The Feb 7th NMT movie club movie of the week: eXistenZ

[excal]

eXistenZ


Discussion opens up: Feb 14, 2010

imdb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/

Directed by:
David Cronenberg

Writing credits:
David Cronenberg

Release Date: 23 April 1999 (USA)

Run Time: 97 min

Genre: Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Ratings: Iceland:16 | Spain:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KNT | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/16 | SingaporeG | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Original Language: English

Tagline: Play it. Live it. Kill for it


Awards: 3 wins & 7 nominations


Plot:
Allegra Geller, the leading game designer in the world, is testing her new virtual reality game, eXistenZ with a focus group. As they begin, she is attacked by a fanatic assassin employing a bizarre organic gun. She flees with a young marketing trainee, Ted Pikul, who is suddenly assigned as her bodyguard. Unfortunately, her pod, an organic gaming device that contains the only copy of the eXistenZ game program, is damaged. To inspect it, she talks Ted into accepting a gameport in his own body so he can play the game with her. The events leading up to this, and the resulting game lead the pair on a strange adventure where reality and their actions are impossible to determine from either their own or the game's perspective. Written by Kenneth Chisholm {kchishol@execulink.com}


Jennifer Jason Leigh ... Allegra Geller
Jude Law ... Ted Pikul
Ian Holm ... Kiri Vinokur
Willem Dafoe ... Gas
Don McKellar ... Yevgeny Nourish
Callum Keith Rennie ... Hugo Carlaw
Christopher Eccleston ... Seminar Leader
Sarah Polley ... Merle
Robert A. Silverman ... D'Arcy Nader
Oscar Hsu ... Chinese Waiter
Kris Lemche ... Noel Dichter
Vik Sahay ... Male Assistant
Kirsten Johnson ... Female Assistant
James Kirchner ... Landry
Balázs Koós ... Male Volunteer
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Chosen by: Gibbo

Why I chose it:
I wanted to pick something different and Cronenburg definitely is that. Plus there is a chance that Ian Holm has never been in a bad film (apart from the borrowers, but we can ignore that...).

...


Note: In your first post in this thread please state wether you have seen the movie before or not.

Poster:


Fanart:

[excal]

away we go

[Gibbo]

ha ha... I feared this one may have been a little too obscure...

[DeanoCeltic]

I would love to give some input but still haven't been accepted into this exclusive club

[Gibbo]

Excal's very selective about who he lets in

I'd consider yourself in and chat away...

[sTyLeS]

Yeah. Anyone can watch the suggested movies and comment and chat about them. Not really a club, just another forum.
You just need to get your name added to the list in order to be chosen for future movie selections.

[Willem53]

Dont worry about admission though.... they even allowed me to join....

[Gibbo]

OK... well I'll add a few thoughts then.

I first watched this film around 9 years ago, a couple of years after it came out. Loved it at the time for what I thought was quite a novel idea and concept. Watched it again and am pleased to say that I still liked it. I don't think it's the most in-depth or clever plot etc, but it is what it is and it does what it sets out to... It's a bit cheesy but I like the plot idea behind it about not knowing what's real etc.

For some reason I found the very strong sexual connotations with the game ports quite funny, I guess it was laid on a little thick.

Obviously the acting wasn't the best I've ever seen, but it seems to be consistent throughout the film, almost like a slightly nervous edge to it all... I think Cronenburg was going for something with that...

Slightly ironically I guess, the world has become even more similar to the world inside eXistenZ, with 'factions' against realistic games, GTA and the like... Although most of the real world groups are made up of mothers who buy an 18 game for little 6 year old johnny and then are shocked to see that it's not really appropriate for him rather than tooth firing madmen...

[Willem53]

Tell me we are still in the game.....
what I make of this is that there is no such thing as 'virtual' reality... just reality..
and of course it's just perception..

[tiefling]

It's been a couple of years, but this is a really interesting fllm, playing with concepts of reality and perception (as an earlier poster hinted) that are probably even more relevant today than they were then. This is exploring ground in Virtual Reality (that's getting even more exposure now thanks to Caprica) but was one of the first films to actually address it in an emotionally connected way.

The sexual elements are almost a given with Cronenberg, it seems to be a signature of his. I do tend to find that I either love or hate a Cronenberg movie ('Crash' anyone??).

[Trollslayer]

I saw this years ago, a true original!
I agree about the emotional connection with virtual reality - this is what made such an impact.

[excal]

Ugh gibbo, i haven't watched this yet... i apologize!

I promise to get it in this week though!

[excal]

Whoops, clicked the wrong thing. Instead of un-stickying it i closed it.

[excal]

So i got around to watching this tonight. (better late then never)


This has to be one of the more unusual movies i have ever seen. Don't get me wrong, i liked it. I just am having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around it.

Whats throwing me off is, the ending seems like reality. But the way they spoke and the words they used were way more structured and game like then anything they said inside the 'game'

It also seems a bit odd that the people who died early on in the 'game', stayed in the 'game'.... i don't quite grasp what they would have been doing other then sitting in a spectator mode.

I think i'll have some more questions and thoughts on this tommorow, but i need to sleep on it and think about the whole thing a bit more.

nice choice though gibbo... definitely a movie i liked but never woulda watched if not for this club.