Review of Cosmopolis (2012) by Jim L — 10 Jul 2013

This film had an abysmal star rating on Lovefilm, but some very positive comments form critics I respect made me interested to see this Don DeLillo adaptation by Cronenberg, rarely a dull filmmaker. I can only imagine the reactions of your average Twilight fan, enticed by the presence of their cherished R-Patz, on encountering this film.

Pattinson is an obscenely rich young financier, who irrationally wants to get across town in his limo for a haircut even as the streets are in lockdown following a presidential threat and increasingly violent protests about the global economy.

He interacts, both verbally and sexually with various advisers and acquaintances in the back of his whisper-quiet limo, drenched in the blue glow of the digital screens of his hallowed virtual stock markets.

It's certainly a film with a lot of intelligence behind it, but it seems all the writing and filmmaking skill was channelled into a film that is about emptiness and portrayed in a slow, empty fashion.

Cronenberg apparently used much of DeLillo's book verbatim, and the empty soullessness and craving for real experience and emotion is palpable. But for all its trickery and smart portrayal of a lifestyle on the brink of collapse, I just found it very tedious.

Cronenberg has successfully achieved the ultimate empty film for our times, and it's as hard to watch as that sounds.