Possessor

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Also A Dangerous Method and Cosmopolis.

But again, not the really hardcore ones like The Brood, Rabid, etc.
I've remembered I've seen Videodrome, which was the best one of all.

I really liked A Dangerous Method though
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
There's an interesting analogy between the lead protagonist needing to commit the most horrific violent acts to feel anything and a director needing to portray horrific violent acts to make ME, the viewer, feel something.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I'm intrigued by the idea @Pandiculate that being high on ket would make a film better. I can't imagine that being true. When I'm on ket I can barely work out how to tie my own shoelaces.
 

Pandiculate

Well-known member
I'm intrigued by the idea @Pandiculate that being high on ket would make a film better. I can't imagine that being true. When I'm on ket I can barely work out how to tie my own shoelaces.
Yeah I dunno, certain films really suck me in on ket, but I get the feeling with this it might have resulted in me going off on too many tangents inside my head and not actually paying enough attention.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
They're supposed to kill themselves but in the case of the guy who takes her over he seems to vacillate between believing he'd done the murders (to the extent of inventing a reason for it) and knowing he'd been taken over. That was a really cool element of it, he had PTSD from committing murders he hadn't actually committed himself (although another interesting element is the question of to what extent "he" is involved in the murders, even if under duress). Some people online theorise that the reason the second murder is so horrible is that the host had feelings of anger and hatred that the possessor was channelling.
Ah yes.
 

Murphy

cat malogen
It’s dark and fun. Bit of an ode to the Matrix with skull portholes and Existenz (or however Croney Snr spells it)

Read they avoided cgi and it works. Sean whathisface’s head stomp was beautiful. Not a lot of fat. No extraneous wormhole plot fails.

Andrea Riseborough and Tilda Swinton seem cut from the same cloth. Mandy she was that fragile almost ethereal type of character too.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I thought of Existenz too, remember seeing that in the cinema when it came out... the world turns and the cycle of life continues with baby Cronenberg having a baby Existenz of his own.
I do like Angela Riseborough, she's in lots of good stuff. Also she was in the re-boot of The Grudge sadly.
This film was a lot better than it looks I think

 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Didn't think of the Matrix but definitely can see those parallels. Don't want to get Luka too excited though cos it's nothing like the matrix in tone or Kung Fu.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy


Bronenberg says his favourite author is Thomas Pynchon @version

Better to listen to this than watch it, that way you don't have to deal with the interviewers hat and bronenberg's eyebrow piercing
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I think the reason I love this film so much is i'm really interested in psychopaths

Under the Skin was sort of about a psychopath - she's an alien but it's that cold chill you get watching this human-looking being acting completely emotionlessly

 

muser

Well-known member
I'm intrigued by the idea @Pandiculate that being high on ket would make a film better. I can't imagine that being true. When I'm on ket I can barely work out how to tie my own shoelaces.

I put Dark City in my top ten film list because I watched all the way through in and out of a k-hole, I rewatched it the other day because I had no idea why it was in my list didn't remember any thing about it, and it's one of the worst films I've ever seen.
 

Murphy

cat malogen
I think the reason I love this film so much is i'm really interested in psychopaths

Under the Skin was sort of about a psychopath - she's an alien but it's that cold chill you get watching this human-looking being acting completely emotionlessly



A highlight in an ocean of dross
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I think the reason I love this film so much is i'm really interested in psychopaths

Under the Skin was sort of about a psychopath - she's an alien but it's that cold chill you get watching this human-looking being acting completely emotionlessly


That beach scene was really cold.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I put Dark City in my top ten film list because I watched all the way through in and out of a k-hole, I rewatched it the other day because I had no idea why it was in my list didn't remember any thing about it, and it's one of the worst films I've ever seen.
Saw that in the cinema when it came out - then the Matrix came out like a year later and everyone forgot about it.
 

vershy versh

Well-known member
I think I had a problem with the over-eleborateness of the murdering once they had kinda inceptioned in, why didn't they just pick the nearest person and kill them straight away? It seemed to me that if they had power then murder should be really easy. Maybe this was explained, I forget.
Of course that shouldn't affect all the stuff about the main character losing her identity and stuff but (perceived) plot holes can kinda bug the hell out of me. I guess that's a form of pedantry though.

With the main murder the explanation is that it has to look like an "organic" murder, so they pick somebody who has access to the target and who could plausibly have a reason to murder them. Not sure how that applies to the first murder though, it's definitely inconsistent.

I suppose it's one of those high concepts that would fall to pieces quickly if you tugged at the loose threads.

The first murder's a different job and doesn't require the same approach. They just possess a hostess from the bar the target frequents and she walks straight in and stabs him. The second murder's about the son inheriting everything and the organisation doing the hits taking control of the corporation via him, so it has to be more elaborate.

I didn't catch this but a review I've read points out that this tactic of possessing the body of somebody close to the target with which to kill them ties in with the general theme of corporations taking over people's identities, attacking them (semi) metaphorically from the inside.

The idea of being taken over by someone / something else is the most disturbing aspect of it.

The inhumanity and sadism of the assassin is disturbing but less (hate using this word) relatable.

I'd like to know others opinions on what was going on with her exceeding her remit with the murder methods. Why was she driven to be so vicious? Was it her own sadism, her inability to feel, or was it a sort of "method acting", or even that the genuine feelings of the person possessed were coming through?

She's possessed by the job as much as she possesses anyone else. The boss says she has a rare talent for the work and that she's grooming her to be her replacement. The viciousness of the murders perhaps stems from the tension between that and her home life. She hallucinates stab wounds on her husband and by the end tells Tate to kill him. I suppose where it gets murky is how much is coming from her and how much is the work/boss in her ear directing her. She didn't seem able to go all the way without the push from above.
 
Top