Review of Crimes of the Future (1970) by Jacob L — 25 Feb 2008

I guess I'll have to be the voice of dissent on this one. Although I love Cronenberg's work and went into this film wanting to appreciate it, it just asked too much of me. This movie travels at a snail's pace, and felt like a three hour film rather than the actual one hour it lasted. The plot was all but impossible for me to follow (perhaps because I was spending all of my energy simply trying to stay awake). The use of sound (or rather the lack of use) was a big problem for me as well.

Though some of the elements of Cronenberg genius are there to be seen, this is very much a learning exercise for him. While it's interesting to see and compare to his later work, I don't really feel the film is worth watching for its own sake.