eXistenZ. Mundo virtual

'eXistenZ' sorts out the men from the boys. That is, your reaction to this marvellous movie will depend whether you are S.F. literate and familiar with Cronenberg's oeuvre, or a 'Matrix'-loving, Johnny-come-lately. Now I enjoy 'The Matrix' as a superior action movie, but no movie in recent years has been so overrated, and grossly exaggerated as intellectual fare! 'eXistenZ' and Alex Proyas' similarly overlooked 'Dark City' are everything 'The Matrix' claims to be - intelligent, thought provoking, CHALLENGING S.F.

This movie is almost a summary of all the themes and motifs that Cronenberg has been obsessed about for the last 25 years or so. Especially the Burroughsian "biological horror" and the Phildickian questioning of reality. While it echoes many of his previous movies, it especially evokes his masterpiece 'Videodrome'. It may not reach the hallucinogenic heights of that movie - very few have - but it certainly takes you to places most contemporary S.F. and horror movies don't even try to reach.

However this movie isn't just Cronenberg rehashing his "greatest hits". There are more than enough new and interesting touches, especially the Rushdie-like Fatwah theme, the odd sexual symbolism, and the witty touches such as the bone guns that fire teeth. Helping all this along is the interesting, carefully chosen cast. All are good, but I especially like Willem Dafoe's creepy garage mechanic, and it was also great to see Canadian cult star Don McKellar ('Highway 61', 'Twitch City',etc) as the enigmatic "Russian" Yevgeny.

'Videodrome' has taken many years to find its real audience, and maybe 'eXistenz' will too. But I believe eventually it will be recognised for what it is - a work of great imagination and flair.

Antenna Research is testing a new game system eXistenZ created by great game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh). An assassin shoots her with an undetectable organic gun. She is injured and marketing trainee Ted Pikul (Jude Law) takes her away from the danger. Her pod contains the only copy of eXistenZ and she has to test it. Ted is forced to get a bio-port installed by underground installer Gas (Willem Dafoe). However he turns out to be out for the contract on her life. It's a long road where reality is questionable and the world is full of danger.

It's a lot of ooey gooey organic effects and perverse sexuality. I'm not sure if Cronenberg is actually making a point but it seems to be warning a merging and confusion between reality and game. It's a lot of weird stuff going on. It's not scary or even disgusting. It's just oddly fascinating.

In a near future, the Antenna Research and the Cortical Systematics Corporations dispute the market of games. When the designer of the game eXistenZ Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) comes to a lecture to demonstrate and test her game, she is attacked by a fanatic terrorist. However,the marketing trainee of Antenna Research Ted Pikul (Jude Law) saves Allegra and flees with her in his car.

When Allegra awakes, she requests Ted to let her connect in his bio-port to check the damage in her pod with the original version of eXistenZ. Ted does not have bio-port since he is afraid of any possible infection, but Allegra convinces him to go to the gas station, where she asks the attendant Gas (Willen Dafoe) to make a hole in Ted's spine and install a bio-port. Soon she learns that Gas works for the enemy, but Ted and she play eXistenZ, in a bizarre virtual world. When the game merges in the real life, Ted and Allegra question whether they are still playing the game or whether the game has been transported to the real world.

"eXistenz" is another bizarre and original film by David Cronenberg, with a weird and gruesome concept of virtual reality. The twisted story has similarities with "Matrix", entwining virtual world with reality, but both were made in the same year (1999); therefore it seems that there is no plagiarization of the idea. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law show a great chemistry and the plot has many twists. Surprisingly, "eXistenz" has not been released in Brasil neither on DVD nor in blu-ray. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "eXistenz"

Note: On 28 March 2021, i watched this film again in a recently released Brazilian version.

David Cronenberg is doubtlessly one of the greatest directors alive and in activity (along with Lynch, Kiarostami, Kitano, Moretti, Oliveira, Rohmer, etc). Having seen almost all of his films (excluding "Dead Zone", "The Fly" and "M.Butterfly"), I have this somewhat rare opinion that "eXistenZ" is one of his masterpieces. It seems to me that this film was hugely misunderstood, culminating with the stupid idea of comparing this film to "Matrix", a rather worthless and meaningless piece of nonsense. Here in "eXistenZ", we have instead a very dense and deep meditation on the mystery of reality, of our inability to apprehend where do things come from. The characters appear and disappear as if moved by some mysterious agent, which remains inhapreenshible. Being Cronenberg a professed atheist, we can only arrive at the conclusion that each world which is presented to us and to the main characters comes from their own mind, which, nevertheless, only constitutes a part of the human body (it is now hazard that the characters have access to the game by means of something - a game pod - which is implanted into their bodies). Cronenberg stated many years ago that all reality is virtual; so, in this film, the use of the plot-device of virtual reality is a huge metaphor to the virtually of reality, as our director sees it.

I feel compelled to speak up for this film against the spoilt ravings of the it-said-it-was-like-the-Matrix-but-I-didn't-see-any-cool-computer-graphics-a nywhere crowd that have dominated these pages.

There seem to be two schools of thought on the use of special effects in movies. The prevalent theory - depressingly common among film goers and film-makers alike - seems to be that a good effect should stand out of a film and make the audience coo like a pigeon. If you subscribe to that theory, fine, watch the Matrix and be happy. If you think that a special effect is a means to an end, a way to portray a fictional vista as a believable realism, then watch eXistenZ and marvel at how a grotesque and visceral world can be made so engrossingly real and intriguing. This film has its fair share of effects, but they are so well grafted into the ethos the film evokes that you just won't notice them on first viewing. And in contrast with the current trend towards computer-generated effects, Cronenburg knows the value of his tactile world; the physical creativity involved in the gristle-gun building scene is a fantastic example.

Okay, so virtual reality has been used many times as a concept - and by films that actually came BEFORE the Matrix too - but the totality with which this film portrays its own organic brand of VR is truly engrossing. Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh are utterly watch-able and the chemistry between them is the perfect vehicle to lead an audience through the admittedly gruesome situations the film describes.

There is an element of old-fashioned escapist fantasy in this film that manages to be strangely endearing despite the gore and I suggest that this is where the film triumphs - a triumph that can be attributed to clever writing, intelligent acting and characterisation, a compelling story, charismatic leads, a vivid and disciplined imagination and the discerning use of effects and visual style.

If the Matrix is an `oooh, aaah' sort of film, then this is more an `oooh, eeugh' movie - but don't allow the glare of the Matrix to dull your senses to the darker appeal of eXistenZ.