With David Cronenberg having slowed down his output and possibly veering towards retirement, it’s now up to his son, Brandon to carry on the family name. A family name built on body horror, psychological torment and post-modernism, but one well worth carrying forth into the new decade. Possessor marks the younger Cronenberg’s second full-length feature, and while his previous effort, Antiviral, was an admirable miss according to most critical circles, Possessor feels like a much bigger coming out party. It’s a critical smash thus far, and it’s getting a nice push from Neon, the home of last year’s two best films. It’s certainly hard to argue with those credentials at the outset.
But does it actually live up to the hype? For the most part, the answer is yes, with some reservations.
Possessor, on its face, is a concept ripped right out of a good Phillip K. Dick novel: Tasya (played by the always wonderful Andrea Riseborough) is a corporate assassin who utilizes brain inhabiting technology that allows her conscience to take control of the bodies of others. The company she works for (run by Girder, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) then utilizes those victims to carry out certain, usually murderous, tasks. As you can imagine, this type of work takes its toll on a psyche, and Tasya finds that her home life and family are continually faced with the brunt of her absences, actual physical presence notwithstanding. This begins to come to a head when she takes on her newest assignment, to take out the head of a data farm (Sean Bean), by taking over the body of his daughter’s boyfriend (Christopher Abbott). You can imagine, things don’t go smoothly.
As a viewing experience, Possessor is imminently watchable, riding on its high concept throughout. Cronenberg off-sets the usual two-dimensional action-adventure aspects of this kind of protagonist and turns her into something that approaches a living breathing being. The closest parallel I can think of is something like You Were Never Really Here, which did equally admirable work with a 70’s style vigilante. And these two aspects intersperse with one another to keep you engaged just about until the final frame rolls. What’s particularly satisfying is how Cronenberg utilizes the latter character base to really tie off the entirety of the conflict. This is not a movie about an assassination attempt gone wrong, this is a movie about warring psyches and what happens with the possessed realizes just what is happening and has happened to him.
Of all the film’s pleasures though, perhaps it is its visual acuity that particularly stands as remarkable, giving way to kaleidoscopic imagery as the process takes hold of its intended target, or the back and forth battle between the two parties within one body begins to reach a fever pitch. One quickly comes to realize that the skills must just be in the genes in that family, or he had one hell of a teacher.
The lone struggle all of this faces though, is that despite its generally propulsive nature (while being one of the more introspective sci-fi offerings of the year) is that its final notes are hit less with a perfect pitch and more of a shrug. There’s a profound feeling of lost potential by its final act, where it becomes apparent that one extra element could have truly sealed the deal. A great idea that looks good, but the question becomes “what is the end thesis?” and without that ingredient, there’s just a twinge of dissatisfaction that pervades, even after weeks of reflection. Still, there’s little doubt, given his current trajectory, that Cronenberg’s third feature is likely to be a showstopper.
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