Cosmopolis (2012)

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Riding across Manhattan in a stretch limo in order to get a haircut, a 28-year-old billionaire asset manager's day devolves into an odyssey with a cast of characters that start to tear his world apart. Cosmopolis in my opinion is one of the most underrated weird movies i've ever seen it's basically about a rich guy living in a world where the rich rule the world and the poor live on the streets and they have some kind of king "The Rat" and this guy called Eric is an insane guy with a lot of money who cheated his wife like 3 or 4 times, shot his bodyguard and was hit by a pie on the face and in the process he tracks down the guy who wants to kill him. First of all Robert Pattinson gives a great performance in this movie alongside Paul Giamatti, Sarah Gadon and the rest of the cast and crew. I watched this on theaters a couple of years ago and my experience was pretty bad people walked out of the theater screaming and calling names the actor and the movie and demanding their money back but honestly what did you except it's a film that went to Cannes and got directed by Cronenberg about the economic crisis and a guy who is insane and even shoots his own hand because he thinks he is the king of the world. Cosmopolis is by no means a classic but it's by no means a bad film and it deserves better respect for what it tried to do and if you watch it for the first time just do your research and learn what you're getting yourself into but also if you hated it the first time try to give it a 2nd chance and try to study the film closely because it's nowhere near as bad as Maps to the Stars was not even close.

Boy, this is a real love/hate film and mostly hate, but people want to be entertained and this film is not gonna do that very much during our look into one man's day of decision/change. But it will move you in odd ways, make you think, and do what art is supposed to do: react strongly. So, even knowing all this, it is still a difficult movie to get one's head around, but after some digging, I finally did, although I did realize fairly soon that it was something completely different, even for an Indie film. But I think what people are not getting is that it is not a typical 'romantic' film, with all its production values geared towards the slick (although it IS highly stylized), beautiful lighting, emotions, and a film with warm characterizations and bonds between viewer and character (although I did relate to Packer, but it's a specific, not universal thing).I think it hearkens back to the New Wave in cinema of the late 50s/60s (and more than just French, for it is very Fellini-esque). I love Robert Pattinson as Eric Packer. Cronenberg tried this style of abstraction in Crash, but how can you view James Spader or Holly Hunter without emotion? They are too well known for it, it didn't fit, and in the end, could not pull it off due to their strong personalities (esp Holly Hunter). Here, Cronenberg finishes what he started there with this disembodied style. Thus Pattinson is the exact right casting, even in appearance. As Cronenberg himself says, which encapsulates most of the zeitgeist of the movie, which is that high intensity computer trading is abstracted from production, products, commerce, from anything. Thus Packer is reflecting that as a completely abstract person who has no idea of the world and how to be human, so he sounds and appears as an alien dropped into real life on Earth (on the day he finally realizes all this). Character IS valued in films, and I value it, and judge them on it, but here the lack of it works since it goes along with the whole abstraction concept. The complete silence in the limo, when the windows are up, creates a dreamlike tone that pervades the movie, even though it is not realistic, it is not meant to be. Limo as uterus, coffin, tomb, video game, spaceship, sex toy, and on and on. The movie really is not about a financial crisis, but of Packer's stubbornness and attempt to destroy himself by going against his advisers and becoming his own worst enemy. His problems are limited to *his* life; the world has not been affected by his issues, although of course he thinks it has, as a 1%er.The protesters represent the Occupy Wall Street movement, according to Cronenberg, and I thought the "rats" as commodities thing hilarious, but the more serious metaphor is that you can abstract anything and trade it and Pattinson drinks far too much from that cup, even as his primary relationship reflects it. So I think Pattinson is abstracting life and trading it and his relationships as commodities.If you don't care for really arty, stylized films or massively metaphoric films, you will not like this one, but I think if it is thought of as Pattinson's journey from isolation to gritty attempts to join real life then it will go down better. It is as if he is living in the digital world along with his commodities, then has an epiphany during which he realizes there is more outside his tiny world (represented by the limo), both physically and emotionally. So he stumbles his way out of it, creating havoc for himself in an unconsciously suicidal way as he tries to get back to his roots, although it doesn't seem like he quite knows what they are. The guy is so abstract and above it all, from his billionaire throne, that he commits immoral acts without a thought, so desperate is he to get 'home'. He truly needs a pair of ruby slippers to click to go home, and when he finds the next closest thing (people from his past or a chance to right himself) he blows it.Of course there are all the obvious things we hate about the rich, the extreme self-centerdness, the narcissism, the arrogance, and the social commentary (although Cronenberg seems to be less about that here; it is obvious anyway to anyone who is not living under a rock today). The other actors must, for the film to work, at least Packer's advisors, wear the same mask of abstraction and speak in the same disembodied way. I love Samantha Morton, who can do anything, chewing up the scenery. She is right in there with him, as are the other actors for whom it is appropriate. His wife is just a reflection of his narcissism, since narcissists find relationships that mirror themselves. Her skin doesn't even look real, more like an avatar's in a virtual world. She is farther gone than he is, but is more resigned to it and aware of it. All in all, I grew to really like the film and appreciate its perfections. Again, this is Crash done right, in many ways. This film is much less about entertainment than anything else; so fair warning. However I was entertained in a strange way and enthralled by most of the aspects of it. It has wonderful production values that add to the theme perfectly and the other things that make a film deserve a rating of 8/10. I recommend watching at least twice and finding some Cronenberg interviews/commentary. Yes, there is some work to this film, but that is another thing that makes it great art and a viewer that is not spoon fed will be a more well rounded fan of cinema.

It's a very challenging, difficult film to enjoy, but I did, mostly because the director has luckily found a clever and apt metaphor for the slow inevitable descent of society into chaos, mayhem, and oblivion which we're all currently experiencing, whether or not you realize it. Our world is on track to implode into some real horrible sh*t very soon, but everyone's coasting along like skaters on some very thin ice, seemingly unaware that their terrible fate lies inches away just below their shuffling feet. As the limo very slowly rolls and stops on it's interrupted journey through the mean, nasty city which is bursting into revolutionary madness the protagonist, a surprisingly compelling Robert Pattinson, manages to keep my gaze averted from all the increasingly ugly things occurring outside the tinted power windows and focused upon his sincerely fascinating face. I felt as though I was being invited. emphatically, to pay attention to the man behind the curtain, except in the case of this profoundly disturbing film the Wizard is not a loud mouthed little phony. No, this Master of this Universe is a genuinely powerful and twisted fellow. If you hate to have to think or ponder or even consider for a moment what anything means in a film--or in life--you're sure to really, really hate this deliberately annoying and confrontational film. But if you're anything like me and you don't mind being asked to contemplate the bizarre nature of our ever more devolving, collapsing society then you, too, should find this deeply unusual cinematic stunt to be quite worthwhile. It's not always fun or pleasant to watch, but it's extremely original and undeniably haunting. And it has some neat surprises from some very good supporting players, especially a superb Paul Giamatti as an especially ominous and unpleasant sort of Angel of Death.

I recently saw this movie and loved it, I came onto to IMDb and was surprised to see it had some very unflattering reviews, I think that's because some people just didn't get it.Yes the dialogue is contrived and strange, until you realise why.The whole movie sounds like a poem because it is, the characters are inside out, instead of hearing their boasts we hear their thoughts and if you don't get that point, I can see how you would think this is a bad movie.However when when you see the genius behind this creative device it all starts to make sense, thats why I'm giving this a decent score.All in all the movie itself could be any other like it, the underlying theme rather wreaks of 'Collateral' but the turning of the whole movie into a poem and the way the characters introversions are extroverted, genius.I liked it for that alone, it was a refreshing break from the staleness of forumlaic sensory diversion.I didn't know it was a Cronenberg until I saw the credits at the end but when I saw that name, it made sense, he always had a thing for the weird and twisting the boundaries of perception.In this he truly succeeded, even if the storyline itself doesn't stand up to scrutiny, the creativity of the concept has to be admired.