I saw eXistenZ this weekend. WOW. It makes The Matrix seem
cartoonish (to steal a word from cog). Jennifer Jason Leigh did
her usual slur/mumble. I guess that is her normal speech pattern
and not an act she developed to portray Dorothy Parker. Still, I
liked her. Jude Law was his usual hunky self while showing hardly
any skin (sigh). By the end of this film, it is absolutely
unclear what is real and what is virtual (hyper-real?).
Cronenberg did a bang up job with essentially the same material
covered by The Matrix. He just had a better script, better actors,
better cinematography and better set design..
...My one gripe, and not a very strongly held one is the recycling
of the ideas he used in Naked Lunch. As I was watching eXistenZ,
I kept thinking, "Hmmmmm, I saw that in Naked Lunch, and I
saw that in Naked Lunch....etc.") This time it is mutated
amphibians instead of insects.
Still, the lunch scene at the Chinese restaurant is one I will
not soon forget. And, the gun made out of bone that shoots teeth
is an interesting prop. It turned out to be the link that was
common to all of the different "realities".
As I am writing this, it occurs to me that although eXistenZ is
far superior to The Matrix, it is ultimately very flawed. In the
end, it eXisted for me but did not tranSenD. Still, I was very
entertained, ocassionally taken in by the plot twists and highly
recommend it.
