eXistenZ (1999)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

EXistenZ is the classic 1999 pre millennium era movie. Right after seeing the description and pictures about it I felt so nostalgic, I sort of knew it was going to be at least great. This was my introduction to David Cronenberg, a rather eccentric, weird but also unique writer and director. The movie doesn't have a steady course, it can go from slow to fast at any minute. And you will be confused through the whole duration of it. The sense of a dark, hypnotic and ritualistic atmosphere in things is great. The main factor that made me love it is Isolation and the sense of a small world.Cronenberg's unique looking pods imply that it's more than a game due to the fact that they're made out of flesh and are also living organisms. eXistenZ is an idea, an imperceptible feeling, a dream. An idea of leaving the boring, pointless and trivial world and entering in a world which you can be the master. Characteristically as in real life there are characters which exist just because they exist, they are part of a system, having a specific course into the game and being just pawns of your direction. There is a moment in the movie where Jude Law's character is wondering what's the point of the game if there are no missions, which indicates that he's far from understanding it. But as the "game" progresses he enjoys the thrill more and more. And that's what it is about. The thrill that you are free to do anything you want besides the dangers of reality. You can get lost in it pretty easily though. A very important moment in the movie is when Jennifer's character kills Ian Holm's character saying he was just a game character and Jude Law's character is wondering if it's reality or game. This indicated that you can lose the sense of reality vs game fairly easy, but you don't care about it because you want to feel the game at its full purpose. As we saw, Jennifer's character was highly euphoric everytime she was in the game, and rather bored in reality. It's the idea of living in your own tiny world and the game progresses depending on your character and personality.The movie has a huge sense of metaphoric feelings and messages about life, how we see life, how we want our life to be, how our choices define our characters, how we're searching for meaning in our lives and how we can be lost between a virtual and the real world. One could argue that the virtual world is fake, but what if real life is so pointless that feels fake and the virtual world feels even more real than reality is? I'll leave you wondering with that question..A really crazy trip and an all time favorite movie that is really underrated.

(it may content spoilers) I expected much after saw the ratings and the cast but it turned out that this one essentially marked the end of the scriptwriters era while the post-matrix effects era hasn't yet started. Had at least the latter started it would save the film partially at least luring into it the die-hard sci-fi fans who don't care about any script.The thing is here we have gradually growing expectation for something big to pop up to grab the big picture... only it turns out there is certainly nothing big about it, except for the greasy playing devices looking like baby aliens. Yes, they are big time in the movie, perhaps half of it. The thing is the famous director drove some big actors in the field and focus solely on super close camera view to the characters, remember no real effects, only the good old sleazy creatures form 'The Thing'... This Focus along with much more measured characters is integral part of most of the parodies. But Existenz is not that. Nothing like 'Edward The Scissor Hands' or the Terry Gilliam staff. I tried to view it as that when i kept stopping and starting it time and times again only to discover more and more fine actors like William Defoe and Ian Holm playing small parts superbly realizing they did so only because of the short period of time in that smaller-than-it's-cast-movie. Contrary to their and leader female character's (Lee) ecstatic approach, Jude Law really managed to immerse in the whole story and look realistic. He did that by giving an outstandingly confused meta-hero performance even for his stonecold-blooded standards thanks of course to the real actor's confusion with that script. The Brit actually earned the rate of 2 i gave to that poor movie i couldn't finish after several attempts.

Existenz (1999): Dir: David Cronenberg / Cast: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe, Don McKellar: Stylish thriller with intriguing imagery about a video game where its occupants can plug themselves in via bio-port and enter a fantasy world using a game pod. Full of surprise and shock associated with its director David Cronenberg. Very similar to one of his earlier films, Videodrome, which also dealt with reality and fantasy within technology. Detailed storytelling leaving questions in its conclusion. Jennifer Jason Leigh is excellent as the game creator with a price on her life after a public demonstration concludes with a shootout. Jude Law serves as her protector who goes through the painstaking operation of bio-pod in order to play the game. Willem Dafoe plays Gas the mechanic who can perform bio-pod operations yet he also has a sinister side that is costly. Ian Holm operates on Leigh's pod when it is damaged. He factors in and out leaving viewers guessing as to whether he is friend or foe. Don McKellar plays another strange contact within the game who provides information. In the end it really doesn't matter because the destructive nature of the game seems to rule out. While it doesn't always make sense, it does succeed as superb effects driven entertainment. It is a mind-blowing visual thriller about video games and marketing that is worth plugging into. Score: 8 / 10

The ending left me with goosebumps. I had a strong feeling of déjà vu and felt like the movie had actually stopped to ask me a question directly. It was like an electrical jolt that left me sitting there reflecting on the ideas still floating around in my mind. A nice feeling, exactly what you want from a sci-fi thriller.Much of the movie revolves around the simple question of how do you know if this is reality you're in right now? Maybe you're in a game. You could even be in a game within a game. How can you ever tell for sure? By itself, that question can be a bit dull. A pointless unanswerable question, only asked for the sake of sounding clever. But in the right context, it has a much deeper relevance and can be unsettling.Do violent video games make us violent? Or do we create and play violent video games because we are violent? Or can they be a healthy outlet for us with things we would never do in real life? Can we separate reality and games?In eXistenZ, the characters play games. Games that look and feel extremely real. Jude Law's character is new to them, like us. And naturally, he is a bit uncomfortable at first. It is unnerving how real the game is. I personally find many technologies far too invasive or "user-friendly" (dumbed down so I don't know what's really going on behind the scenes) for my liking. I prefer transparency and control. So I would probably hate a video-game that was too real. I like to see the pixels, I like to be able to pause and get a drink. If something's going to look real, it may as well be real.Anyway, violence occurs in the games of eXistenZ. I guess it may as well. I mean, if you're in a virtual world, why not do all the things you can't do in real life? Explore weird personal sexual and violent fantasies, or just try things out. What does it feel like to kill someone? For me, this is just a bottomless pit that I have no interest in going down. You have to stay connected to reality. You can always imagine things, think about stuff, read books or watch movies. I love video games but as a form of art. A story told with words, music, images and gameplay. Like a movie but interactive which makes them more dream-like, flexible and personal. I want to always be actively thinking and reacting, not in a trance.Back to the story. What happens when you wake up from the game? How do you know if you've really woken up? You might still be in the game, it could be tricking you. You might start doing some daily chores or work and then come out of the game later realising that all that time and energy you had spent was wasted on a virtual world.Or later you might be in the real world but fall into game habits. Eventually you might think you're actually in the game. What if something bad or dangerous happens and you ignore it because you think you're playing? Or you casually do something violent because you think there are no consequences? Or you gradually find you *need* a regular fix of violence and one day you can't login to the game?Allegra (Jennifer Jason Leigh) herself seems somewhat addicted to the game she has created. She compares it to the boredom of real life. She often seems drowsy, like her real body is getting weak from spending too much time playing (lying down) rather than living. It may sound trite but if you find real life boring, it's probably you that is boring.The ending is very interesting and ironic. It's funny to reflect on the way the movie itself is like a virtual reality game. The actors are the players and the writer/director is the game designer. It also raises the issue of protest and censorship. Does censoring something really achieve anything? Can you ban something just because you think it's bad for people? Or is that simply presumptuous destruction, is it hypocritical? If a game's popular, does that make it valuable, something that should be left alone? The issue is alive and well in 2015: GTA5 was recently taken off certain shelves in Australia which provoked a (semi-sarcastic) petition for Target to change its name.eXistenZ has an effective and fairly unique tone. Most of the movie is in close-ups, we can't escape the characters or their situations. We're in their minds the whole time. The music is suitably moody, a bit ambiguous but generally ominous. Like slow, slushy oceans of thoughts and unexplored worlds. Cronenberg once again shows off a strange imagination - there's a cute little dragon thing, gross food, a creepy futuristic organic gun and ports at the base of people's spines (similar to The Matrix). The acting is good, we feel what the characters feel but often have no idea of their motivations. We start suspecting everyone.There are interesting similarities to Inception, The Matrix and even The Wizard of Oz. Inception is much more ambitious and emotionally richer. The Matrix is more of an action film with some simple philosophical ideas that aren't really explored properly (they conveniently never question the reality of the world outside The Matrix). eXistenZ is more claustrophobic. We're stuck in the minds of two characters as they play a strange dream-like game which we don't know the rules or purpose of (like in real life). By the end, I was subtly blown away. It's both simpler and more complex than what I had anticipated.