Saturday, August 18, 2012

Blood. Music. Robert.


Cosmopolis


Directed and written by David Cronenberg
Based on a novel by Don DeLillo
 Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Sarah Gadon

                    


Obviously, Cosmopolis is a film that causes opinions to differ. It is theatric and filled with complex dialogue and ambiguities, and there was a moment where I could have chosen to think, "This is it. I'm out". But I decided not to. Mainly because the introduction sequence was so classy.

Classy is the right word. It describes this film very well. I read that some people found it stylish but in its content too self-indulgent and pretentious, but I don't agree. While watching the movie I considered this opinion, but was immediately captured by the story itself again, deciding I wouldn't jump on either side of the fence before finishing the movie. It's like certain books that you find hard to get through; the dialogue is tiring and confusing, and you just don't "get" what it's supposed to tell you. Then the revelation when you're finished and can't get this work of art out of your mind, you keep dwelling on it, certain scenes and underlying thoughts keep popping up in your head. You realize the works value.




I have experienced this with many books (Banville's The Sea, Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther and so on), and it sometimes makes me read a bad book that doesn't turn out to be great in the end. However, it's all worth it, and it's also a reason to finish every movie you start. You won't know what you've missed until you see it. 

Did I "get" Cosmopolis, then? It's hard to say. Perhaps I didn't get all of it, but my feeling is that I got the overall context and that I got food for thought. I "got" that it's not Drive, although there are certain similarities between the two pictures. They both centre around a somewhat heroic male main character that is drawn into a circle of violence out of various reasons. 
The Cosmopolis protagonist Eric isn't as heroic as the Driver of course. In many ways he's the complete opposite of the struggling underdog: a lavish billionaire. But when it comes to the character, I don't think they are too different from each other: fearless and insensible in many ways, good-looking and overly smart. Both have a soft side, too - for the Driver it's his love for a woman, for Eric it's his love and at the same time hate for life. This is of course my personal interpretation of his character.

Cosmopolis also got me a new song to write about (expect to read something about K'Naan's "Mecca" soon). It moved me. The song moved me, the scene moved me. And there were female characters too, that being said I related to Eric and not to them. Maybe that's why it worked.

The film moved me. 

FINAL FRAME


16 comments:

  1. Looking forward to Cosmopolis. Could be one of those love it or hate it movies. Glad to see you loved it !

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    1. Another thing that makes it different from Drive, which (almost) everyone in the blogosphere loved. I hope you'll get to see it soon!

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  2. Yay, good to know that someone else is on my side with this film! My favourite film of the year so far.

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    1. You too? So cool!
      My favourite is Moonrise Kingdom so far I think, but this one must get the second place.

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    2. Indeed! Loved it because it is totally out of the box, it's not really a film and very much plays out to be like theatre, a play. I can only pinpoint that as being the reason why a lot of people don't like it because of it's lack of film qualities, much like The Tree of Life, I think.

      Haven't seen Moonrise Kingdom, but Wes Anderson feels very hit and miss for me a lot of the time. Still need to check out a lot more of his stuff than I have done, though.

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    3. Good comparison, there are many similarities between this one and The Tree of Life. I loved both.

      I'm currently trying to watch all of Anderson's movies, until now I've only seen The Darjeeling Limited apart from Moonrise Kingdom, and really liked that one too.

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  3. I'm happy to see some praise for this film, because I've heard largely negative things. Still looking forward to it, though!

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    1. Sometimes, I really understand why people dislike a great film. Of course, there are things about this one that not everybody might love but too many negative things have been said about it.
      I hope you'll be one of the likers :)

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  4. Interesting. The contradiction among its viewers. I'm definitely gonna give Robert my time, I have liked him in almost everything except the Twilight saga.

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    1. I even liked him in that one ;). But it wasn't exactly an opportunity to show his acting skills. And I don't like his tons of makeup in the saga.
      Hope you'll like this one.

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  5. My thoughts on COSMOPOLIS (as you well know from reading my review, twice), is that I never engaged with it on an emotional level. That's not to say I didn't care for it, just that I felt like it never let me in. I still haven't forgotten about it, and for a film to leave that sort of impression, it must be seen as a mark of achievement.

    I like the apt comparisons to DRIVE - doubly so since I walked away from both films with equal disillusion.

    Great piece here Mette, on one of the more perplexing films of 2012. I might not have "liked" COSMPOLOIS, but boy do I have profound respect for it!

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    1. Thank you Ryan.
      I'm very curious to see how Cosmpolis will be received in the award season next year.

      Interesting that you're feelings about Drive and Cosmopolis were quite equal, and mine too - just in a very different way.

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  6. Awesome! This movie really gets a full range of mixed reviews, but I'm very happy to see you are way on the positive side. Of all the new releases I've seen this year, Cosmopolis remains the only one that is still stuck in my head.

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    1. Thanks! Same goes for me, except for Moonrise Kingdom - that one is certainly still stuck in my head.

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  7. Good review. This movie didn't do anything for me other than bore the hell out of me, especially when they had the dull Rob Pattinson in the lead. He tries, as well as everybody else here, but they are all wasted on a boring flick. Then again, this has been getting a lot love lately so don't listen to me.

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    1. Thanks, and be free to tell the world your honest thoughts. If you didn't like the movie, nobody should try to convince you.

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Let the discussion begin!