- Director : Brandon Cronenberg
- Media Format : Dolby, Surround Sound, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 44 minutes
- Release date : December 8, 2020
- Actors : Christopher Abbott, Andrea Riseborough, Rossif Sutherland, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean
- Studio : Well Go USA
It must be difficult living in the shadow of a
legend. I imagine the instinct would be to avoid comparisons, to choose another
line of work, or at least vary in approach. Brandon Cronenberg not only chose
to become a filmmaker, with Possessor he has made a movie that feels
like the descendant of some of David Cronenberg’s best. As a director, Brandon
has proved his value, though I found myself questioning the screenplay’s
follow-through on an undeniably creative sci-fi premise. The movie seems to
devolve into splatter horror, though never with enough insight into character
motivation for this to feel like much more than shock value. While Possessor
may have style and precise filmmaking, I question the value of the storytelling.
Part of the film’s
approach is to provide little exposition, simply relying on the audience to pay
attention and pick up the details of this sci-fi premise. We join protagonist
Tasya Vas (Andrea Riseborough) when she is not herself, but inside the body of
a young woman who suddenly and graphically commits a public assassination. We
soon discover that Tasya is an elite assassin working for a corporation with technology
able to implant her mind into the body of unsuspecting targets, so as to remove
any connection to the killings. The only problem is that Tasya seems to be struggling
with the long-term effects of the process, in ways that are shown more than
they are explained.
When assigned to
a new job, Tasya hides her issues from her superior (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and
proceeds to take over the mind of family man Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott).
Tasya suffers glitches and issues almost immediately, but insists on being able
to overcome the problem. In danger of having her mind overtaken by the owner of
the body, Tasya puts both herself and the job at risk.
This version of
the film is uncut, and although the violence is so overly graphic that I felt
myself sickened more than once, I imagine that has more to do with a near pornographic
level of sex and nudity. Cronenberg is doing his best to be shocking, and it is
working. Whether he can be as effective in the storytelling, we shall have to
wait and see with future endeavors. As it stands, the raw gratuitous violence that
Cronenberg forces the audience to endure does not feel balanced by the need
within the narrative. As such, it is filmmaking that treats the audience with more
disdain than generosity.
The Blu-ray
release of the uncut version of this already shocking film comes with
additional deleted scenes in the special features. There is also a
behind-the-scenes featurette, which is far more engaging.
Entertainment Value:
7/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 8/10
Historical
Significance: 7/10
Special Features: 4/10
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