Science fiction has often asked interesting and philosophical questions, it's used to take careful looks at the way the world is, imagines how technology could evolve, and you can find a lot of sci-fi predicting aspects of our current society decades ago. Possessor, the second film from Brandon Cronenberg takes a different approach, it doesn't come up with ideas for technology that would improve our world, or technology that could see a widespread propagation in our own future. Instead, it's a dark, twisted, almost dreamlike movie that features some horrifying concepts.
The film tells the story of Tasya Vos, played by Andrea Riseborough, an assassin who kills by never going anywhere near her target. Using advanced technology, Tasya is able to take control of another person, someone who is able to get close to her target. It could be someone they work with, or even a loved one of theirs; whoever they pick, Tasya inhabits their body, gets close to the person, and murders them brutally before killing the person she's possessing. It leaves no connection to her organisation, and wraps up the crime nice and neatly for the authorities.
However, the technology can have a detrimental affect after a while. The longer Tasya is on a mission the more possessing another can cause lasting brain damage to her. And there's the fact that her personal life is suffering more and more as she has to keep going away on 'business trips' in order to perform her hits. Despite this, she agrees to take on another job, one that will see her taking possession of Colin (Christopher Abbott), a young man who will get them close to their target, wealthy CEO John Parse (Sean Bean), the cruel father of Colin's girlfriend. However, when the hit goes wrong, and Tasya finds herself trapped in Colin's body, with his own personality fighting back against her.
From the very first scene of the film, which drops us straight into the middle of one of Tasya's assassinations, it becomes clear that Possessor is an ultra violent movie. Blood covers the characters and the locations as Tasya engages in the most brutal and sadistic kills possible. This is not an assassin who takes her targets down with a well places shot to the head or poison, she gets in close and stabs them repeatedly, cutting them to pieces. This sets the tone for the movie quite well, and things never get better than a feeling of grimy, nastiness that seems to pervade over everything. Locations are often dark, with little to no decoration, with Colin's workplace being a bare, cold room that looks more like a warehouse than an office, for example.
Possessor is a very cold movie, most of the characters relationships seem strained, their lives seem troubled, and any moments of intimacy of caring that we see feel tainted because of Tasya's life. Her relationship with her young son is strained and we see her practicing asking him normal questions before being with him. Her relationship with her husband is rocky, with her no longer living with him. When Tasya takes control of Colin we see what appeared to be a happy relationship on the outside is actually kind of frosty, with he and his girlfriend often being at arms length. Even the moment when she tells Colin she loves him and they have sex is tainted as she's having sex with Tasya in his body, it effectively being a rape scene. There's a scene earlier on in the film that shows Colin's job is to spy on people via their electronic devices, invading normal, happy homes with the company's voyeurism. There's not a single moment of Possessor that isn't tainted and nasty in some way.
The film is set in an alternate world, but other than the technology on display there's little to differentiate it from our own. The big tech company has employees spying on people, but our technology does that anyway as you find yourself bombarded for ads for things you briefly looked up online, or dared to mention near an Alexa device. The only real thing that feels too wild, and too sci-fi to make it our own would is the possession technology itself. As such, it does feel like a bit of a cop-out that this is meant to be another world entirely, as making it our own would actually speak more to some of the ways in which our own modern society is pretty terrible.
The central performances from Risenborough and Abbott are strong, and the scenes in which their personalities and memories seem to be bleeding together are interesting ones. Abbot in particular stands out as you can easily tell when he's playing Colin and when he's Tasya in control of the body just by the way he holds himself, and the tone of his voice. It's a subtle performance, and one that will probably be overshadowed by the weird plot and visual affects of the film that will stick with people much longer after the movie.
The new Limited Edition release from Second Sight Films comes in dual format, both on Ultra-HD and Blu-ray, and features a brand new audio commentary for the film from director Brandon Cronenberg, producer Rob Cotterill, director of photography Karim Hussain and special effects artist Dan Martin. There's also some new behind the scenes interviews with Cronenberg, Cotterill, and Hussain, along with some featurettes that were featured on previous releases of the film. The disc is also rounded out by some deleted scenes and trailers. The new edition comes in a slipcase featuring new artwork, six collector cards, and a 120-page book featuring behind the scenes info and essays.
Possessor is an odd film, one that has some unusual concepts and a story that doesn't feel afraid to go against expectations to do its own thing. Performances are strong, and the film looks good. However, the darker and more depressing tone of the film, along with some more outlandish moments, means that it might not be to everyone's tastes.
No comments:
Post a Comment