"Infinity Pool" follows James Foster, a struggling writer vacationing with his wife Em at a posh resort in a fictional third-world country. There, he meets Gabi and her husband, Alban. When an illicit trip outside the resort's gates leads to a tragic accident, James is faced with execution; or, as an alternative, the execution of a "double", a clone of himself, whose sacrifice he must bear witness to. What ensues is a rapid psychological downslide into vengeance, self-abasement, and debauchery.
This twisted and imaginative effort from Brandon Cronenberg is sure to divide audiences, though it is not necessarily as overtly arthouse-y as one might expect. The plot setup here is quite familiar, at least at first: Fears and dangers of a third-world criminal justice system loom over the first act, replete with Stalinist prison settings and officers who look like they were pulled straight from the SS. A nervy score and dizzying cinematography plummet the audience toward an "I Know What You Did Last Summer"-esque scenario that warps into something far beyond the familiar trappings of a frivolous slasher movie.
There are voluminous thematic layers here to be unpeeled, and the film descends into a nightmarish scenario in which the protagonist finds himself at the hands of a cultish horde of self-proclaimed "zombies", others who have gone through the same "doubling" as a means of atonement for their crimes. The film forces its audience to contemplate shuddering notions in which one must kill off pieces of themselves, both figuratively and literally, and a masochistic pleasure in doing so emerges amongst Cronenberg's acid-trip visuals. Layered in, perhaps more interestingly, is a pronounced subtext that explores the relationship between the wealthy vacationers and the country's strange justice system, whose loophole offers them quasi-limitless possibilities to engage in crime and debauchery--but at what real cost?
Alexander Skarsgard gives a solid performance here as the downtrodden writer who is doing some "soul-searching" for his belabored second work, while Mia Goth has her hand at what is essentially a classic femme fatale role, delivering an utterly deranged version of the archetype. Cleopatra Coleman stands counterpoint as James's heiress wife, who, unlike him, is deterred by the proverbial flame that he is drawn to like a moth.
Overall, "Infinity Pool" is a nervy and frightening descent through a "nine circles of hell" scenario, shot through with a near-debilitating dose of speculative and science fiction. It is a film that taunts you as much as it makes you think, both to discomforting lengths. If one thing is for certain, an artistic representation of the writer's search for "inspiration" has never looked (or felt) so harrowing. 9/10.
This twisted and imaginative effort from Brandon Cronenberg is sure to divide audiences, though it is not necessarily as overtly arthouse-y as one might expect. The plot setup here is quite familiar, at least at first: Fears and dangers of a third-world criminal justice system loom over the first act, replete with Stalinist prison settings and officers who look like they were pulled straight from the SS. A nervy score and dizzying cinematography plummet the audience toward an "I Know What You Did Last Summer"-esque scenario that warps into something far beyond the familiar trappings of a frivolous slasher movie.
There are voluminous thematic layers here to be unpeeled, and the film descends into a nightmarish scenario in which the protagonist finds himself at the hands of a cultish horde of self-proclaimed "zombies", others who have gone through the same "doubling" as a means of atonement for their crimes. The film forces its audience to contemplate shuddering notions in which one must kill off pieces of themselves, both figuratively and literally, and a masochistic pleasure in doing so emerges amongst Cronenberg's acid-trip visuals. Layered in, perhaps more interestingly, is a pronounced subtext that explores the relationship between the wealthy vacationers and the country's strange justice system, whose loophole offers them quasi-limitless possibilities to engage in crime and debauchery--but at what real cost?
Alexander Skarsgard gives a solid performance here as the downtrodden writer who is doing some "soul-searching" for his belabored second work, while Mia Goth has her hand at what is essentially a classic femme fatale role, delivering an utterly deranged version of the archetype. Cleopatra Coleman stands counterpoint as James's heiress wife, who, unlike him, is deterred by the proverbial flame that he is drawn to like a moth.
Overall, "Infinity Pool" is a nervy and frightening descent through a "nine circles of hell" scenario, shot through with a near-debilitating dose of speculative and science fiction. It is a film that taunts you as much as it makes you think, both to discomforting lengths. If one thing is for certain, an artistic representation of the writer's search for "inspiration" has never looked (or felt) so harrowing. 9/10.