Cosmopolis Review

1st Nov 2012

WTF. Probably a common response to much of David Cronenberg’s work. A master of his trade, perhaps in the most interesting part of his career, devoid of anything even remotely predictable. Cosmopolis (predictably) fits into that bracket.

So what’s on the back cover of this one? Well Robert Pattison wants a haircut. He’s a very rich young man and simply wants to get across town to his favourite barber to get a haircut. What’s on the inside the box? Well this is no normal trip across town in a limo. No instead he picks up known passengers along the way to discuss business, have affairs, talk of sex, have a physical exams and compare time, money, violence and the human condition.

Don’t be fooled by the really naff looking rear projection outside the car – this is all part of the compressed world that our protagonist lives in as he drifts slowly through town from one bizarre conversation to the next. The clever composition of the dialogue is what will make viewers come back again and again. Events naturally start to spiral out of control in and out of the head leading to the extreme. Don’t ask us to decipher what is going on. All we know is that the journey itself was worth taking.

Backed by a wonderfully moody score, this pretty much big star cast of characters are lead with confidence by the ever impressive Pattison. But Cronenberg deserves the honours for knocking your brains out once again and leaving on clues of how it may go back together again.

Musings on life, parables on the financial state of his affairs, via the inner workings of time, sex and violence, dealt through mis-logic. Make sense. No? Welcome to Cosmopolis.