Caught this on a late Friday night screening, and it made quite an impact on me. It’s very good – but decidedly unpleasant viewing. Mentally scarring, even.
Brandon Cronenberg’s third feature further reinforces his uncompromising dedication to making deeply messed-up movies. It’s about a couple on vacation, staying in a fortified holiday complex in the fictional seaside country of Li Tolqa. Following an accident, they discover the disturbing policy of that country for foreign tourists who commit crimes. If you’re rich you can escape punishment, but there’s an incredibly dark technological solution used. Events spiral from this – and they rapidly find themselves getting sucked into a hedonistic society of orgiastic sex, murder and violence – paid for with blood and money.
There’s a J G Ballard-esque feel to the sci-fi story elements of this tale, but the style of the telling is much more rooted in the capitalist yuppie nihilism of Bret Easton Ellis. It’s not a story to make you feel warm and fuzzy about humanity. Almost all the characters are monstrous, damaged or sociopathic. And the film is shockingly graphic in its depictions of sex and violence, almost to a nauseating level. It shows things that cannot be unseen.
Yet, despite the horrors on display – there’s a sense of pitch-black comedy about it. It is darkly funny in places. A lot of that comes from the interactions between Mia Goth’s terrifyingly deranged, dangerously sexy seductress and Alexander Skarsgard’s naively selfish protagonist.
There’s some striking visuals. It’s a stylish film, with a strong sense of lurid and disturbing imagination. It’s like every element of the production is designed to create a sense of unease. But though it’s a hard watch, It’s also compelling. Certainly not a dull movie. It’s almost like a f-d up BLACK MIRROR version of AFTERSUN. I can imagine a lot of people will hate it – or just be unable to endure it in all its ghoulish excess. But, if you have a healthy tolerance for dark and disturbing stories and can cope with graphic depictions of sex and violence, I would recommend it. But don’t blame me if you have disturbing nightmares afterwards!
