Infinity Pool (18)
****
To Infinity Pool and beyond; way beyond.
Cronenberg Jr is not a man to let an 18 certificate go to waste, and this dyspeptic black comic horror about idle rich debauchery in an Eastern European holiday resort is an all-you-can-take offering of sex and violence that addresses one of the great modern terrors – is it safe to be friends with that couple you met on holiday?
No review of a Cronenberg jr film can go without mention or comparison with father David, and certainly not this one. In the 90s Cronenberg senior had a crack at adapting two unfilmable books. His take on J.G. Ballard's Crash is perhaps his finest achievement; his Naked Lunch perhaps his biggest disappointment.
Infinity Pool merges the two author’s unique visions. The armed, barb-wired holiday enclosure is reminiscent of one of Ballard's later tales of respectable, affluent gated communities gone wild, Cocaine Nights or Super Cannes.
The wild, fantastical brutality of the fictional Eastern European land of El Tolqa, where capital is the default punishment for almost any crime, and for murder is administered by the hand of the victim’s eldest son, even if he’s only 13, is very Burroughs.
This meshing of outlandish and implausible sci-fi elements into a milieu that is close to social satire may be hard to take for those hung up on plausibility; rational thought doesn't have to be exterminated to appreciate this, but it's definitely encouraged to rest up for a couple of hours.
Struggling novelist (Skarsgard) meets a fan (Goth) of his only novel. With their respective partners (Coleman and Jespert) they go on a day trip outside the holiday camp perimeter fence which ends in tragedy.
Luckily for them, the El Tolqa legal system has a method that allows rich foreigners to completely divorce themselves from the consequences of their actions (which I won't spoil here.)
Infinity Pool is marvellous, queasy fun, though not quite as thoroughly satisfying as 2021’s Possessor, and perhaps ultimately it's less than the sum of its outrages. It sees Brandon pulling away from his father to some degree. Like his previous film, the visual style is far more sensuous and intimate. He’s prepared to dive into the murk and filth while David C, the man who effectively de-Queered Naked Lunch, always keeps his reserve and his distance.
Directed by Brandon Cronenberg. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman, Jalil Jespert, Amanda Brugel and John Ralston. In cinemas. Running time: 118 mins.
The Beasts (15)
****
This Spanish thriller is a slow-burner but still gets straight into it.
In the opening scene, the local blowhard (Zahera) is busy arguing and antagonising everyone else in the bar, when out of nowhere he turns his ire on “Frenchy” (Ménochet.) Normally you’d expect to see the starting point in this kind of drama, but the conflict at the centre of the piece - between Antoine, the French teacher who has moved to this remote Galician village, and the two brothers next door who have been there all their lives - began long before the audience is invited in.
Having started late, Beasts takes its time unfurling the narrative, moving it forward through an accumulation of details and seemingly irrelevant shots that nourish our understanding of the characters and their situation incrementally.
Tension is built but without ever sacrificing the credibility of the situation. The result is a layered, inventive and genuinely surprising film. Its most daring move is to spring a shattering dramatic moment at the end of the second act, and then not show the immediate aftermath but jump forward an initially unspecified period of time into the future. It’s jolting and disorientating, but enormously effective.
Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Starring Denis Ménochet, Marina Foïs, Luis Zahera, Diego Anida and Marie Colomb. In Spanish and French Subtitled. In cinemas March 24. Running time: 139 mins.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (15)
****
169 minutes? Why? Why? Why?
The glory of the John Wick ascendency from over-achieving comeback vehicle, to one of the most elegant and inventive action film series to come out of Hollywood was in how all the gradually accumulating baggage - bigger name co-stars, larger budgets, post-colon titles like Parabellum, the whole High Table mythology - never once slowed it down.
Three hours and a globetrotting plot (wherever it goes – Berlin, Osaka, Paris, New York – the weather’s always overcast and misty) is a lot to take though. But John Wick is gonna carry that weight.
Despite the extra running time, Chapter 4 plays out much like Chapters 3,2,1; the fight scenes just go on that bit longer.
Donnie Yen as a blind, Zatoichi-style assassin is a great addition; Skarsgård’s babyfaced villain rather less so. There’s a bit too much CGI and gnomic dialogue, but it's the same inspired expression of action movie conventions taken to ridiculous comic extremes and shot with uncommon grace and style.
It doesn’t take itself seriously, but it isn’t jokey either, and it doesn’t have the unseemly rush to get to the next gag that has marred recent Marvel films.
Director: Chad Stahelski. Starring: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Shamier Anderson and Ian McShane. Running time: 169 mins.
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