British film critic Alexander Walker once slammed David Cronenberg’s movie “Crash” as “beyond the bounds of depravity.” Ted Turner reportedly did everything in his power to bury the NC-17-rated film here in the States. The movie’s sex scenes showed less skin than your average rated-R romantic thriller, but it was the flick’s unsettling juxtaposition of sex with car crashes that drew the ire of culture warriors on both sides of the pond.
Of course, Cronenberg has made an entire career out of bringing provocations to the silver screen. This is the guy who famously blew up a head in “Scanners,” had James Woods copulate with a throbbing television set in “Videodrome,” and had Jeff Goldblum morph into an insect in his spectacularly disgusting remake of “The Fly.” Unlike other cinematic enfants terribles like Lars Von Trier or Gasper Noe, Cronenberg doesn’t shock simply to goose the audience. He has a worldview that is genuinely subversive. His characters are constantly transmuting and transgressing in ways that roil the subconscious. He has an uncommon ability to induce the willies. Continue reading ‘David Cronenberg Talks About Freud, Keira Knightley and ‘A Dangerous Method’’