LFF Review – Anitviral
Title: ANTIVIRAL
Positives
Negatives
Brandon Cronenberg has taken a lot of clues from the early work of his father for this one. It’s bold, visceral, morally challenging
With her first LFF review, Teri takes a look at the work of Brandon Cronenberg, Antiviral
Syd March is sick. He has injected himself with a 24-hour bug harvested from an ill celebrity, right under the nose of the company who hires him to do the same for willing, paying clients. And so in lies the surreal, nasty plot of Antiviral – you want to get close to your idols? Why not love with a part of them inside you for a day?
Caleb Landry Jones, whose praises I’ve been harping since I spotted him in X-Men: First Class, is naturally terrifying as Syd: he is tall and pale and hawkish, his red hair scraped back from his face in a ponytail. Many times throughout the film we’re exposed to his skin and it’s hard to look away from the patchwork of stark freckles all over his body, which contrast so much with the waxy fake-like skin of the starlet he steals his infection from. He is put at the centre of the movie not only as a narrative object but as a visual one. There isn’t a scene he doesn’t steal with his eerie, handsome grim-reaper esque presence. He is creature like, but he’s a sex object too, and Antiviral is ultimately Syd’s movie -it’s the story of being imperfect in a striving-to-be-perfect world.
It’s bonkers though, there’s absolutely no getting away from that. Remember the guns and animal matter in eXistenZ? Did that turn your stomach? Well, imagine what a ‘celebrity steak’ looks like – tastes like. I would say that you get the idea but you couldn’t possibly until you see Antiviral and all it’s absurd madness, from the food to the idea of diseases manifesting human faces.
Brandon Cronenberg has taken a lot of clues from the early work of his father for this one. It’s bold, visceral, morally challenging – and, as one fellow screening-goer said, “it’s a good David Cronenberg movie”. That might be the case, and it will be interesting to see some more work from Brandon, to see him do more of his own thing, but as a stand alone Antiviral is still brilliant, and brilliantly realised.
ANTIVIRAL IS BEING SHOWN FROM 13TH TO 15 OCTOBER AT LFF, BUY TICKETS FROM HERE
Teri
Looks a bit freaky for little old me!!
I quite enjoyed this. CLJ’s performance is stunning and the visuals were excellent. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
It does look a bit freaky for me. I know some people who are waiting to see it though, esp for CLJ’s performance. Thanks for the preview! Nice summary