Wednesday 15 March
Eastern Promises
MA15+
UK, 2007
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Language: Russian, English
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel
What's it about?
Viggo Mortensen was nominated for an Oscar for his astounding performance as a sinister Russian mobster in David Cronenberg's gritty psychological thriller, which explores the conflict between a man’s inner world and his external world. Naomi Watts is no less convincing as a Russian midwife living in London, who starts looking into the disturbing circumstances surrounding the death of a 14-year-old, who died whilst giving birth. Her amateur investigations lead to her to the dark world of underage prostitution and an organised crime family with a volatile son played by Vincent Cassel and his driver/"cleaner" (Mortensen).
[link title="Eastern Promises Review" url="node/4354"]
Source: SBS Movies
A Dangerous Method
MA15+
UK, 2012
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Biography
Language: English
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley
What's it about?
Cronenberg looks into the physical effects of mental disturbance with the real-life story of Sabine Spielrein (Keira Knightley in a magnetic performance), a troubled Russian woman whose case was at the forefront of the birth of psychoanalysis. Seduced by the challenge of Sabina's case, the driven Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) takes her on as his patient, using the method of his master, the renowned Sigmund Freud (played by Mortensen, in his third movie with Cronenberg). But soon, both men fall under Sabina's spell.
[link title="Read David Cronenberg interview" url="node/843"]
[link title="Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method" url="node/2095"]
[link title="Why You Should Watch: A Dangerous Method " url="node/17044"]
[link title="A Dangerous Method Review" url="node/5802"]
Source: SBS Movies
Wednesday 22 March
eXistenZ
8:30pm, SBS VICELAND
M
Canada/UK, 1999
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe
What's it about?
Cronenberg's disturbingly prophetic (and at times hilarious) sci-fi thriller was inspired by an interview he conducted with Salman Rushdie about the fatwa waged against him following the publication of his Satanic Verses. (Watch Cronenberg talk about the artists' fear of losing control of their creations in this original interview). In the case of eXistenZ, the endangered artist is gaming superstar Allegra Geller, played by the fearless Jennifer Jason Leigh, whose latest invention taps so deeply into its users’ fears and desires that it blurs the boundaries of reality. When she is attacked by anti-eXistenZialist fanatics, she finds an ally in a young security guard (Jude Law), with whom she escapes deep inside the game.
[link title="Watch The Movie Show's original review" url="node/4060"]
Watch original interview with David Cronenberg
Watch original interview with David Cronenberg
Source: SBS Movies
Wednesday 29 March
Dead Ringers
8:30pm, SBS VICELAND
MA15+
Canada, USA, 1988
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Language: English
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Jeremy Irons, Genevieve Bujold, Heidi von Palleske
What's it about?
Cronenberg's obsession with body transformation and mutations can also be found in this brilliant and terrifying classic. Inspired by the true story of inseparable identical twin gynecologists and drug addicts Stewart and Cyril Marcus, who were found dead in their Manhattan apartment in 1975, Dead Ringers sees Jeremy Irons play both parts in a brilliant performance. Despite the movie being critically acclaimed, both Cronenberg and Jeremy Irons were overlooked by the Academy, which famously prompted Irons to thank Cronenberg in his acceptance speech for his Oscar for Barbet Schroeder’s Reversal of Fortune a couple of years later ("Some of you may understand why...", he cryptically declared).
Watch The Movie Show's original review: Cool, clinical and confrontational
Read more: David Cronenberg: Matters of the Head and Horror
Read more: David Cronenberg: Matters of the Head and Horror
Source: SBS Movies
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