by Shane Conto
What kind of film would you expect from the son of legendary filmmaker David Cronenberg? Cronenberg made a career of making ambitious and unnerving films that have made lasting impressions among cinephiles. If Possessor is any indication, Brandon Cronenberg is on his way to following in his father’s footsteps. This film is the prototype for films “that need to be viewed multiple times”. But on some level, that feels like a copout. What does this film leave with its audience after that first crucial viewing?
If I could sum up those feelings in just one word…unnerved.
Cronenberg is able to create such a unique visual with Possessor and it is a film to behold. There are so many films that have taken an impressive premise and fallen apart on execution. That is not the case with this film.
What happens when you take a sci-fi premise about an organization that possesses others to complete assassinations and inject a vibrant and ambitious visual style?
You get one incredible visceral cinematic experience that I wish I could have enjoyed on the big screen. The transitioning of an agent into their possessed body is portrayed in a trippy and visually shocking way that features a variety of colors and gruesome body horror that will burn into your brain. Sharp camera works rendered with a steady hand pulls the audience in for some visuals you will never expect and most likely won’t forget. Cronenberg is able to capture one of the more edgy aspects of his father’s films…body horror and gore. I was taken aback by this fact from the opening scene. The film is draped in blood and horrifying bursts of violence throughout. Can it be too much? Unfortunately so, but in general, the terrifying visuals do really deliver. This film is definitely methodical and the pacing can drag at times, but the tension building is quite impressive.
Where this film might either grab or lose its audience is its story-telling.
This film doesn’t waste too much time on exposition. Cronenberg takes advantage of this medium and uses it to the fullest. Where most films might try and tell you certain events or have a nice clean ending where mysteries are explained, Possessor dives deeper and deeper into its visual story-telling. The last act of the film steers completely away from any clear plotting and morphs the reality of the cinematic world it depicts. What is the point of the film? To challenge its audience in different themes as well as in how it wants to portray them. This unrelenting look at human nature is captured in the moral grey areas of the plot. Should we take control of another to do “what is right”? This is a dark and complex question that frightful in its execution here.
There are plenty of twists and turns along the way that, along with the violence and striking visuals, will keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
This boasts a strong cast with the likes of Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. They all play their roles well (small or large) while packing emotional resonance at every turn. The score has tinges of Blade Runner while delivering a powerful impact in partnership with what is one screen. Will this film shock you? Will it unnerve you? Will it deliver a cinematic experience unlike any other this year? But will it lose you along the way?
If you are able to ride this tumultuous and intense wave, you will be rewarded tenfold but this horrifying, sci-fi flick in Possessor.
Grade: B+