Cronenberg's Only Clunker - eXistenZ (1999) Discussion

[–] WalletGuy 14 years ago

I've only seen this and Videodrome by Cronenberg and loved them both. If you liked Videodrome I'm surprised you didn't like eXistenZ. I don't think the concept and content are "ridiculous," its even more relevant with mmorpg games like World of Warcraft coming out. eXistenZ holds up really well after 10 years, especially since Inception kinda stole its ending from this movie!
I've been meaning to see more by Cronenberg but haven't gotten around to it yet, which Cronenberg films would you recommend?

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[–] mac7320 14 years ago

The Fly, History of Violence, and Eastern Promises.

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[–] RobertKnepperFan 14 years ago

Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers, don't watch Crash that sucked. The Brood is worth checking out. Scanners is also a solid one. Pretty much any Cronenberg is good with the exception of Crash. eXistenZ is an an underrated hidden gem IMO.

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[–] DutchieVanHell 13 years ago

What? Crash is an amazing film.

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[–] MovieKnut 13 years ago

I love 'Videdrome', but Cronenberg completely plagiarised it with 'eXistenZ'. All he did was replace video with the games console.

You can't palm off a second-rater on me. You gotta remember I was in the pink!

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[–] balducci2 14 years ago

"I love his other movies. I think he's out of his depth in this movie. 10 years after the making, the concept and the content seems ridiculous."

Lol. Inception seems to have done alright, ripping eXistenZ's 10 year old concept for its own use now, I mean.

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[–] DeadlySinner 11 years ago

"Lol. Inception seems to have done alright, ripping eXistenZ's 10 year old concept for its own use now, I mean."

What's your point? Cronenberg ripped his movie's concept from Phillip K. Dick's 47 year old concept.

Either way, the execution was different in Inception. The confusion of what is real is a plot point that also informs Cobb's character in Inception, while it is the entire point of eXistenZ. The similar ending scenes are doing different things for each movie.

Required reading for theater patrons:
http://tinyurl.com/shutheeffup

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[–] UberNoodle 14 years ago

Yeah, he's out of the depth. Thanks for letting him know. He'd like you to fax a few pointers to his office. You've got his number, he said. He really appreciates the feedback. He'll try better next time. He promised.

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[–] sugarkang 13 years ago

Maybe you guys haven't watched eXistenZ recently, but the dialog is horrendous. Much has to do with the technology being so old. That said, it still sucks.

To the fanboy whose feelings I've hurt, awww... don't be hurt okay?

As far as Inception lifting the concept, I'll grant you that. Still, concept alone doesn't make a great film. Execution has a lot to do with it. This failed. And like I said, this is his only clunker, especially recently

History of Violence and Eastern Promises were both awesome.

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[–] msmouse841 13 years ago

I'm with you all the way @sugarkang! eXistenZ is in my opinion the worst of Cronenberg's films. I love love LOVE Videodrome, The Brood, Scanners, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Eastern Promises, ect ect. I even liked Crash...it was a bit much in the sex department but hey, thats what it was about. It is a great adaptation of the book and Cronenberg even got to sneak in his Man-Machine imagery.

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[–] jr502 13 years ago

The dialogue makes sense given the context. Have you played many games? It's the exact same kind of cheesy dialogue you find there, and the over-acting in some scenes is very much how characters in video games react.

Not sure I understand what you're talking about with the technology being old...doesn't seem to follow from what you said the sentence before.

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[–] DeadlySinner 11 years ago

"Have you played many games? It's the exact same kind of cheesy dialogue you find there, and the over-acting in some scenes is very much how characters in video games react."

Have you played many games? There is a wide range of dialogue and performance quality, just like there is in film and TV. At least in most games, the characters resemble human beings, rather than aliens who might have heard of humans a couple of times.

Required reading for theater patrons:
http://tinyurl.com/shutheeffup

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[–] BigRich 8 years ago

Maybe you guys haven't watched eXistenZ recently, but the dialog is horrendous. Much has to do with the technology being so old.

Watched it twice in the past few days. IMHO, the only thing horrendous was Pikal's supposed "American" accent (But I believe that was implied as part of the game). However, by the end of the movie when the game designer is talking to his partner (Sarah Polley) about how he was worried about the game having a theme about the game designer being assassinated, he looks backs at the group (Willem Dafoe, Ian Holm, and Robert Silverman[Nader]) they all got their head down and they're looking at tablets. Tablets in 1999? They look like 7" iPads. This happens around the 1:31:52 mark (Netflix).
_
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[–] Ubutterfly0 13 years ago

At the time, I don't even think a 100 million marketing campaign could've made more people want to watch it.

SHe's everything you wish you could never be.

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[–] ccr1633 13 years ago

You've got to be kidding OP. Crash was garbage. You're telling us you were more fascinated by people who get their sexual jollies in car crashes than by the still relevant and deep theme of the blurring between reality and simulation? I don't see how you could be a fan of Cronenberg's style and think eXistenZ was a bad film. I don't think it's a 10/10, but certainly a good food-for-thought movie with some patented Cronenberg biogore.

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[–] mulholland_empire 13 years ago

i seriously think ive enjoyed almost everthing ive seen by cronenberg. i would say the ones i liked the least are spider and fast company........eXitenz and crash are both brilliant. crash has very very moody atmosphere and some of the performances esp elias koteas are hysterical. i think ppl need to see more of a sense of humor in crash. its horribly misunderstood.

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[–] escalation746 13 years ago

Actually I find this film more relevant now than ever. Games such as these with no point other than to live in some other reality are now commonplace, so it doesn't seem like such a stretch. The bad accents, banal interiors, TV style cinematography etc. all seem much cleverer to me now than they did at the time. It's a film to really sink your teeth into. (Ahem.)

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[–] TTboy-33 13 years ago

Yes, like Videodrome, Cronenberg recognizes budding technology trends as they impact the social landscape of human experience.

My favorite shot, is at the end, when, after plugging out of the game, everybody picks up their smartphones in isolation. This behavior is commonplace today.

I'm surprised at the negative reviews of 'Crash', Ballard is a national treasure, and the adaptation was really well done.

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[–] LeonardPine 13 years ago

I think Existenz is one of Cronenbergs most interesting films. It has some brilliant ideas and features the best 'dream logic' i've ever seen in a film. I think its very underrated.

Crash is also an excellent film. Very misunderstood.

The only Cronenberg i'm not mad on is Naked Lunch. Very well made but it left me cold.

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[–] kingcrimson2 13 years ago

Agree with the OP. The concept is fine but the execution acting, dialogue, pacing...weak.

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[–] pablo-taylor 11 years ago

I suspect Cronenberg made this film with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek and really it's just a homage/parody of his earlier non-studio work, it's as if he was revisiting Videodrome in order to address the changes in technology that took place in the intervening fifteen years but at the same time finally drawing a line under that earlier part of his career he'd been trying to shake-off since Dead Ringers (and arguably The Fly) with a nod and a wink to his audience while sticking his middle finger up to the phoneyness of The Matrix (in the same way that he made The Brood in response to Kramer Vs. Kramer).

Existenz really shouldn't be taken too seriously, Crash on the other hand is one of his major works (and last to date), anyone not recognising this clearly doesn't understand the director's films in the first place.

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[–] psychocosmic-1 11 years ago

Never underestimate Cronenberg! He might be many things but never dumb, unaware or faulty..
His films have all been weird and unique:
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE 1971
SHIVERS 75
RABID 77
THE BROOD 79
SCANNERS 80
VIDEODROME 83
THE DEAD ZONE 84
THE FLY 86
DEAD RINGERS 88
NAKED LUNCH 91
MADAME BUTTERFLY
CRASH......

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[–] DeadlySinner 11 years ago

"My favorite shot, is at the end, when, after plugging out of the game, everybody picks up their smartphones in isolation. This behavior is commonplace today."

That's a joke, right? Smartphones as we know them today didn't exist back then. Even cellphones weren't prevalent at the time. Those were questionnaires. Hence the line, "as long as you don't ask me to fill in your questionnaires."

Required reading for theater patrons:
http://tinyurl.com/shutheeffup

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[–] DeadlySinner 11 years ago

"Actually I find this film more relevant now than ever. Games such as these with no point other than to live in some other reality are now commonplace, so it doesn't seem like such a stretch."

You sound like you have no idea what you are talking about. Those types of games are not commonplace at all. The very few that do exist are niche at best.

Required reading for theater patrons:
http://tinyurl.com/shutheeffup

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[–] sebaser 8 years ago

If anything seems to be closer and closer to where gang is going with the boom of VR interest and soon to flood the market options in that field.

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