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Cosmopolis (2012)

With movies including The Fly, Videodrome, A History of Violence and Eastern Promises director David Cronenberg has built an impressive filmography (currently 39 titles to his name on IMDB) and I’m always interested in what his next movie will be. The first image I saw of it, with Robert Pattinson (who I’ve never seen act before) sitting in the back of the limo looked interesting and although I didn’t immediately head for the cinema to see it, it remained on my “to watch” list. After seeing it though I’m not sure I should have put it on that list.

The story is about Eric Packer (Pattinson), a rich guy who wants to get a haircut on the other side of town, which at that moment is full of events which make it unsafe for him to travel there in his limo. Despite advice against it he still decides to go for it and as a viewer you get to ride along and see what goes on during his daily routine. People get in and out of the car to discuss business or events that happen in the world, a doctor gets in to examine thoroughly and Packer gets feeds of information about stocks and other things right underneath his fingertips, able to make quick decisions. The limousine looks impressive and the movie looks great too, but it really wasn’t one I was able to enjoy at all. First of all were the conversations which took place. They are mostly about things that just didn’t make a lot of sense. I understand a lot of what you are watching is these people representing specific ideas, but when talking about specific subjects I had a hard time staying engaged. There is a moment in the movie in which Packer’s wife says “Tell me what that means” and that’s the feeling I had during the whole movie. It also didn’t help that the delivery of the dialog felt unnatural. Maybe this was done on purpose, but later in the movie when he talks to his hairdresser (and during some other moments) that coldness and robotic way of talking isn’t present, so it left me wondering if this was done on purpose. It definitely isn’t how people normally talk.

So I had some serious issues with this film and had a very hard time getting through all of it, struggling to get to the end. So it won’t be a surprise then that I won’t be recommending this to others. It is a beautiful looking movie, but not one everyone will be able to enjoy. It surely isn’t anything like the trailer makes it out to be.

Score: 2

18 thoughts on “Cosmopolis (2012)”

  3. I just couldn’t bring myself to watch this. I’m not a big Cronenberg fan. His arrogance aside, I haven’t been able to latch onto his movies. Judging by your review I didn’t miss a thing.

    Reply

      • “The Fly” is one film of his I appreciate even though its been a LONG time since I’ve seen it.

        As far as arrogance, I’m mainly speaking to his rant earlier this year slamming the work of other directors including Christopher Nolan. He was saying their work wasn’t art at all (of course his was). Pretty pompous stuff.

        Reply

  4. This movie, no matter which way you put it, was boring and pretentious as hell. Nothing once rang true to me and the only thing I even liked about this movie was Giamatti who comes out of nowhere at the end and spices everything up like it needed to be. Good review Nostra.

    Reply

  6. Cool review. The thing I love about this film is that it divides opinion so beautifully. I actually really really liked it. But the co-host of the podcast I am part of utterly hated it, which made for some great discussion.

    Reply

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