Cinema: A History Of Violence (2005)
I finally checked out A History Of Violence (David Cronenberg). I liked it, but it took some thinking first. This is definitely a character piece rather than a story. It has so many major events, however, that it feels like a story-driven film. Sometimes I like Cronenberg’s style. His story and visuals are fairly graphic, but his themes are very subtle. It’s an interesting way to make you really think about what you are seeing, and why.
It was different to see a Cronenberg film without anything extremely weird in it. (Um… I guess having a secret life where you killed lots of people is weird, but at least none of his house appliances turned into talking, leaking insects.) Everything that may be considered as weird in this film is fairly believeable (granted, somethings less than others), and I never felt as if it was taking place in another reality. Corny as they are, Tom (Viggo Mortensen) and his family are very “likeable”. They are set up in such a “perfect family” kind of way that you just KNOW there’s going to be some pretty brutal violence. And there is, hurray!
It was nice and graphic. Not the actually hitting/shooting, but the shots of what the people after being hit and/or shot. I’m not complaining, I love a good 18A rating. But I don’t know, I didn’t find myself asking myself questions like “What is violence?” or “Does everybody have the capability to punch a guy until his nose falls off?”. I saw Mortensen and Cronenberg talk at this film’s press conference when they were here for the Toronto International Film Festival, and I don’t know what they had to talk about so much (especially Viggo). Granted, that’s probably my desensitization talking. It was also cool to see Ed Harris freak out and throw his glass of water.
Anyway, my point is that this was a pretty cool movie to sit through. The way the characters responded to events was interesting. There were a lot of intense scenes. Afterwards, I did find myself thinking about the different ways in which people experience, seek out, and express passion. I’m not thinking about it any longer, though; that moment has passed.
