Cosmopolis

JP Liz V1

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1480656/

David Cronenberg's adaptation of the novel by Don DeLillo, titled Cosmopolis is finally happening

According to Wiki the story

is a modern re-interpretation of James Joyce's Ulysses transposed to New York around the time of the collapse of the dot-com bubble in the year 2000

Colin Farrell and Marion Cotillard were attached but now are out Paul Giamatti and Robert Pattinson are in and Keira Knightley is in negotiations

Sir Gallagher

Tits, guns, blood and what looks to be a dinosaur walking through Manhattan all wrapped up in an Enter the Void style trailer. Sign me up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCFB-WPe9Ic

paddy kerins

Intriguing. Very intriguing

duckworth

The book had an American Psycho vibe about it, from the trailer it looks like the film might carry that through. Cronenberg is always interesting at the very least.

Sephiroth_dude

Is this out on friday?

Fysh

Just back from seeing this and it was fairly disappointing. The direction is strong, and there are some interesting ideas in it. Pattinson is pretty uninteresting, but that's at least partly a script problem - and the script is the biggest issue with the film. Horrible tin-eared dialogue and far too many boring sequences that should be engaging but aren't made for a film where, in the screening I went to, there was a palpable sense of relief when the film finally finished because it meant we could go home.

Giamatti was very good in it, but overall this was a real let down.

johnny_ultimate

Hmm, can't say I hated this, but would stop well short of saying I loved it either. I certainly think it was worth a gander - it's a machine-gun scatter of ideas, and not all of them hit. But some of them are provocative, clever and engaging. It's a film of episodic conversations, and in that sense it reminded me of Waking Life, but its clearly literary origins are abundantly clear it was nice to see a film with a different approach to dialogue, unwieldy though it occasionally was. Pattinson's blankness actually sort of worked given the character I thought.

I must admit I wasn't a big fan of the cinematography - it felt 'off', for lack of a better expression. They may have been going for something unusual and distinctive, but they didn't quite make it to a coherent overall visual identity, and to me some of the framing just seemed amateurish rather than interesting. I was similarly under-wooed by A Dangerous Method - I just think Cronenberg's recent films look rushed and kind of half-hearted. I did like the limo design, though, and the muted sound design within.

All over the place, really, but I think there were more interesting sequences than duds. The 'rat' protestors, the riot scene with Morton, the basketball court bit and various others. I think adapting the 2000 novel now was a good idea, because while it can be challenging to navigate the range of opinions and ideologies expressed, there's lots of good critiques and satires of contemporary economics and lifestyles in there.

Challenging and messy, but still relatively interesting.

WatchWolf

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Hmm, can't say I hated this, but would stop well short of saying I loved it either. I certainly think it was worth a gander - it's a machine-gun scatter of ideas, and not all of them hit. But some of them are provocative, clever and engaging. It's a film of episodic conversations, and in that sense it reminded me of Waking Life, but its clearly literary origins are abundantly clear it was nice to see a film with a different approach to dialogue, unwieldy though it occasionally was. Pattinson's blankness actually sort of worked given the character I thought.

I must admit I wasn't a big fan of the cinematography - it felt 'off', for lack of a better expression. They may have been going for something unusual and distinctive, but they didn't quite make it to a coherent overall visual identity, and to me some of the framing just seemed amateurish rather than interesting. I was similarly under-wooed by A Dangerous Method - I just think Cronenberg's recent films look rushed and kind of half-hearted. I did like the limo design, though, and the muted sound design within.

All over the place, really, but I think there were more interesting sequences than duds. The 'rat' protestors, the riot scene with Morton, the basketball court bit and various others. I think adapting the 2000 novel now was a good idea, because while it can be challenging to navigate the range of opinions and ideologies expressed, there's lots of good critiques and satires of contemporary economics and lifestyles in there.

Challenging and messy, but still relatively interesting.

I assume the old man having a **** also took away from the overall experience.

Sad Professor

It didn't leave me as cold as Cronenberg's last film, but it didn't really work for me either. At times it's an intelligent and compelling film with some very evocative imagery and a solid performance from Pattinson, but the almost impenetrable dialogue becomes tiresome after a while as does the pseudo-philosophical arguments. A little more humour and heart and a little less chilliness might have made this into a good satire, but as it is it's an interesting little experimental film that never quite gels. However, I'd still agree with johnny_ultimate that it's worth checking out.

Cinema was empty. I'd imagine this is provoking quite a lot of walkouts.

mike65

Cronenberg is possibly in danger of forgetting what he is good at - a common problem for directors of a certain age as they get visions of lifetime achievement awards and such like ("more arty") when what they should be doing is making films that are true to the essential character of the creator - "more gooey"

johnny_ultimate

I admire that Cronenberg is being a little more varied these days - I think he did more than his fair share of provocative, gory and surreal horror. His recent filmography is a colourful and unpredictable selection, in his defense.

But I also don't think he quite deserves the kudos he has gotten in recent years. Spider was a huge and successful departure, although I haven't seen it in years so can't comment too much on it. But while it was certainly 'good' and engaging, there was something about A History of Violence that left me cold compared to some of the more ecstatic responses to it. Eastern Promises I didn't care for at all: just another gangster movie with a rare Cronenberg flourish. A Dangerous Method and Cosmopolis were mixed successes at best, underwhelming at worst.

Still, he's making more offbeat films than, say, Woody Allen. I just don't think he necessarily has another great film in him. But his full filmography speaks for itself, and he's certainly a worthwhile voice in cinema even with his less successful experiments.