David Cronenberg is not interested in the normal states of mind and body. He is the only living "classic" of world cinema who prefers not to leave the path he chose, i. e. the subject of mutation, decay, physical and spiritual degradation. Before the 2000s, the author of "The Fly" examined the body; for the last fifteen years, he has examined society. In this sense, "Cosmopolis" is a landmark film for the director, because the relevance of the topic (Yuan, Baht, the collapse of the oligarchy, Occupy-Whatever, the IMF and the U.S. president, who never appears in the film) defines a completely different set of requirements than, say, to the landmark "eXistenZ". In addition, what to do with the difficult "conversational" text of the material of the literary source (DeLillo's novel)?
It was clear that Cronenberg would not play on Sorkin’s pitch and disclose the technology of the crisis of capitalism through the inner workings of Wall Street. The Canadian genius has chosen his traditional instrument – puzzling dialogues, a virtual world, sex in the limo, the unmotivated actions of the protagonist, everything of this kind in abundance during the 104 minutes of "Cosmopolis." However, it’s not on.
Without exception, all Cronenberg's previous works, if not amazed, then at least horrified the audience, such as in his most controversial film "Crash", where the main characters felt sexual pleasure only at the time of an accident. Alas, "Cosmopolis" leaves even the fans unfazed.
The sex, blood and death of theDirector General of the IMF during his visit to North Korea are arranged in a tight, but at the same time completely amorphous visual range, which is complemented by the sad face of the protagonist, a 28-year-old tycoon with the face of the vampire from "Twilight." Since this time, the film is centered on the figure of the protagonist and his limousine, which are constantly in the frame, then one of the versions to explain the reason for the relative failure of "Cosmopolis" is the wrong choice of actor for the lead role. Jude Law of 1999 could cope with this mission far more successfully than Robert Pattinson.
The endless conversations about the crisis reaching their peak one second before the death of the protagonist are constructed, of course, with the inherent virtuosity of Cronenberg, but they give the impression of a side dish to the main dish, which is the inner disintegration of the personality of the young billionaire. The world is going to hell, and the Chief Financial Officer of Eric Pecker promises that right now there will be a new reality. In this reality, there will not be any place for the oligarchs of the past, regardless of whether they are 28 or 75 years old. But the contours of this new reality will remain hazy and blurred, since for Cronenberg, and probably for the heroes of "Cosmopolis," the way from the door of the office to the old barber shop in the limo is just moving from one stage of self-destruction to another one. Nothing happens but this.
Therefore, an evaluation of 6.5 out of 10 given to this film both by the viewers and by the critics who have come together wonderfully in their views on Cronenberg's latest creation is an objective opinion about the merits and flaws of "Cosmopolis." The main character did not guess the dynamics of Yuan and lost his fortune; Cronenberg, with his usual insight, has described the state of half-decay of the modern world, but the viewers expected him to do more. Alena Danilova commented on this: “Having constructed a film of “pictures” and “conversations”, Cronenberg seems to have ignored all the text which formed the image of the DeLillo protagonist, his psyche, motives and thoughts. Perhaps the director hoped that the perfect Pattinson would tell a lot to the audience. But he preferred to thoughtfully keep silent".
