Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool

Brandon Cronenberg may be now on par with his father in a certain way. ‘Infinity Pool’ was decidedly different from his last films. In a way, it was more main stream*. It was more auteur. It was less scifi except Cloning theme was reminiscent of Great Cronenberg at his best but maybe there was more humanity in Brandon’s by way of the main character’s existential angst. The pain. Writer’s block**. Narcissism disemboweled.

And Mia Goth. Her character was crazy but charming and pure evil. It is the lack of her eyebrows and maniacal laugh that haunt me. There has never been any actress like her. Juliette Lewis from Natural Born Killers is the closest but Mia is more genuine. She is an artist. She is the mistress of horror of 2020’s.

*I read reviews comparing Infinity Pool to the White Lotus. I would compare it to J. G. Ballard’s Cocaine Nights (a dystopian noir that takes place in a resort setup. Interestingly enough, Brandon’s next project is Ballard’s Super-Canne, the sister novel to Cocaine Nights).

**The film is about James Foster the struggling writer’s transformation through the repeated and literal acts of self destruction. Gabi/Mia assists this process like a head mistress and embraces him like Saint Mary when it completes. James is portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård (of the Northman)