WHO would I have SEATED next to ME on a long international FLIGHT?
March 26th 2007 01:11
His four hour documentary A Personal Journey Through American Movies is brilliant. The man knows movies. He could talk my ear off. But I’m not here to talk about Scorsese. He doesn’t make horror movies.
Sometimes known as the Baron of Blood, or the King of Venereal Horror, Canadian David Cronenberg makes intensely personal films about the mind and body, the union and the confrontation of the psyche and the physical. He quotes, "My movies are body conscious. The first fact of human existence is the human body. If you get away from physical reality, you're fudging, in fantasy-land-not coming to grips with what violence does."
He re-envisions classic themes and motifs and often delivers movies that are ahead of their time in terms of content and ideas, while utilising a spare visual style relying on narrative metaphors within a very deliberate mise-en-scene. "As filmmaker, I ask questions but don't have answers. Moviemaking is a philosophical exploration. I invite the audience to come on the journey and discover what they think and feel."
He loves to break rules, yet he very carefully constructs his movies within his own designs, like an architectural perfectionist. "As an artist, your responsibility is to be irresponsible. As soon as you talk about social or political responsibility, you've amputated the best limbs you've got as an artist. You are plugging into a very restrictive system that is going to push and mold you, and is going to make your art totally useless and ineffective."
Cronenberg’s re-envisioning of the classic 50s B-movie The Fly (1986) gave him huge success as well as delivering arguably Jeff Goldblum’s finest performance. His next film, Dead Ringers (1988), is his masterpiece, a quietly disturbing, yet strangely beautiful film about identity, addiction, and once again, loss of control.
In fact all his movies deal in one way or another with loss of control; that of the mind, body and even the soul.
eXistenZ (1999), toyed dangerously with virtual reality (a theme he’d first visited in Videodrome), role-playing and ... loss of control. His most recent movie A History of Violence (2005), perhaps one of his most conventional movies to date, still packs a punch, directed with Cronenberg’s usual dark intensity and superb sense of design.
As you can see his body of work would provide hours of discussion. And having seen him in interviews and listened to his commentaries on DVDs, there is no doubt he would be a sensational conversationalist.
Here is a perfect example of Cronenberg's intelligence and passion as a filmmaker, an interview about his first feature Shivers:
* images on this page are courtesy of www.tumbaabierta.com, www.thenitmustbetrue.com, www.davidcronenberg.de and www.pennyblood.com
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Comment by David
I'm more interested in who would be seated on top of me ... and I'd choose Maria Grazia Cucinotta ...
But I love all the Kronenberg info on this ... In a very non-gay way, I love your posts ... I love film culture ... and you know your films, man ...
I love it when someone like Kronenberg takes up the challenge of turning a supposedly unfilmable novel into a film ... Naked Lunch is just a classic piece of cinema ... (it makes me wonder what he would have done with Perfume ... [I still haven't seen it ... because you and Cibby have put me off seeing it ... Na ... I'll see it one day ... [when I get a DVD player? ...
I still think if people like yourself, myself and few others like Cibby & Doe got together in real life? ... Well? Anything could happen .... and probably would ...
Apart from the bleeding obvious (of just engaging with a woman) ... I don't 'think anything excites me in life any more than writing and making 'out there' films ....
David ...
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
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I thought you'd choose me.
Love the big bird in the sky.
katyzzz
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Yes, although you'd need to travelling first class to really have the room for Maria to ride reverse cowgirl style!Maria seniorita
Cronenberg was also set to do Phillip K. Dick's Total Recall, he even wrote a screenplay. And he was also interested in doing Frankenstein years ago too ... Can you imagine David Cronenberg's Frankenstein ...!!!
But, yes, if he'd done Perfume, I'd have loved to have seen his interpretation ...
And yes, you, Cibby, JD and I ..... LOL And to quote the Mousekateer Club's Surprise Day ... "Anything could happen and it usually does ..."
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Maria seniorita
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
Wow, it must be really hard to be as unattractive as Maria. Poor thing, I really feel for her...hmmmmm
As for Kronenberg. I didn't realise that he did Crash. That was a bloody odd movie. I really enjoyed it.
He'd be a great person to sit next to on a flight. You certainly wouldn't get bored!
Kylie
Comment by Anonymous
- lilith
Comment by DuskDevi
Rucks and Rolls
Rugby World Cup 2007
I completely understand why you'd want her as your....um....laptop David darlin'....
Hi Bryn...
Well, I was going to say that I don't know much about Cronenberg but I sure as hell have watched a few movies of his.
'Crash'? - the James Spader Holly Hunter and the cat-eyed Deborah Unger 'Crash'?
...I gotta tell ya....long flight? Do Not want to talk.
Or is that the wrong 4 letter word?
Well in that case.....hmmmm.....
Hope you're doing fine Bryn.
Dusk
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
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Techbreak
My God - I think my heart just stopped for a fraction of a second.
My mind is a blank, now.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Lilith ... Coffin Joe huh? Not that familiar with his Latin macabreness ... As for Mr. Argento, I did think of him, but thought his bad English might get in the way of a fast flowing conversation ....
Lilith .... hmmmm ..... have we met before? Did you disagree with Adam in the Garden in a previous incarnation ...?
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Staying with the horror theme, Im going to go the other end of the spectrum and name John Carpenter as a possible contender for worthy travel conversation.
A close second would be Bruce Campbell, just to riff Bubba Ho Tep if nothing else.
If I spoke the language I think Takeshi Miike would be an interesting option.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Not sure I'd feel safe seated next to a fire-breathing dragon, expecting a conversation ....
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
Well then, a nice surprise for me, a not so nice surprise for you! ; )
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
I missed this post... but if I was single again, I would hope that just once, I would end up with someone REALLY interesting to talk to ... preferably male and nice looking and preferably with a view to seeing each other again, if sparks flew... *jj*
Ha ha, as if?
...and there's the horror...
/seriously, [pure fantasy] I'd love to sit next to a director that realised I had an unusual eye for certain details, who would give me a chance to use that in a film, he or she was shooting ... just once.
Lilla ...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald