Review of eXistenZ (1999) by Zane U — 01 Aug 2010
EXistenZ is a fascinating Cronenberg film. It's wedged between his bodyshock phase (if you can call the bulk of his career a "phase") and his current phase, which I suppose can only be described as more traditional.
This film dissects the ramifications of humanity's ever-increasing reliance on virtual media for experiences--focusing specifically on videogames. The quest for real-ism masking the beauty of real-ity.
The plot is a fairly straightforward conspiracy thriller... except it's not. The whole film is slightly askew. We are not hardly eased into anything, but are thrust from situation to situation with only enough exposition and explanation to keep us running on fumes.
It is all a very jarring experience that sends the viewer "with the flow" until the very end where our grounding in reality is pulled from beneath us like a rug. This is like one of those movies that baffles you so much that you search for answers and interpretations on the internet, only.
.. you don't need to search for answers and interpretations because everything that baffles you sits on the surface and can be easily sorted out by the time the credits role. eXistenZ is an underrated achievement.
This review of eXistenZ (1999) was written by Zane U on 01 Aug 2010.
eXistenZ has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
