My thoughts on "Crimes" is more of a deep-dive into the metaphorical meanings within Cronenberg's on-the-nose, satirical (albeit horrific) and sometimes humorous view of modern-day technology (ex: eating chair, sleeping bed, autopsy bed), exhibitionism and voyeurism (ex: Saul, Caprice, Timlin, two women with drills), pop culture (ex: Klinik/Ear Man, others), celebrity status (Saul and Caprice), and ultimately the "plastic" society that we have become (ex: plastic eaters, non-plastic eaters, and those "evolving" into eating plastic). There are also the "policing agencies" (Cope, Wippet, Timlin) that try to regulate and/or terminate humanities permanent decline into a meaningless existence of seeking out ever-greater, "shocking" sensualities (ex: government's attempts to regulate social media and the moral decline of society). The story clearly identifies "plastic" as the synthetic, cheap, easily consumed and digested content in social media (I think of "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, Madonna's "Material Girl"). Each of the main characters is participating in the so-called "art" in some way with a brief glimpse of a "normal person" who dies from eating "plastic". The boy Brecken, from the outset, has already "evolved" into a full plastic eater. The mother, representing parents of young "social media artists" today, smothers him. This represents the consequences of parents allowing their children to consume and produce cheap, easy to consume exhibitionism eventually leading them to be killed by it (ex: kids being killed by their stalkers, older men being fans of young girls) as if the parent was the actual murderer. Through the entire story, the main character Saul resists "evolving" into a plastic eater (ex: "tumor-like organs" that grow inside him = the cancers of society) using alien-looking tech just to eat and sleep (Ex: cpap, hospital surgical devices, feeding tubes, mechanised beds etc). Finally, after just giving in to "evolving" into a plastic eater does he find complete contentment and peace. However, never does he realize that his "painless" exhibitionism is the very cause of his morphing into a plastic eater; he's now desensitised to it all. Along the way, we also meet two woman voyeurists who drill holes into people's heads representing the mindless, intellegence draining people of RUclips Channels and pornography; they create content that displays to everyone their so-called "inner beauty" but is secretely "horrific" for us to watch, and we can't turn our eyes away (ex: Adrienne, Ear Man, zipper device, etc.). In addition, Ear Man (Klinik) demonstrates how even the hippocritical Producer of his "Art" (ex: the music and entertainment industry) can be the very one who exploits the financial successes but joins the "popular" view of hating it (ex: anonymous likes, dislikes, etc.). There are many more metaphorical references throughout the story and Cronenberg uses the genre as a warning of the future "horrors" of becoming "Plastic Eaters". Cronenberg asks us If we are disgusted by what we are watching and thus why are we not disgusted by what we "consume" in today's media? He suggests that if we are not disgusted by what we're watching, we're already a plastic eater. Indeed, ultimately society will become senseless, meaningless, painless, completely devoid of the characteristics that make us human if we don't stop eating plastic both metaphorically (ex: social media, empty entertainment, exhibitionism, voyeurism, pop culture, celebrity status, etc.) and physically (ex: oceans being full of plastic: fish eat it, we eat the fish). Neither has any nutritional value and can kill us metaphorically, physically, spiritually, and socially.
"This typically happens to directors in their older age" Except lynch, who made twin peaks: the return in his 70s and it's my favorite thing he's ever done lol
I appreciate you helping keep expectations in check when it comes to movies recently having their shock value hyped up. Your review for the sadness helped me appreciate it more where as if I went in only expecting how insane people were saying it was I think I would have been disappointed. I’ve also been hearing how extreme this was with the walk outs but I’ll be adjusting my expectations now
Yeah I've heard that this one is a bit of...well, not a letdown, per se, but not something that special either. A real shame - after so long away from the genre he helped to create, something that outstripped the competition would have been nice. Naturally I 'm still eager to see this, just with adjusted expectations.
I finally got to watch it back to back with Infinity Pool. I loved the concept and ideas but it lacked quality which is strange. Definitely looked cheap and rushed and some of the really cool ideas were underdeveloped, or not explored enough. It had this early 00's straight to DVD look to it. The props looked like they were leftovers from Existenz! I hope David isn't getting the Argento syndrome. From the other hand Infinity Pool looked really good, great cinematography but lacked in depth and originality. They both should have made these movies together to have a more balanced result.
This movie is similar to Fight Club in its themes. Both are about numb people going to extremes to feel alive. Both are about people that reject civilization and technology.
When I saw the articles about walkouts I immediately thought "Welp, that's gonna come back on this movie." I just ignore shit like that at this point. I was satisfied by most of the resolutions, but there's a reveal involving those two female technicians that is never answered. Not sure how I feel about that.
So now I can officially say I’ve seen a Cronenberg film in theaters! 🤘 Not my fave, but I did enjoy it - although it was slow-paced - because it makes a statement regarding how dependent people are getting on technology, especially kids. The body horror aspects were waaaaayyy tame. Cronenberg has always put relevant ideas in his films and challenged audiences which he did again with this movie, so I’m pretty intrigued by it.
Very solid points about the lack of connectivity in this movie character-wise which is often the case with the voyeuristic, art-house slow burns. Nothing shocking despite the burden of expectation clouted ahead of it's debut. Completely agree with how it's a bit odd with the release plan for this, however NEON put 'Climax' wide as well so not that surprising I suppose.
I keep thinking there's something I must've missed. It's just so unlike Cronenburg to be that heavy handed with a "message". Otherwise, it was a decent movie
@@ThisIsYourGodNow Hahaha. Sorry dude, I've just read that back myself and I've obviously not used a sarcastic enough font. Next time I'll throw in a rolly-eyed emoji. There's some very cool shit on your channel. I've just sub'd (that's not rolly-eyed sarcasm).
I just came back from this .... and I don't even know how to feel about it 😃 I can't even form an opinion on this. I was actually dozing off during this and I'm not sure if it was because I've not slept all night or not but getting that uber back sure had me awake.
Interesting - makes me think of anatomists a couple of hundred years ago, who would perform autopsies more or less in public (at least some of them did, though they would often be arrested). Its an interesting concept, might check it out. The perversion side of it makes me think of Crash a little bit, and I think the ambiguity of the world is an attempt to make the story universal, like...this could be anywhere at anytime, it just happens to be at this time and place, meaning that its more about human nature in some ways. I mean, if you look at a lot of Cronenberg's films, Videodrome, for example, we learn very little about the world - its about the nature of the people in it, the smaller scale. At the end of the day, governments and times and places don't make that much difference really, at least not to the characters we are usually following. I think as well its a thing about body horror - the story is about the people having the experiences rather than the world that its happening in a lot of the time. It sounds like this has been taken to the nth degree possibly though, it sounds a bit play like, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. This is just my initial response to your review though, I will check the film out. :)
My thoughts on "Crimes" is more of a deep-dive into the metaphorical meanings within Cronenberg's on-the-nose, satirical (albeit horrific) and sometimes humorous view of modern-day technology (ex: eating chair, sleeping bed, autopsy bed), exhibitionism and voyeurism (ex: Saul, Caprice, Timlin, two women with drills), pop culture (ex: Klinik/Ear Man, others), celebrity status (Saul and Caprice), and ultimately the "plastic" society that we have become (ex: plastic eaters, non-plastic eaters, and those "evolving" into eating plastic). There are also the "policing agencies" (Cope, Wippet, Timlin) that try to regulate and/or terminate humanities permanent decline into a meaningless existence of seeking out ever-greater, "shocking" sensualities (ex: government's attempts to regulate social media and the moral decline of society).
The story clearly identifies "plastic" as the synthetic, cheap, easily consumed and digested content in social media (I think of "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, Madonna's "Material Girl"). Each of the main characters is participating in the so-called "art" in some way with a brief glimpse of a "normal person" who dies from eating "plastic".
The boy Brecken, from the outset, has already "evolved" into a full plastic eater. The mother, representing parents of young "social media artists" today, smothers him. This represents the consequences of parents allowing their children to consume and produce cheap, easy to consume exhibitionism eventually leading them to be killed by it (ex: kids being killed by their stalkers, older men being fans of young girls) as if the parent was the actual murderer.
Through the entire story, the main character Saul resists "evolving" into a plastic eater (ex: "tumor-like organs" that grow inside him = the cancers of society) using alien-looking tech just to eat and sleep (Ex: cpap, hospital surgical devices, feeding tubes, mechanised beds etc). Finally, after just giving in to "evolving" into a plastic eater does he find complete contentment and peace. However, never does he realize that his "painless" exhibitionism is the very cause of his morphing into a plastic eater; he's now desensitised to it all.
Along the way, we also meet two woman voyeurists who drill holes into people's heads representing the mindless, intellegence draining people of RUclips Channels and pornography; they create content that displays to everyone their so-called "inner beauty" but is secretely "horrific" for us to watch, and we can't turn our eyes away (ex: Adrienne, Ear Man, zipper device, etc.). In addition, Ear Man (Klinik) demonstrates how even the hippocritical Producer of his "Art" (ex: the music and entertainment industry) can be the very one who exploits the financial successes but joins the "popular" view of hating it (ex: anonymous likes, dislikes, etc.).
There are many more metaphorical references throughout the story and Cronenberg uses the genre as a warning of the future "horrors" of becoming "Plastic Eaters". Cronenberg asks us If we are disgusted by what we are watching and thus why are we not disgusted by what we "consume" in today's media? He suggests that if we are not disgusted by what we're watching, we're already a plastic eater. Indeed, ultimately society will become senseless, meaningless, painless, completely devoid of the characteristics that make us human if we don't stop eating plastic both metaphorically (ex: social media, empty entertainment, exhibitionism, voyeurism, pop culture, celebrity status, etc.) and physically (ex: oceans being full of plastic: fish eat it, we eat the fish). Neither has any nutritional value and can kill us metaphorically, physically, spiritually, and socially.
"This typically happens to directors in their older age"
Except lynch, who made twin peaks: the return in his 70s and it's my favorite thing he's ever done lol
I appreciate you helping keep expectations in check when it comes to movies recently having their shock value hyped up. Your review for the sadness helped me appreciate it more where as if I went in only expecting how insane people were saying it was I think I would have been disappointed. I’ve also been hearing how extreme this was with the walk outs but I’ll be adjusting my expectations now
Some people did walk out when I saw it.
Same here
Yeah I've heard that this one is a bit of...well, not a letdown, per se, but not something that special either.
A real shame - after so long away from the genre he helped to create, something that outstripped the competition would have been nice.
Naturally I 'm still eager to see this, just with adjusted expectations.
I finally got to watch it back to back with Infinity Pool. I loved the concept and ideas but it lacked quality which is strange. Definitely looked cheap and rushed and some of the really cool ideas were underdeveloped, or not explored enough. It had this early 00's straight to DVD look to it. The props looked like they were leftovers from Existenz! I hope David isn't getting the Argento syndrome. From the other hand Infinity Pool looked really good, great cinematography but lacked in depth and originality. They both should have made these movies together to have a more balanced result.
It definitely felt like that
This movie is similar to Fight Club in its themes. Both are about numb people going to extremes to feel alive. Both are about people that reject civilization and technology.
When I saw the articles about walkouts I immediately thought "Welp, that's gonna come back on this movie." I just ignore shit like that at this point.
I was satisfied by most of the resolutions, but there's a reveal involving those two female technicians that is never answered. Not sure how I feel about that.
So now I can officially say I’ve seen a Cronenberg film in theaters! 🤘 Not my fave, but I did enjoy it - although it was slow-paced - because it makes a statement regarding how dependent people are getting on technology, especially kids. The body horror aspects were waaaaayyy tame. Cronenberg has always put relevant ideas in his films and challenged audiences which he did again with this movie, so I’m pretty intrigued by it.
Very solid points about the lack of connectivity in this movie character-wise which is often the case with the voyeuristic, art-house slow burns. Nothing shocking despite the burden of expectation clouted ahead of it's debut. Completely agree with how it's a bit odd with the release plan for this, however NEON put 'Climax' wide as well so not that surprising I suppose.
Always appreciate your feedback and thoughts buddy. Miss you
I keep thinking there's something I must've missed. It's just so unlike Cronenburg to be that heavy handed with a "message". Otherwise, it was a decent movie
Wtf heavy handed messages are his whole thing lmao
@@ThisIsYourGodNow Hahaha. Sorry dude, I've just read that back myself and I've obviously not used a sarcastic enough font. Next time I'll throw in a rolly-eyed emoji. There's some very cool shit on your channel. I've just sub'd (that's not rolly-eyed sarcasm).
Thanks for the review. I liked the movie for one viewing. My favorite Cronenberg movies are Rabid, Videodrome, Shivers and Crash.
Good ones
I just came back from this .... and I don't even know how to feel about it 😃 I can't even form an opinion on this. I was actually dozing off during this and I'm not sure if it was because I've not slept all night or not but getting that uber back sure had me awake.
Interesting - makes me think of anatomists a couple of hundred years ago, who would perform autopsies more or less in public (at least some of them did, though they would often be arrested). Its an interesting concept, might check it out. The perversion side of it makes me think of Crash a little bit, and I think the ambiguity of the world is an attempt to make the story universal, like...this could be anywhere at anytime, it just happens to be at this time and place, meaning that its more about human nature in some ways. I mean, if you look at a lot of Cronenberg's films, Videodrome, for example, we learn very little about the world - its about the nature of the people in it, the smaller scale. At the end of the day, governments and times and places don't make that much difference really, at least not to the characters we are usually following. I think as well its a thing about body horror - the story is about the people having the experiences rather than the world that its happening in a lot of the time. It sounds like this has been taken to the nth degree possibly though, it sounds a bit play like, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. This is just my initial response to your review though, I will check the film out. :)
Love your Blood Diner t-shirt !!! 😁😇🙏
Thanks for your videos !! Greetings from France 😊
She steals all my shirts out of the closet! Haha
@@sinistercinemareviews5420 😂
Big hug from Paris 🙏
Nothing will ever Top Reanimator I am Kidding
Ha
@@sinistercinemareviews5420 ruclips.net/video/uQ06od3TYiQ/видео.html
I didn't even know this was out already.
Today
@@sinistercinemareviews5420 Must add it to the list then.