Movie Review: ‘Crimes Of The Future’

Review by Lauryn Angel

At some point in the not-too-far-off future, our beds will be programmed to alleviate our pains – if we have any – and our chairs will be designed to support efficient digestion. Oh, and we’ll spontaneously grow new organs, leading to the rise of surgery as performance art.

This is the world presented in David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, a return to body horror for the director, albeit not as intense as some of his previous entries in the genre. But Cronenberg is the perfect director to make impromptu surgery sexy and mesmerizing, as his protagonists, Saul (Viggo Mortensen) and Caprice (Léa Seydoux) ably demonstrate.

Saul is one of the few remaining humans who feels pain, and his body is quite adept at growing new organs, which Caprice surgically removes at their performances. Saul is of great interest to The National Organ Registry – a bureau which isn’t entirely legal – and Saul becomes involved with the investigators Whippet (Don McKellar) and Timlin (Kristin Stewart). Their performances also capture the attention of Lang Dotrice (Scott Speedman), who wants the pair to perform a public autopsy – an event oSof dubious legality.

The film raises questions about evolution, technology, and ethics, but doesn’t answer them, content to leave the audience ruminating on the subjects. The film is titillating in parts, but the body horror is tame compared to some of Cronenberg’s past outings. Some Cronenberg fans might be disappointed by this, while newcomers to the director’s work might find that the surgical scenes go too far. As fan of Cronenberg’s since I was exposed to Videodrome and Naked Lunch when I was in high school, I enjoyed the film very much, finding echoes of those previous films in Crimes of the Future. And as with both of those films, I suspect this one will reward multiple viewings by revealing something new each time.