Don't get me wrong, this was great. I enjoyed this film. I was entertained by this film.
But why was the conclusion so vague? I don't expect everything to end with all loose ends tied off and a big Hollywood happy-clappy finale, but the narrative structure of this film just feels like they ran out of paper whilst printing the script and the last 10% was scrapped. It didn't really feel like an 'abrupt' ending so much as the film literally just stopped occurring when there was more left to tell. Not an ending at all, in other words. It feels almost lazy, like they didn't even know how to finish it.
I know some of you have seen this. What did you think?
>Don't get me wrong, this was great.
No it wasn't. Corny as fuck from the get-go and not at all in a fun pastichey way. Which is not to say it wasn't self aware, but self awareness of being garbage doesn't do anything except maybe extend a bigger 'fuck you' to the audience.
I hated this movie. Cronenberg's kindof losing it .. though I did enjoy Cosmopolis and Maps to The Stars he's just not the powerhouse he used to be.
>But why was the conclusion so vague?
It was adapted from a comic book. I haven't read the comic, but I would assume any plot oddities come from Cronenberg trying to be faithful to the source.
>>63006061
Fair enough, I actually really did enjoy it. I can understand the disappointment but it was pretty entertaining imo. What did you think of Eastern Promises?
>>63006025
It's ok. Nothing special. It's tense, Viggo is good, Hurt is way overrated. Doesnt amount to much. Cosmopolis and Maps to the Stars are way better.
>>63006113
I've yet to see that. I hear it's fantastic but I am a little skeptical whether or not I'll like it. Would you consider it pretty comparable to History of Violence?
>Cosmopolis
>better than anything
Troll 2 is better.
>>63006166
Well, it's a crime-thriller directed by Cronenberg starring Viggo Mortensen... but I think it's a much better film in terms of cinematography and narrative.
>>63006194
It's definitely not a technical treat, I'll give you that.
>>63006166
>>63006194
>>63006133
Eastern Promises is his best, Cronenberg at its it's finest, and maps to the stars and cosmopolis were massive turds, stop being contrarian guys, Cronenberg is fucked up in the head due to all that Marxist bullshit
>>63006216
>>63006273
Maps To The Stars was one of the best films of last year and Cosmopolis is arguably the best film of Cronenberg's entire career.
fuck it I'm just going to binge cronenberg this guy is the tits
>>63006321
>Cosmopolis is arguably the best film of Cronenberg's entire career
>>63006273
>stop being contrarian guys
no you
Both were amazing, bold, singular cinematic experiences
>>63006273
I'll give Eastern Promises a go, but I'm questioning the judgement behind calling a gangster movie the master of surreal body horror at his finest. The Fly and Videodrome seem like obvious contenders for that to me.
>>63006321
I don't go as far as this guy but I liked both films. Don DeLillo's dialogue makes a brilliant transition to screen. More about sound and musicality than meaning, strange conversations, ideas left hanging, never quite expanded on. It's an interesting aesthetic.
>>63006166
If you though this was corny you wouldn't like Eastern Promises at all.
>>63006061
Eastern Promises is far better than this though.
>>63006469
incorrect
>>63006321
>Cosmopolis is arguably the best film of Cronenberg's entire career.
>what is Naked Lunch
>>63006025
>But why was the conclusion so vague?
Because the film doesn't actually have anything to say. He was a bad guy, now he's good and uses "violence" to defend his family. There's no questions really being asked or answers provided for anything; nothings really conflicting about his character since he's shown to be such a great guy the whole film. Its a revenge movie that doesn't want to admit its one
>>63006517
It's a good film but no Cosmopolis. I saw Cosmopolis the day it was released in a packed theater and by the end of the film 3 quarters of the audience had left. And these were presumably Cronenberg fans.
I've come to realize that this is the sign of a truly great work. Happened with Killing Them Softly, happened with Spring Breakers, happened with The Councelor and it happened with this. No coincidence that these are some of my favorite films of the decade so far. Not enough directors are brave enough to turn the screw on their own "fanbase". The concept of fans and the attempt to please them is what kills art.
>>63006643
I think that's a pretty goofy hypothesis that the more people a movie sends away the better it is, BUT: Inherent Vice was the same thing, and that movie is 10/10.
>Cosmopolis
>The Counselor
>Inherent Vice
now.. what do these have in common.. maybe adapting opaque literary fiction to screen isn't a way to pull in the support of average theatre goers, what a surprise.
>>63006610
The movie's point is that you can't escape from your past you retarded fagtron
How does one not enjoy A History of Violence?
Eastern Promises is superior though.
>>63006113
Based Viggo
>>63006101
No, the ending is completely different from the comic.
>>63006739
Inherent Vice is up there too, absolutely. There weren't as many walkouts for me in that case but you could just tell by the atmosphere of the room that 99% of the audience was having a terrible experience. It's the best feeling you can get in a cinema, to be honest. One of the only things that can make paying for a film worthwhile. When you pirate you don't get to see the audience suffer and break first hand.
>>63006025
The movie is called a history of violence, and it delivered on its title. Violence began as a necessary function for the survival of genes and likewise it was programmed into the chemistry of every male. And then evolution created morality and these two ideas of violence and alturism couldn't coexist in their natural states. The social contract was formed, and the violence was buried under it: Joey Cusack became Tom Stall. But the contract eventually must be voided; if Tom was truly a nice person, if he was the man his family believed him to be--he would have died in that deli.
The ending of the film is the dinner table, the centerpiece of suburban Americana. That dinner table stands on the soil of murdered Indians and the blood of slaves. And here the family makes a mutual agreement to accept the violent foundation of their safe existence and move on.
>>63006610
You missed the point, entirely.
>>63006788
That's actually true. Having a killer time while everyone else suffers is great. I saw Inherent Vicefourtimes in theatres, only opening night had a receptive audience. What a night that was though. Theatre reeked of marijuana.
>>63006643
>I pretend to like whatever the mob doesn't like
>be Body Horror director
>adapt comic book with a pretty significant body horror element in it
>excise it completely from your film
What kind of movie you want, senpai?
>>63006744
But his past is so incredibly specific and dumb that its hard for me to take anything away from the movie. I just can't take "retired super gangster combat expert trying to live a new life" seriously. Its inherently silly
He's also shown to be such a perfect father and husband and community leader that I immediately was able to forgive his past. If I learned that my dad used to be a violent thug I'd be a bit torn up, but the movie really doesn't convey that well. They needed to actually show him as a bad person to get that conflict across, not be World's Greatest Dad with the worlds corniest backstory
>>63006911
Good criticisms all around.
Would have been a better film if it really was mistaken identity. Not like anyone fell for that though.
>>63006900
Regardless of how bad you think the film is, he outdid the book by a mile
>>63006900
He could not show too much body horror due to it being made by a major hollywood studio
