Review of Antiviral (2012) by Laurent P — 16 Mar 2013

Anitviral is the first feature film of Brandon Cronenberg that explores a plausible future where intimacy between illness and celebrity obsession goes hand-in-hand.

The film follows Syd Marsh, a young sales executive for The Lucas Clinic, a company that specialises in injecting members of the public with diseases that have been taken from celebrities. Syd's desire to make a bit of extra money on the side coupled with an obsession with superstar Hannah Geist, leads him to be injected with a disease so incurable that his own survival becomes a matter of life and death.

Antiviral is a tough movie to watch but I was more fascinated than I was put off by its sometimes out-there moments (synthetic meat farm anyone?). However, what made the film special was the performance delivered by Caleb Landry Jones as the unsympathetic lead. It was hard to make a connection with his character as he had no redeeming factors, but as the film continued, I found myself mysteriously compelled to find out what was going to happen to him.

Despite being a flawed movie in terms of pacing and length, I still thoroughly enjoyed Antiviral. It was an impressive debut for Cronenberg Jr clearly showing his influenced by his father's work. Brandon has created an impressive feature debut both as a writer and director which makes me excited for what he may come up with next.