Mia Goth has proven herself to be one of the most savage yet scrupulous actors in the business, embodying an array of inimitable characters in recent years that have made us wonder if they’re demented or simply depraved, while marveling at the dynamism she brings to the screen either way. Alexander Skarsgård has come a long way from his portrayal of the sexy vampire that made us all want to be fangbangers on True Blood, taking on roles that continue to embody evil infused with enigmatic nuances and mordant magnetism. In Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool (Neon) these powerhouse acting forces fornicate, fend off and feed off each other’s worst tendencies, ultimately fighting to the death (several deaths, in fact). With these three involved, it’s as extreme and weird as you’d expect.
The filmmaker is of course, the son of David Cronenberg, the king of “body horror,” known for exploring the often unhealthy connection between our psychological and physical dysfunction in classics like The Fly and Crash. Brandon may never live up to his dad’s prolific, dark and daring body of work, but with films like Antiviral (2012) and Possessor (2020), and now Infinity Pool, he seems game to give it a go. He’s forging his own path visually, anyway. His trio of films strive for more than basic blood, sex and shock carnage. There’s some truly trippy eye candy (or hallucinatory eye poison depending on your threshold) to be devoured in his latest, and beyond the leads’ audacious acting abilities, the arty sequences are the best parts of a movie that’s seemingly intent on being loathsome– meaning most will either love it or hate it.
Skarsgård plays James Foster, a failed author on vacation with his heiress wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) at a beautiful if somewhat creepy resort in Li Tolqa, a fictional far away land (filmed in Croatia). Just outside the confines of the bounteous buffets and blue ocean views, the region’s crime and crooked cops make for…
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