Infinity Pool

“I went for a colonoscopy last month, and it was like looking at a painting by Jackson Polyp.”  Such a great start...and such a dull result. The central couple are pulled creepingly into hell through sinister symbolism, tantalising sexuality and a tragic accident. Infinity Pool is Lynchian in its dreaminess, Cronenbergian in its physicality and punk in the manner of Kubrick. The flashes of A Clockwork Orange are the last things to work in any interesting way in the second half of the film. The tremendous potential of the initial motifs remains undeveloped: it would have been great to work with the psychology of the central couple’s relationship (she doesn’t know what has changed and is horrified as she gradually uncovers it), to reveal the bizarre world of the island with its terrifying rules, and to metaphorically interweave the whole film with the motif of a burned-out writer’s search for inspiration. Instead, young Cronenberg and his protagonist are stuck in the unjustifiably antagonistic vanity of a bunch of people disconnected from empathy and their own identity. (04.03.2023)

I watched the hard NC-17 version. Infinity Pool is Cronenberg Jr.'s best yet – less depressing this time, but more entertaining and morbidly humorous. If possible, don't give away too much of the plot, although the trailer has already covered a lot of it. The charm is in the surprise. Alexander Skarsgård gives it his all many times over, Mia Goth is once again a force of nature, and some of the audiovisual scenes are pretty memorable (I don't know how trimmed down the R version is). I fully recommend it to fans of sci-fi horror. We may only be in January, but it's already one of the top genre films of the year for me. (26.01.2023)

What happens in La Tolqa stays in La Tolqa. The best Brandon Cronenberg yet, who has only now fully matured as a director and is following in his daddy's footsteps. Cronenberg's signature is very much in evidence, and those who don't like his films probably won't change their minds now either. Infinity Pool, however, is more of a psychedelic thriller than a horror film that relies on the unsettling and uncomfortable. Twisted more by theme and idea than explicit violence – there's less of that here for my taste than I expected based on overseas reviews, but again, other elements balance it out. The central couple are enjoying an all-inclusive stay at a fictional resort, but the idyllic holiday is altered by a sudden fatal accident that changes the lives of everyone involved. Rough local rules with a perverse local subculture, psychological hedonism and original cloning are all interesting elements. The direction and execution are on a high level. Alexander Skarsgard is great and Mia Goth delivers another affected and insane performance – Pearl 2 Evolved. (that girl really amuses and turns me on at the same time), and there is one psychotropic and hallucinogenic sex orgy scene that is a delight and I can understand the NC-17 rating, albeit more for the nudity than the violence. The gore is practically non-existent (apart from one nicely smashed head there's almost nothing), but the unsettling atmosphere where something unpleasant hangs in the air works well, and script-wise it's quite unpredictable and quite properly wild. I definitely had more fun than I'd hoped. The film won't please everyone due to its controversial approach and lack of any significant horror scenes, but that's typical of Cronenberg. It's got depth, great actors, impressive ideas, brilliant direction and perverted nudity, pluse the make-up effects are perfectly creepy, too bad they didn't use them better and more often... All that was really missing was proper gore to complete satisfaction. (14.02.2023)