CRASH (1996) - dir. David Cronenberg
It is a challenge finding family-friendly stills from the 1996 adaptation of the late J. G. Ballard's novel "Crash" that illustrate just exactly what it's about, and that, in and of itself, is the point of this often-shocking and absolutely strange film about how sexy car wrecks can be.
David Cronenberg has directed many cringe-worthy classics, a couple of which surfaced in the 90's, including "Shivers" (1975), "Rabid" (1977), "Scanners" (1981), "Videodrome" (1983), "The Fly" (1986--which has recently been adapted to an opera, directed by Cronenberg himself), "Naked Lunch" (1991), "eXistenz" (1999), "Spider" (2002) and "A History of Violence" (2005), but none gives the heebie-jeebies better than "Crash." It is the gold standard of the Cinema of Discomfort.
James Spader really puts his sexy smarm to good use in this film as James Ballard (the author's own name), a film producer who has a fractured, distant relationship with his wife (played by very 90's actress, Deborah Kara Unger, pictured at left), who lucks into finding out he is really turned on by car crashes and car crash victims after he collides his car with Holly Hunter's character, Dr. Helen Remington. He hooks up with her in the hospital, which eventually leads him to performance artist Vaughan (Elias Koteas), whose car crash fetishism project allows Ballard to plunge even further into his new obsession by initiating him into a group of car crash fetishists, eventually leading him to get next to a lady in a leg brace as a result of an accident, played by Rosanna Arquette. Yes, this is all as disturbing as it sounds.
Meeting Rosanna Arquette and her leg brace is kind of a climax, so to speak, for Ballard, and for Spader as an actor, since he is called upon to, uh, mate with the big ol' gaping wound in the back of her leg, a scene as confusing as anything going on on "Lost" right now.Yes, the going can be rough in "Crash," but for me, the journey is well worth it. It is oddly refreshing to watch a film that features a mature exploration of adult sexuality and resists the urge to condescend to its viewers. Cronenberg is the King of Icky, and he doesn't disappoint here. The Onion agrees with me, by the way.
Please enjoy some NSFW clips of this singular film:
Sorry this one is out of sync.
This clip is kind of a spicy meatball; Please do not open if you still have a job.
Siskel and Ebert got their panties in a bunch over this one! I miss the old 'At The Movies...'
2 comments:
This is one strange movie and I love it. Everytime I watch it (I have it in my collection) I seem to come up with a different interpretation of this Ballard story. I think one of the things that always amazes me is how brave these legitimate actors were in tackling this script. I'll bet there were a lot of actors who viewed this movie as career suicide. I'm just glad that Cronenberg was able to assemble this cast of fearless performers and film this very unusual story.
I totally agree with you. Thanks for stopping by...I hope you check in again soon!
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