and some story-specific elements, it's
a distinctive, and utterly original, debut.
Cronenberg claims the conceit came to him while watching an
appearance by Sarah Michelle Geller on Jimmy
Kimmel Live, when she complained of a cold and swore if she sneezed she'd
"infect the entire audience", and the crowd perversely cheered...
Sometime in presumably the near-future, Syd March (Jones),
works for The Lucas Clinic, a biotech firm that specializes in selling
celebrity diseases to the public.
Agents make deals with company to harvest various strains of disease,
illnesses, and infections--everything from venereal diseases to common colds--distil
them into a portable product, which can then be injected to those fans who want
to share an experience with their object of devotion.
On the side, though, Syd infects himself with his company's
"products", extracts them from his body (courting illness and death
with each sample), and sells them to the black market. One of his most loyal customers is a butcher
shop that sells cuts of meat genetically-engineered from celebrity cells.
Syd's own obsession is ubiquitous actress Hannah Geist (Gadon),
whose representation calls Syd to harvest some of her disease--which is killing
her--for sale to the clinic. He
immediately injects himself, of course, but then, Hannah dies. She lives, but only through him. The ultimate fan dilemma...
In a world where, not so long ago, John Lennon's tooth,
Britney Spears' (used) gum, and Brad Pitt's breath
sold at auctions for some serious coin, "Antiviral"s premise is
powerful because it is all-too-likely.
Any advance in technology is eventually embraced for the dumbest
possible use--cell phones, the Internet--so why wouldn't any breakthroughs
post-mapping-the-genome result in anything different?
Re-edited to reportedly a tighter running time after its
spring Cannes premiere,
"Antiviral" wastes nary a
scene or detail (despite some criticisms
of a dull third act, I found the entire thing to be gripping from top to
bottom). Beautifully shot by Karim Hussain, its ambient, white-on-white,
antiseptic aesthetic (punctuated by shocking glimpses of all things
bodily-oriented and horrible) owes as much to "THX
1138" as it does "Dead Ringers".
©Robert J. Lewis 2012
