eXistenZ (1999)

Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Don McKellar, Willem Dafoe, Callum Keith Rennie, Christopher Eccleston, Oscar Hsu, Robert A. Silverman, Sarah Polley. [R]

Peculiar science fiction story of a cutting-edge video game designer (Leigh) who enters her own virtual reality game after someone makes an attempt on her life; she’s joined by her publicist-slash-bodyguard (Law), inexperienced in the world of bio-tech gaming—the user “plugs into” the simulated-world experience by connecting a fleshy umbilical to a surgically-inserted spinal bio-port! Intriguing concepts and imaginative elements of lubricated design and layered realities (who can tell when someone is back in the real world or if they’re still playing the game?), but intermittent disjointed moments recall Cronenberg’s early work, and despite Leigh’s delicately vulnerable performance, it’s hard to relate to the characters, which is precisely the sort of grounding needed to maintain interest in these bizarre nightmare scenarios full of gory violence and vomitous effects. Ardent fans of the writer/director will appreciate that his sensibilities go uncompromised, but the picture is never quite the compelling mindbender it would like to be. One of several movies to get a US release in 1999 that explored alternate realities and illusions (The Matrix, Abre los Ojos, The Thirteenth Floor, etc.); this one certainly rates as the gooiest.

67/100