Cosmopolis [DVD]

Eric Packer is the young, brilliant, security paranoid, moneyed owner of Packer Capital who plays the money stock exchanges.

But today Packer wants a haircut, but not just any barber will do. It has to be the one he went to as a boy with his father, and it's across the other side of the city.

The film follows Eric's day as he crosses the city in a limo to get his hair cut. Along the way he picks up employees , conducts meetings , has laisons, attempts to buy the Rothko Chapel and has a medical - all whilst betting heavily on the money exchange. The city is in virtual gridlock due to the president and his entourage also travelling across the city, a burst water main, a funeral and a demonstration, all of which adds to the snarl up. During the course of the day he meets his wife at various places across the city mostly by coincidence, and he attempts to connect with her. Notably his wife manages to get across the city just fine, whilst Erics' attempt seems to fail with one situation arising after another.

As the day goes on, things get worse for Eric Packer, his paranoia about security increases, he becomes broke, his wife tells him they are over, and from then on his day just gets worse. Packer finally gets to the barbers, then he meets the man who wants to kill him.

This film is a verbal, slow burner with some very good cinematography and excellent performances from all the actors. Its notable that a majority of scenes within the film are first time takes in the film, accumulating in the final scene between Packer ( Robert Pattinson) and Benno (Paul Giamatti). An impressive performance from Robert Pattinson, as Packer whose life disintegrates during the course of the day.

The film is quite faithful to Don DeLillos' book. It is heavy on the dialogue, violent, dark, satirical, and sexy. It comes across as a little weird, slightly cerebral, the best parts are in the last 20-30 minutes, and I loved it. It maybe takes two viewing to get most of the dialogue and humour, intended or not. Probably one of the best David Cronenburg films since Crash.

There is plenty to admire in this film, but I couldn't really describe it as an enjoyable experience to watch. Unlike other reviewers I though Pattinson seemed out of his depth - he looks pretty expressionless and his dialogue can be hard to hear at times - but he does suit the sickly palor that seems to be the norm throughout. Other performers make a better fist of their roles, particularly Giamatti.

I guess this is a film where you should probably read the book first. I didn't, but had read other Don Delilo books, so I wasn't expecting the nonsense that is the script. All the major characters spend their time making pseudo-intellectual observations about life, money, love, and the markets, which I quickly tired of. In some cases the conversations seem to be more like two seperate soliloquys with occasional pauses for breath. Samantha Morton's deranged rantings about the past, present, and future of the markets was a particular low, although to be fair the film begins to improve after this and the second half could almost be described as enjoyable as you at least get some plot worth following.

There is some humour in places, and the film looks fantastic throughout - the limo at times could be the control deck of a spaceship, and there is a cold sense of isolation and even claustrophobia - so full marks to Cronenberg in that respect. Even the sex scenes are curiously repulsive, like the characters are enduring rather than enjoying themselves.

But in no way could I actually recommend that anyone give up more than 90 minutes of their evening to watch this, because while the events unfold before you it is hard to feel gripped by them. I expected much more, and I think you probably will too.

The previous reviewer, and Amazon`s own rundown above, will eloquently tell you the plot of this latest film by Cronenburg - surely one of America`s two or three best contemporary directors now - so I will simply give a personal response to what is a unique and impressive piece of work.
The opening shot is perfect: the radiator grill of an implausibly long white stretch limo, its metal bars like bared teeth. We sense we are in for as bumpy a ride as the smoothness of a limo will allow.
I had never seen Robert Pattinson before (really!) so his central performance as financial whizz-kid billionaire Eric was a pleasant surprise, his American accent pretty much faultless, and his assumption of the role of a 28 year-old washed-out capitalist beautifully realised. Cronenburg is no fool, and Pattinson`s `vampiric` past must have weighed in the balance as much as his box office value. He doesn`t disappoint, with his pasty pallor and weary eyes, though his diction is occasionally as blurry as his jaded gaze. In fact, one or two of the actors could have done with articualting their words more clearly. This is no mere pedantry since the movie depends on its precise, word-heavy script, each word there for a reason, so each word must count. Oddly enough, two who do speak, as well as act, with a lucidity that is pitch-perfect, are the brilliant British actress Samantha Morton and French legend Juliette Binoche, who play two `visitors` to his luxurious stretch limo as it inches its ominous way through the troubled streets of a faintly dystopian New York, a car in which Eric is insulated by its cork-lined, bullet-proof walls and windows.
He`s on his way to get a hair-cut at his onetime regular barber`s, a journey which becomes, for Eric and for us, an odyssey fraught with the unpredictable, the challenging, and the very strange.
Sarah Gadon is superb as his unsmiling, chilly wife - their marriage appears to be unconsummated, a situation which drives(!) Eric into the embraces of a string of women. Gadon and Morton in particular cope with the highly stylised, almost Pinteresque dialogue with aplomb.
Paul Giamatti has a scene with Pattinson towards the end of the film in which he plays a bedraggled ex-employee of Eric`s who holds something of a grudge against the would-be wonderboy. It is a mark of Pattinson`s immersion in the role that he holds his own with the superb Giamatti, an actor virtually incapable of a less than fine performance.
It`s a film that is more like the old Cronenburg - of Crash, for example - than his recent efforts. I don`t think it is anywhere close to being the near-flawless movie that A History Of Violence (his masterpiece?) was, but it is without doubt worth two hours of your time. It`s a claustrophobic film, especially at the start, and the director uses the confined spaces of the limo, as well as cafes and bars, to memorable and compelling effect. On the rare occasions we do leave the womb of the limo, he generally keeps his actors in close-ups to emphasize and preserve the sense of confinement.
I emerged into the light glad to see it again and glad to breathe the air.