There is a moment in Crimes of the Future where surgical artist Saul Tenser returns home to show off his latest addition: a fleshy zipper installed on his abdomen.
Saul’s partner, Caprice, is clearly excited about the possibilities. When he begins to lick the opening, Saul growls, “Don’t spill it.”
Cronenberg is back.
Crimes of the Future, a hilarious, unsettling and surprisingly sentimental, marks the return of director David Cronenberg to what is best known: a vivid, visceral obsession with the body and characters driven to change.
Shot in Greece and set in an empty setting for the near future, the film revolves around a group of transgressive artists who usually operate on themselves. Viggo Mortensen plays Saul, who grows up and then shows his neo-organs to the crowd in a deformed cabaret.
In this dirty, wet dystopia are organ recorders played by Don McKellar and a positively dizzy Kristen Stewart. Although they disguise themselves with the air of authority, they are clearly the groupies of this new artistic movement.
TARGET | Director David Cronenberg explains why the human body is fascinating:
Canadian director David Cronenberg in his new film Crimes of the Future
Writer and director David Cronenberg walked the red carpet in Toronto Monday night for his new sci-fi film Crimes of the Future.
With a story that includes mutated hybrids and ingested microplastics, Crimes of the Future seems appropriate, but it’s actually based on a script that Cronenberg started 20 years ago. After much encouragement from Canadian producer Robert Lantos, Cronenburg pulled him out of a drawer to give him another go. With typical Cronenberg humility, he told CBC News, “I read it and thought, ‘Yeah, that’s good and yes, I wouldn’t mind doing it.’
Lantos says that 20 years after its creation, the film is still predictive. “We’ve just started to catch up on where this story is going.”
Caprice, played by Seydoux, helps Saul, played by Mortensen, recover while focusing on growing new organs for his next performance. (Nikos Nikolopoulos)
Crimes of the Future is an intoxicating buffet of ideas and tangents, featuring inner beauty contests, shady “New Vice” cops, and clandestine revolutionaries seeking to push the boundaries of evolution. Not everything lands, but as always with Cronenberg there is a lot to … chew.
On stage at the Canadian premiere, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey asked Cronenberg what it all meant and the director joked, “Nothing.”
But his casual response belies his confidence as a filmmaker.
It’s all there on the creepy surface, this realm where humans are so desperate to feel something they cut into themselves. Immerse yourself further and find allusions to a broken planet, perhaps shattered by climate change, where a radical new evolution is needed.
TARGET | Viggo Mortensen talks about his similarities with Cronenberg:
Actor Viggo Mortensen works with Canadian director David Cronenberg
Viggo Mortensen stars in the upcoming film Crimes of the Future. He was in Toronto on Monday promoting the film and talked about working with renowned Canadian director David Cronenberg.
From the bed-like bed in which Saul is inserted, or the feeding chair with horrifying jaws, there is a frightening consistency in the Crimean artifacts of the future that could only be called cronenbergian. His is a world where technology does not look alike, but blossoms.
Still, despite all the great, sticky, and bloody strangeness that David is, the cast talked about the relaxed atmosphere on set. McKellar says Cronenberg doesn’t block or include his scenes and easily adapts to his actors.
Canadian actor Scott Speedman knew the director for his fearsome films, but “then you know him and he’s like the most charming, funny and sweet man who makes a dam.” [and says] “I’m ready to move on.”
From left to right, Mortensen and Stewart in a Crimes of the Future scene where Stewart’s character shares an intimate secret with artist Saul Tenser. (MK2 Mile End)
While the coverage of the Cannes premiere dealt with slaps and outbursts, what is often overlooked is the throbbing heart of so many of Cronenberg’s films – people with a desperate need to connect. Actor and filmmaker Nadia Litz, who plays software technician Dani, says, “Look at the humanity that exists because there are so many.”
The body is reality
When asked on the Toronto red carpet about his enduring obsession with our bodies, Cronenberg said he was surprised that more directors don’t share his fascinations. “The body is reality, and for me, that’s not just a catchy phrase. It’s reality. It’s my reality. I think that’s who we are.”
Director David Cronenberg wrote Crimes of the Future 20 years ago. (Caitlin Cronenberg)
But beneath the shocking organs and views that include the autopsy of a young naked boy, there is a melancholy tension in Crimes of the Future that could surprise fans. Is it possible to call a movie about people who voluntarily mutilate themselves sweet?
This is, for Mortensen, the contradiction that Cronenberg is. Crimes of the Future is the third time Mortensen has worked with the director. A director who looks like the provocative artist he plays.
“He’s very reserved about his person, about his body. There’s a certain modesty there and he almost borders on shyness,” Mortensen said.
“However, his art involves revealing his, literally, his most intimate secrets. And I would say that’s true of David. He’s a very kind, calm, thoughtful, modest man. And look at the stories he tells.”
Crimes of the Future opens Friday across Canada