Review of Antiviral (2012) by Jacob G — 24 Aug 2013

A slow burner, Antiviral is a sci-fi movie with some horror undertones (and, occasionally, overtones). While it starts off feeling like a statement against celebrity obsession, it thankfully ditches any kind of didactic moralizing in favor of simply telling the story of Syd March (played by Caleb Jones).

Syd is appealing. He doesn't say much, and gazes all too often with that baleful glare that would have him as at home at a punk rock concert as in a clinic. But when he does speak, it is with a slow pace that demands attention. We first see it in an early scene as he's selling a customer on one of his clinic's products (which, you probably already know to be viruses from sick celebrities--if you didn't know that, well, now you do). He carefully guides the customer to the "right" product using empathy and flattery, but subtle enough to not be seen as a door-to-door salesman. There is a tension to how Jones speaks which gives each word proper weight. I was about to plunk down cash for the virus, and not only does it not exist, but I don't like getting sick.

As a topic charged with social commentary and opinion from the get-to, it's refreshing to see a film which doesn't feel the need to reiterate what it is about. We see glimpses closer to the beginning in a couple of monologues, but director Brandon Cronenberg trusts the audience to understand his point without beating it to death.

There are flaws here, of course. The style of character that Syd is doesn't allow us to glimpse past his facade. We don't really get where he's coming from, what his goals are, or WHO he actually is. We just see what is on the screen, what he says to other characters. That leaves him as fairly enigmatic; he's separated from us. And without another perspective to shed light on those questions, they remain unanswered, dangling even as the credits roll.

Yet this uncertainty allows for a sense of tension even as actual plot points unfold. Certain revelations leave us nervous because we don't know Syd well enough to determine whether the revealed information has a positive or negative effect. So even as the plot starts to fit into place, Syd remains a shadow.