THE ROAD, John Hillcoat (2009)

Since the last Cronenberg’s movies on which Viggo Mortensen has been the lead role, I try to follow his track and check what’s he’s doing. It’s not that I 100% trust his movies but sure I like his performances.

I heard of The Road by chance and watched it few weeks ago. What I didn’t know is that it’s based on a novel written by Cormac McCarthy, which has become a massive best seller and everybody is crazy about this book, even Charlize Theron got a small role for she had already worked with the director and because she fell in love with the story.

Few famous actors participate on this production although no one, apart from Viggo Mortensen and his fictional kid Kodi Smit-McPhee, is a predominant character, as if to support the story, for their roles could played by unknown actors without changing the effect of the film.

Well, The Road is a dark and pessimistic story of a father and his son, a desperate journey towards the coast  with the hope things will be better there and they will be able to start a new life out of the misery and emptiness the world has become, after a catastrophic sort of  apocalypse which left the world reduced to ashes and darkness.

Civilization, as was formerly known, has long disappeared , common resources have run out, and the daily routine has become an extreme survival exercise, searching for food and shelter. It’s like world was only inhabited by homeless people. There are no longer values, and many people in organized armed groups haunt other human beings for feeding so to survive, so nobody can trust no one.

With just a small pistol loaded with just two bullets, to be used in case of emergency, basically to blow their brains in an extreme situation, father and son will look forward to what they think could be a new beginning.

This is a great story for sure. I’ve got captured by the aesthetics, the pessimistic tone and the sadness involved.

Mortensen’s responsibility towards his son, once his wife has committed suicide, is both a burden and  a target, a living mark which leads where to follow day after day. The kid, educated with no external influence, has learnt good values, affection, goodness, piety…however doesn’t know anything about the mankind cruelty, envy nor betrayal, which seem to have taken control over the world. The kid tries his father be good, and his ingenuity sometimes brings them out to tough and dangerous situations. On the other hand love is the main reason for the man to stand by his son, love will encourage him to keep on walking towards the coast, for he wants something good to happen to the kid, who was born during the cataclysm or whatever that occurred to the world. He wants his son to know the sea, feel the fresh air and enjoy the sunlight.

Very evocative and very dramatic, while watching the movie you might  feel a knot on your belly, don’t worry, it happened to me, I really loved this movie, made me think about many things related to human kind. Are we good or bad? What if all that rules the world were vanished? What would happen? Sadly I gotta admit the answers were not very optimistic.

TRIANGLE, Christopher Smith (2009)

Triangle is a complex film, difficult to talk about without spoiling, anyway I will make an effort for think it’s worth watching. It’s one of the most original recent films I’ve seen and made an impact, although I think I should revisit again the soonest. 

As a genre it could fit in many categories: horror, thriller, sci-fi…probably when you face it, you’ll start thinking of movies such as Ghost Ship, but then Memento will come to your mind, and you’ll finish having the need to recover old Twilight Zone chapters. Yeah, this is the power of Triangle, there are different, let’s call them stages, and different treatment of the characters and the story on each of these levels. 

Just a quick word about the plot, without spoiling, I promise, that would mean to destroy all the mystery and interest this film requires. 

Greg has invited some friends to spend a day sailing on his yacht. His special friend Jess (Melissa George) arrives late showing some kind of emotional distress nobody can guess about. Apparently she has a retarded child and is having a bad time, so there’s no asking. After resting for a while and interrupted by freak dreams, Jess and the rest are surprised by total calm at sea without wind to move the vessel, which is really weird. Calm is followed by a violent and dangerous storm that wrecks the yacht. Miraculously, all the crew survives thanks to the hull but Heather, who’s disappeared. With no means to communicate with any rescue team, the only option is just to wait. Fortunately it doesn’t take too long until a huge cruise passes by. Jess doesn’t feel too confident about boarding, but as it’s the only way out, they jump onto it. It’s weird they cannot find anybody to talk to, the vessel seems abandoned but at the same time in good condition. However, they will feel a threatening presence they’ll have to find out about. 

The initial segment of the movie is common to many others, the list of possible situations is huge, but Christopher Smith chooses wisely, focusing on definite psychological terror, with repetition as the only chance to awake from a horrible nightmare. 

Melissa George is worth being remarked as well as the responsibility of the story falls directly on her. She’s not to be considered a good actress after Triangle, in fact I thinks she’s being attached to action and terror movies, as in Alias and 30 Days of Night. In Triangle, as the film advances you discover details about her life, combined with her visions in her sleep, Jess is an unbalanced woman, leaving you to even consider if what happens is just hallucination. 

Unfortunately, after an outstanding developed chain of shocking events the end is not as conclusive as it should, leaving the viewer a bit confused about the whole story, probably that’s why I need to see it again. 

Still, it’s a very dynamic film, tension is constant and you can feel something bad is about to happen, and the more it advances, the reckless the story turns and the hopeless the viewer feels towards a possible happy ending. 

Definitely Triangle is a good movie which could become well acclaimed in the future.

CSNY/DÉJÀ VU, Bernard Shakey (2008)

I’m not really into politics, it’s boring, it’s easy to get into argument with close people due to discrepancies and considering the tense atmosphere constantly surrounding us lately, I prefer  not to dig much into them because I can get really angry.

For me it’s difficult to understand artistic remarkable figures supporting presidential candidates publicly, specially bands, for it’s a way to narrow your audience depending on the position you take on certain relevant matters. Thus, when bands were supporting Obama I found it a bit ridiculous, but guess again this is a cultural difference, I don’t respect Spanish artists much and for them politics is a matter of promo or a way to get some privileges in cultural issues.

I heard about this documentary when it was released, but felt lazy and my excuse was not to be such fan of Neil Young’s as to watch it, but some things change and felt the need to watch it after my boyfriend’s suggestion. So I did, approaching the moment to give  him the DVD  for Xmas.

Déjà Vu documents 2007  Freedom of Speech Tour in American venues, as the introduction of Neil Young’s Living with War album to public audience with the attractive added of counting on  his old  colleagues David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham  Nash for expressing his disagreement against Bush politics in the War in Iraq.

As many of you may know, this is not the first time the four artists sing against what they think to be social and political injustice (I prefer to be objective to respect everyone’s opinions on these matters), when they released the protest  song Ohio in 1970 to condemn the Kent State Shootings of May  4, 1970, the impact was huge, some radios banned the song for Nixon was named, and for many this song became a statement and a hymn of the era.

As to evoke that previous moment, Young decided to invite those he shared that moment with, to start the anti-Bush propaganda on stage.

Thus, this documentary reflects the way American Young’s fans reacted to his message, the critics response to the show, the way America is divided regarding war and politics, even geographically, veterans statements,  the opinion of the musicians…It’s unbelievable the relevance a musician’s message can have in audience, really.

One of the moments I particularly enjoyed most was that of the song Let’s Impeach the President, with Karaoke included so audience can raise their voice together with CSNY, and the reactions of people. Some of them totally enthusiastic, singing and dancing as if the song was a hymn, and others completely pissed off, swearing on Young, leaving the venue, cursing, and offended as if someone had cursed on their mothers.

The reason why Neil Young wrote this album, followed by a tour, is not clear for many though. While many of their fans support his attitude against the war and defend his power to express publicly his disagreement by means of his music, some others think of this as an opportunity of making more money, by selling albums and very expensive gig tickets, and abuses of his popularity to get involved into politics and get some benefit in any way. Well, I leave it up to you, my intention here is encouraging you to watch the film which won’t let you go to bed without thinking of it at least for a while.

 

ANTICHRIST, Lars Von Trier 2009

I decided to watch Antichrist despite I’m not very fond of Lars Von Trier’s work, for being too dense, symbolic and dramatic.

Today, I haven’t yet decided whether I liked it much or not, for there are many things which didn’t convince me at all. Some aspects and details in the film are outstanding but some others aren’t well sorted out, in my humble opinion of course.

Antichrist  starts with an amazing and visual prologue, with the tragic death of the baby, helped by many coincidences, which cause him to jump throw the window while his parents are making love without noticing anything around.

Thus the first act starts, with She (Charlotte Gainsbourg) collapsing during the funeral. Admitted to hospital, she gets plenty of drugs prescribed, something He (Willem Dafoe), as a therapist, does not agree with, as is in human nature common to feel  grief after such loss and the circumstances involved.

Soon arguments follow, He wants to start an intense therapy for her relief although she doesn’t feel well about it, She reproaches they never got his attention before and now he wants to know about her, now that she’s sick. Anyway, eventually she accepts and the starting point to clarify is to find out what she fears most.

She starts to develop a maniac behavior very close to bipolar disorder: sometimes she’s in pain and feels weak, others she starts self-inflicting pain, and sometimes she harasses him until she gets quick and wild sex. He starts worrying about this interest conflict in therapy, as he’s not able to get her under control and constantly sex is interrupting therapy, and pushes for finding a fear. She confesses something very contradictory, she fears the woods, however she was always trying  to spend time in the old cabin hey own in the middle of the woods, thus He decides it’s time to spend some time there and work out on her fears and focus on therapy there.

At the cabin things will get worse gradually, He will soon realize something is going wrong, not only with his wife, but with Nature itself, which seems to be aggressive and hostile.

Antichrist is not a movie about Satan, but about the evil, not as possession either, but as how evil can make its place into humans, how evil can influence and transform people, and how evil can be disguised into insanity as well.

The characters are performed amazingly by Dafoe and Gainsbourg, and the way situation change as to confront them in a tough duel is amazing.

One of Lars Von Trier’s most remarkable features is to be able to raise controversy among audience and as far as I remember, Antichrist was very criticized for adult content and hard scenes. Well, sexual content is very present during the footage, but it adds meaning to the story, the way sex develops is significant in terms of the couple sickening relationship, but yes, I must admit is way far from enough.

On the other hand regarding hard scenes, by know you’ve probably heard already about genital mutilation, seems that people only focuses on the morbid aspects, same as when I saw La Pianiste, by Michael Haneke, nobody was able to tell me something about the plot, just about the razor scene…This self-mutilation occurs for some reasons you will find about, and it’s just an addition to the story and to the chaos of the moment.

The end and the epilogue, are the weakest parts in the film, some of the facts He discovers of her wife are very sudden, seems that she had in fact been a stranger to him as not being able to notice several sings of madness in her before, and the very last scene, it’s not my intention to spoil at all, the two of us we were watching the movie, understood different messages.

Antichrist honestly, is not a masterpiece, but a crap either. Guess is one of these movies I should review from time to time as to discover many details to help my understanding of the story. 

THE HAPPENING, M. Night Shyamalan 2008

After the bad taste The Village left, and not forgetting I thought Signs was a piece of crap, I reluctantly  attacked Shyamalan’s latest work, and have to admit, it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

The director  again deals with something shocking able to make people feel weak and scared, looking for an explanation for the chain of events they are witnessing involving death on massive scale.

Any given day, starting in Central Park, what  first declared as a terrorist chemical attack strikes population causing them to self-inflict pain up to death. Extreme scenes occur one after another, and bulletins advise people to move westwards as mostly east coast largest cities have been the targets.

After explaining  theories on  the bees mysterious disappearance in science class , high school teacher  Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), together with his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), his colleague Julian (John Leguizamo) and little Jess catch a train to get away from Philadelphia. After a while, people start receiving news via cell phones also confirming mayhem in Philadelphia. To make things worse, trains stops for communications have been interrupted, leaving passengers at their own fate in the middle of nowhere.

News broadcast  attacks have spread to minor populated towns, disclaiming terrorist attacks as the explanation for such horror.

At a certain point, Julian decides to divert towards Princeton leaving the others, in order to find his wife, who is no longer available on the phone, thus, Elliot and Alma will have to take care of Jess, and find a way out from this mess, however  the menace is fast surrounding, same as desperation and hysteria in the small crowds trying to hide.

The first scenes in this film are outstanding and really shocking, immediately catching audience attention, and making you wonder an explanation for those extreme and chaotic moments. It reminds me so much to Stephen King’s Cell, released in 2006 as to think of some kind of “inspiration”. Then the getaway starts, seems like an Arcade videogame, passing through different obstacles, and getting harder gradually.

It’s fun for the first time I checked the time, there were only 25 minutes remaining, and although getaway could have been extended more without boring, my doubts started regarding the conclusion of the story, and the explanation for this horror. Unfortunately  the explanation, more or less identical to Elliot’s beliefs, is solved with the extract of a tv interview, even with moral message about the way we’re messing with the planet we inhabit. That’s it. Ok, I can buy it, but what turns this into a cheap tale is so much love involved, as if true love could save anyone. What the hell is that? A Christian lecture about salvation?  Because I’ve had plenty of them in my early years! How is that the movie starts with a scientific explanation of the bees extinguishing and then love is so highlighted?

Nowhere to Hide or the power of love

Shyamalan’s definitely are not my cup of tea,  he provides potential ideas, but sooner or later, they end up stinking. This is a clear example about how to life by one major blockbuster, such as the Sixth Sense was, and then despite the unability to deliver good product, survive in Hollywood highly supported by the industry, with amazing  promotion and marketing  keeping him well acclaimed.

CRY-BABY, John Waters 1990

 

Another creation by John Waters, Cry Baby is the tribute the bizarre director pays to all those teenage movies in the 50’s  recovering  high schools and Romeo and Juliet’s  romances in West Side Story style, as usual, from a very exaggerated perspective making fun of all that crap.

Allison (Amy Locane)  is a good and beautiful girl whose life has always been too perfect , too “square”, enjoying a social position, always escorted by her perfect boyfriend. During a vaccination campaign, her eyes meet Cry-Baby Walker’s (Johnny Depp), obviously is love at first sight, but he’s a drape, a rebel, and she’s not supposed to be with him. Despite the differences, Allison, tired of being good, will surrender to his charm, but the relationship won’t be accepted by her social environment and his boyfriend will plan revenge on the drapes, causing fatal consequences which will lock Cry-Baby into a Juvenile Estate Penitentiary, up to he’s 21.

Will he be able to escape from being imprisoned, will Allison wait for him or she’ll be back to her former situation? Many questions are answered at  the rhythm of classic rock n’ roll, with hilarious lyrics and dancing performances.

Cry-Baby would be definitely considered a musical film, for music presence is constant. On one hand the proper performances at the talent show, or the jamboree, and on the other the musical scenes, with resemblance to Grease or Elvis’ Jailhouse Rock, with a super young Johnny Depp locked in prison, full of frustration and rage. Lyrics are hilarious, making you giggle most of time and soundtrack is pretty cool.

What about the cast? From Johnny Depp in his hottest taking off  from 21 Jump Street  to Willem Defoe as the penitentiary guard, including porn super goddess Tracy Lords in pin-up rockin’ style, Iggy Pop full of dirt in his most Southern attitude, and experienced and established Polly Bergen as the adorable grandma of virgin-like Amy Locane. And of course, John Waters’ mojo pins, Patricia Hearst and Mink Stole. Especial mention to Hatchet-Face, a super albino woman characterized as scary and disgusting as possible, if I pass by that freak on the street I would get the fuck out asap.

Gorgeous!

Thus, in Cry-Baby you find a cocktail of classic teenage love movie, with comedy, musical performances, and ridiculous and exaggerated acting and dialogues, that make you laugh despite you reckon  that  the story is just crap. Still, you can have a good time.

Lickin is what I'm good at

MOON, Duncan Jones 2009

Taking David Bowie as first reference, it was obvious we were to watch his son’s, Duncan Jones, film debut as director. Obviously we didn’t know what we were watching, just some sci-fi  story, but felt confident after reading some good reviews.

It’s been really a nice surprise, an original story of isolation and manipulation of the human being for business purposes, a fact constantly happening in daily life and mostly hidden from public opinion.

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is two weeks from ending his three year contract for Lunar Industries at their lunar station. Working and living on his own, he’s in charge of monitoring  the harvest of Helium-3, and then load supplies on a rocket direct to Earth. Helium-3 has become the most important source of energy, finishing with the concern of lack of oil resources.

Unfortunately direct communications with Earth failed long time ago, thus Sam can only contact with relatives and superiors via recorded messages. His only companion is a robot, Gerty (Kevin Spacey), which has been designed to attend him and assist on any task Sam might require.

Gerty, your friend

Sam starts having hallucinations which initially cost him little accidents, however, situation complicates when he has a serious “lunar” car wreck. When he recovers conscience, no memories of the crash are left, and curiosity will move him to investigate, discovering another himself alive.

Don’t feel like detailing more about the film, otherwise the surprise will disappear, and I think situation and events after what I described is the most interesting part.

What I would like to remark is the way isolation can affect human behavior and personality, and this movie reflects it perfectly.

Also another subject brought out is the way big companies manage to save costs regarding employees, here keeping just Sam as responsible for a complex station and the installations and machinery involved. Always human presence is required despite the high technology working, but what’s the procedure to follow in case of an accident or illness?

I'm a mess

Thus, this film could be labeled as sci-fi, however,  deeper concerns are involved, which make you brain starts thinking, some research advances have been proved as helpful but sometimes can have consequences depending on the way they’re applied.

End of my speech, I don’t want to give more clues about such a good film as this, maybe in the future I add some sort of appendix on which I will expose my opinion openly without spoiling the movie. I’m glad to have seen it, and strongly recommend to everyone. Hope you like it.

PECKER, John Waters 1998

     

I felt like watching Pecker not only because I enjoy John Waters’ absurd movies but also because I’m developinga serious crash on photography lately, so everything related to cameras results very attractive to me.

It is true you have to be in the right mood for watching any of his movies, although I’ve been able to enjoy both Pink Flamingos all the same as Serial Mom. Pecker belongs addresses more to the second style, with more budget, very well known actors and not so absurd and disgusting  as the first part of his movies.

Pecker (Edward Furlong), is a teenager whose love for the life he’s got in Baltimore is reflected in his amateurish pictures. He always carries his old second hand camera everywhere trying to catch the essence of his social surroundings, he enjoys taking pictures of her girlfriend Shelley (Christina Ricci) working in the Laundromat, his mother selling cheap clothes to homeless, his little sister’s sugar habit, or his best mate stealing at the supermarket. Everything has a photographic aspect for Pecker, capable to find beauty in common things.

He schedules an exhibition of his pics at the fast food restaurant he works at, and surprisingly a New York art dealer Rorey Wheeler (Lili Taylor) fascinated by the power of the images, buys a picture of female pubic hair and approaches Pecker for representing him in New York, assuring a wonderful and successful future as an artist.

Thus, Pecker and the closest characters in his pictures go to New York for a proper exhibition, delighting all the posh and snob critics, who fall in love with his dysfunctional  family and environment.

So much publicity and media cover he receives, becoming the new sensation, when Pecker comes back home in Baltimore things aren’t the same any longer. First, people don’t want to appear in his pictures for free, also his girlfriend is jealous of his manager, his friend Matt is no longer the best thief in town, Little Chrissy is forced to take Ritalin to control sugar habit and hyperactivity, and he receives constant pressure for taking more pictures. He’s even forced to substitute his old camera for a expensive reflex, and he realizes all the magic is gone and images are shit, although Rorey insists that his work has evolved.

What Pecker desires most is to recover his life, his identity and his pictures, so he’ll have to make a huge effort to work things out.

Pecker is a simple tale of a town boy, surrounded by things nobody could even consider decent, but through his camera lens, and the way Waters describe them, seem beautiful. But how can a girl hooked on sugar be beautiful? What about a lesbian stripper club? Pecker’s mother managing a fashion shop for homeless? Shelley’s obsession for the Laundromat? Memama and her Virgin Mary? What the fuck? This is the bucolic portrait of Waters’ reality, everybody seems happy in their lives and roles, however, from an objective point of view it is too sad.

Why does Pecker succeed in NYC? Just because all those people couldn’t even figure out those things could happen, so detached from their reality they find the boy’s pictures irresistible, and he becomes the door to Baltimore reality, as if in NYC misery and filth had no place.

From a practical aspect, I was astonished by the way Pecker was taking pictures of people without their consent. As far as I know, whenever you expose any picture of anybody you must ask for permission, otherwise you’re dealing with illegal taken images, and this is what happens once he’s back from the big city. Nobody wants him to take pictures of them, of their miseries, and threaten the guy with suing. Preserving anonymity has become a kind of obsession lately, you cannot take pictures of kids without people being suspicious, sometimes you can’t portrait buildings either for copyrights…I must admit I felt jealous of the kid taking pictures of absolutely everything and everyone he felt like, allowing him to be spontaneous, without having to be careful not to offend anyone.

I’ve always had fun with the characters in Waters’ films. They are all so so overly dramatic, the way they speak and act…I don’t know how to explain it. Let’s take  Memama as an example of a Waters character. To start with, the name is weird, she’s Pecker’s grandmother and apparently is a normal religious old lady, but just for the fact that she sells the best beef sandwiches in town in a small stand in front of the house, and how customers when she’s not attending them are so desperate as to say “What will I do without your sandwich?” is exaggerated, don’t you think? But the best, the best is her talking Virgin Mary, which doesn’t speak at all,  but is believed by the old woman to be a miracle.

Full of Grace!

Although this is a mainstream film, there are many resemblances to the old movies,  I see a  subtle tribute to Pink Flamingos thanks to the characters and situations. In some of his films, Waters’ characters are outstanding in society, for several reasons, Pecker for his pictures, Divine for being an outlaw, and eventually world turns against them, so they have to manage to recover their previous position.

It’s remarkable the constant presence of some actresses throughout John Waters’ film career, Mink Stole or Patricia Hearst are always involved in his enterprises, sure there’s a bizarre story behind this loyalty.

Anyway, Pecker is just a movie for entertaining, you could analyze it from other perspectives or study it deeper and you would find constant features in John Waters’ films, his very own obsessions, you don’t have to be an Einstein to notice, what is not subject to disagreement is that Waters portraits his own world once again, a retro looking Baltimore full of freaks, and the New York artistic high society, even more excessive and poisoned. I did like it, and had a good time, enough for me.

John Waters

Welcome to the ideal world of John Waters, a director whose vision of life is totally different from the rest of mortals.

Waters’ works you either like them or despise and hate the most. He’s specialist in combining the bizarre and the disgusting,  with the beauty and the bucolic, in creating stories with no sense, and his  taste for absurd but charismatic characters make him a unique creator. In my opinion, Waters is the king of B series, however was able to trespass the limits and focus towards the mainstream, always keeping  his trademark.

Long gone the days when Divine was proclaiming herself the filthiest  woman in the world and eating dog shit in Pink Flamingo’s, yet you still can see mayhem and incredible freak dialogues and arguments in latest movies such as Cecil B. Demented, or Pecker.

Anyway, he’s been named the King of Trash, the King of Puke…it’s necessary you watch his most outstanding movies so you can understand…but no doubt, he deserved those titles. Nevertheless It’s true he’s softened in his tone, and his latest films are more accessible to general audience.

DEAD RINGERS, David Cronenberg 1988

Every six months or so, there’s a season of Cronenberg films at home, we could be said die hard fans although it’s true we have our preferences. 

As I explain whenever I talk about Cronenberg, sometimes it’s hard to understand his stories at the first time, thus I strongly recommend to watch each film a least twice, not immediately one after the other but taking some time between each session, then I think you can really enjoy them and understand details and shades of meaning. 

Dead Ringers is one of my personal favorite, I find the story of the twin brothers amazing, and the decadent rhythm used for the development of the story is simply perfect. 

Elliot and Beverly (Jeremy Irons) are identical twin brothers whose interest for female inner body is beyond pure sex since their early childhood. In fact, so focused they devote themselves to research and investigation of female reproductive system, inventing a device with which still at college, they are awarded. 

Thus the Mantle twins become established gynecologists, combining research and practice. 

Elly and Bev are physically identical, actually Elly is few millimeters taller, however the difference in personalities and atittudes is huge. Elly is the public relations, the spokesman in events, he’s very outgoing and has a taste for women. Bev is just the opposite, he’s a nerd, the brain of the two brothers, he’s shy and quiet, and tastes the remaining of his brother’s sexual conquests. They complement each other perfectly, and are very close. 

Nevertheless the suddenly interference of the actress Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold) changes everything.The actress, who is currently working in Vancouver, asks for an appointment at Mantle’s in order to get pregnant with their modern and innovative techniques. When examining her, Bev discovers she’s trifurcate, a very weird mutation, and quickly informs his brother about the case. 

Menage-a-trois

At this point a bizarre game starts, for Elly, pretending to be Bev, takes Claire for dinner and seduces her, forcing his brother to keep on playing. However Bev falls in love with the actress. 

Trouble will follow, as she’ll ask for drug prescriptions and Bev, the weakest, will develop a serious and self-destructive drug habit as his relationship with Claire becomes more serious, and his relationship with his brother almost reduced to non-existent. 

When the actress has to leave Vancouver for work, Bev will cling to his brother seeking for help and relief against loneliness, strengthening bonds to an unhealthy point with bizarre consequences. 

I’ve always found relationship among twins very appealing and interesting. It is fascinating how close they are to each other, and despite the few physical and unnoticeable differences the way their personalities complement so much is a mystery to me. 

Many studies have been unable to determine telepathic like senses, and among many, Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death, was obsessed about twins. 

I really like the way Cronenberg, taking the story from the novel Twins, tells the story about the Mantle’s, and just with one actor covering the role of the brothers, something we had seen before, of course, but carefully not to seem that obvious nor shitty as in The Parent Trap, with Hayley Mills. 

 The brotherly relationship is very dark and sinister, featuring sex, obsession, drugs, gynecology, and bizarre medical devices. They are meant to share everything, from passion for work to women, and this is the cause for their lives falling apart, they are not able to have their private experiences or relationships without excluding the other. 

They relate themselves to the very first Siamese twins, Eng and Chang Baker, and their tragic end, one from a brain clot and the other just from fear three hours later. 

I’m particularly impressed by the treatment of the drug addiction suffered by Bev. Initially is Claire the one taking drugs, in fact Elly is the one prescribing her the uppers and downers, however, Bev, in a moment of disappointment, starts taking them, and get hooked up on them. It is funny how easy is to get hooked on something, it’s not necessary to be illegal to be fucked up, and they’re not necessarily bad for human health as cocaine or heroine. Prescribed drugs, whose main function is to improve or ease the pain, are really dangerous, not easy affordable for common people, apparently. But if you really think about it, it’s not so uncommon you to be prescribed something in case of signs of anxiety or insomnia, in my case, one I was in distress I was given something that contained diazepam. Here in Spain at the minimum sign of depression you’re prescribed Tranquimazin, and seems that many people are hooked up on that shit. Regarding doctors, those nice people in charge of our health, the history of drug abuse is extensive but hidden to public society, they’re human, and although medicines are under surveillance some cannot resist the temptation. And this happens to weak Bev, he cannot accomplish working routines without drugs, however, at a certain point he freaks out when he attempts to put his bizarre surgical stainless steel devices into practice. 

Cronenberg again succeeds in recreating a tough story, adding his personal touch, creating a suffocating atmosphere, and focusing on dependence in its full meaning. Nedless to say, Irons is also outstanding, a bit exploited by the director, playing the two principal roles, should had been challenging.

What a tandem!