Infinity Pool

Infinity Pool, the latest from writer/director Brandon Cronenberg, focuses on James and Em Foster, on vacation to help James clear his head in order to attempt writing his second novel. James and Em meet and are guided by a mysterious couple also vacationing outside of the resort to find themselves stuck in a culture packed with sex, violence, and unimaginable terrors. After a fatal vehicular accident leaves them facing the wrath of local law enforcement, James and Em are faced with a decision: be executed for their crime or, if rich enough, watch themselves die. What results is a downward plunge into debauchery, murder, and desperation.

Infinity Pool stars Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth. Fresh off his tilt as Amleth in 2022's The Northman, Skarsgård plays a very different character here. In Infinity Pool Skarsgård is James Foster, struggling writer married to Em Foster, daughter of a power publisher and the couple's breadwinner. An amenable guy, James is enjoying his vacation with Em at Lotoka, a beachside country. Skarsgård plays James with the air of a man a bit adrift in life, clinging onto Em as a comfortable life raft. As an actor used to playing characters with power (see: True Blood) or iron determination (Mute, The Northman), Skarsgård takes a surprising turn as a meek, easily-lead man. While the change of pace is refreshing, Skarsgård's portrayal of James is nothing noteworthy. His passable acting is enough to offset the insanity that is Mia Goth.

Mia Goth as Gabi Bauer is trouble from the first moment she appears on screen until her final. A performance that starts unsettling before ramping up to completely unhinged, Goth milks every ounce of craziness she can from the script. While it's not always for the best (Goth has some truly questionable line readings in this), she's by far the overall best part of the movie. While her characterization is maddening, the motivations Cronenberg gives Gabi are nebulous at best. Thankfully, that's no fault of Goth's and when she shows up on screen, audiences are in for a treat.

Written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg, Infinity Pool is the director's second outing after 2020's amazing debut, Possessor. Sadly, the sophomore slump is apparent in his second project, giving audience and body horror fans a lackluster followup that's unfocused and meandering. From a directing standpoint, Cronenberg is still sharp, delivering tension and suspense along with the cringe-inducing scenes the family is known for. Extreme closeups of mutilation, murder, and blood by the buckets (topped off with a cumshot in the film's first 30 minutes) will put moviegoers on their backfoot while being completely vulnerable to whatever could happen next. Cinematographer Karim Hussain, who also shot the beautiful Possessor, delivers on the goods again, providing a remarkable visual journey that James embarks upon. Cronenberg's choice to shoot Infinity Pool in Croatia, one of the planet's most beautiful countries, while mostly resisting the opportunity to display that beauty and instead focus on the grime and side streets is a commendable decision that lines up with tone of the movie.

As a writer, after tackling the theme of identity loss in an increasingly technological world in Possessor, in Infinity Pool no such messages seem to exist outside of a general human desensitivity to death. The first act might be the story's strongest, developing characters and creating situations that will entice the audience to be locked in and attentive. Unfortunately in the second act turn, where everything starts to fall apart for James, is also where everything will fall apart for the audience. James' descent into depravity, while interesting to look at in a well executed montage of sex and psychedelics, ultimately leads to a chaotic story with little in the way of explanation or true resolution.

Overall, Infinity Pool is a mess of a movie. Within that mess are hints at something good, possibly great, but Cronenberg seems to be too in love with the idea of creating something off kilter more than telling an actual story. Alexander Skarsgård's performance is passable as a man lost in hedonism, while Mia Goth's unhinged insanity somehow fluctuates between amazing and downright lousy. Lacking the usual amount of body horror audiences have come to expect from the name Cronenberg, this film instead chooses to skate by on its ambience, which doesn't always work in its favor.

A holiday with your girl takes quite a turn, you only came for a short stay, a brief sojourn, but when returning from the beach, an accident, leads to a breach, and the next day you're arrested, and interned. As you have wealth, you can settle and walk free, an odd procedure and some strange hyperbole, but a boundary's been stepped over, no longer fixed in an enclosure, plus there's a catalyst, to incite, who's full of glee.

Mia Goth, as the seductive Gabi Bauer, alongside her hedonistic friends, introduce the somewhat innocent James Foster, more than ably performed by Alexander Skarsgård, to their limitless world of excess, a world that doesn't quite reward him quite as well as it does his newly found playmates.

Great performances, kaleidoscopic cinematography, original in its interpretation, worth a watch, but you may well wish you hadn't, a bit like James.

This is a great film to get lost in, and experience the story and it's main character, Skarsgard. I do love original films, and early in the piece, it was so cool, not knowing where the film was going, but later on, in the last 40 minutes, we have moments of predicability. I found this a fun shock movie, where we have some scenes. Which are truly memorably bizarre, the final one, a scene of normality, staying in my mind the most. This is one of these films, that lingers in the memory, days after you see it. It has strobing. 180 degree turn shots, a daunting music score, cloning, and sexy Mia Goth, really playing her part to the hilt. One X rated sex shot we could of done without. Brandon Cronenberg (David's) has definitely created something originally appealing and engrossing, but it gets too ludiicrous and crazy in it's second half. Some of the bloodletting scenes, are pretty heavy. Definitely recommended, but be warned.

This movie is incredibly well made. The music works perfectly and sets the tone from the start. The locations and setting are stunning and compliment the distinct cinematography that impressed me throughout the movie. The atmosphere of the idyllic resort is beautifully immersive and adds a lot to the dread and isolation of being in an unfamiliar country experiencing chaos.

The acting and direction is really top notch, Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård form a great duo for a film like this. They had great chemistry and both gave some of their most intense and polarizing performances. Everyone including the smaller roles were well cast and played their parts quite well.

As someone who normally gets bored in movie theaters, I really liked the pacing of the movie. I might not have loved every creative risk taken, but I think they collectively form a very one-of-a-kind movie that is anything but boring. I think this movie works on a lot of different levels, and while it's not for everyone, it's a unique and excellent addition to the horror genre.

I saw "Infinity Pool" last night in the theatre. It is a very strange movie directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the son of David Cronenberg ("Videodrome", "The Fly", etc.) It is about a couple (Alexander Skarsgård and Cleopatra Coleman) who travel to a luxury resort in a repressive dictatorship. They meet another couple (Jalil Lespert and Mia Goth) who convince them to travel off the grounds of the resort, even though it is prohibited by the rules of the resort and country. Soon a tragedy occurs, and the couple is thrust into a fever dream of drugs, sex and violence. Mia Goth is excellent as the temptress who pushes Skarsgård's character into doing things he would never think of doing. Skarsgård is wasted in this role and his character takes actions that defy common sense. And while some have praised Brandon Cronenberg's direction - I found some of the strange angles and quirks he uses to be more annoying than ingenious. There is a surfeit of sex, violence and gore for those who enjoy that, but I cannot say that it really added anything to a convoluted plot that really makes no sense. Only recommended for Mia Goth's standout performance - wait for cable or Netflix on this one. 5/10.