• The last name and reality-bending premise may make you do a double take—yes—Brandon Cronenberg (son of David) is taking up the family business—mindf*ck cinema, disturbing and brainy.

Possessor starts with a dialogue-less action sequence- blue jumpsuits against the golden background of a posh hotel

  • Certainly even without the last name it is hard not to think of Videodrome, eXistenZ (technology tied to the body)—but I don’t think others like Inception (corporate espionage, memory-blending) or even De Palma’s Mission Impossible are out of place as a comparisons either. Brandon Cronenberg’s work is darker (and eerier) than Nolan—sexualized and violent

Brandon Cronenberg (son of David) is taking up the family business—mindf*ck cinema

 

  • It is a solid resume build for Andrea Riseborough (she certainly is developing a reputation with this and Mandy) and Christopher Abbott— and hats off to Jennifer Jason Leigh—she isn’t given much to do here but she continues to work in great films – The Hateful Eight in 2015, Good Time (2017), Annihilation (2018)

A mise-en-scene set-up with Riseborough and JJL in white futuristic chairs—and the red square perfectly symmetrical in the background

Big broad strokes color splashes on Riseborough’s face (red)….

…and Abbott’s bedroom (blue)

  • The stain-glass ceiling of Sean Bean’s mansion
  • Impressive mashup montages—Cronenberg shifts the focus, splice editing—distorting reality by putting us in the headspace of the protagonist like Aronofsky’s Pi

Impressive mashup montages—Cronenberg shifts the focus, splice editing—distorting reality

  • A breath of fresh air—imaginative—excited to see what Brandon does next
  • Recommend but not a top 10 of the year quality work