#Zeljko Kecojevic

[adamwatchesmovies]

Cosmopolis (2012)

Cosmopolis is a contradiction. It is dreadfully boring. Its 109 minutes feel so much longer than they should because for the longest time, you have no idea where the plot is going, how you’re supposed to feel and/or what anyone is talking about. Nothing seems to happen but little things inside the void get you to perk up and pay attention. You keep thinking "This is where the story will really kick off!" but you're wrong - until you're right - and when it does, only disappointment follows.

Twenty-eight-year-old billionaire Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) is traveling across Manhattan to get a haircut but the trip is slow. Along the way, a day of poor trading destroys a large part of his wealth as anti-capitalist activists demonstrate in the streets.

For most of Cosmopolis, there isn’t much of a plot. Eric rides in his state-of-the-art luxury stretch limousine, talking to various employees and consultants who warn him his fortune is in trouble. He meets with his frigid, equally and independently wealthy wife (Sarah Gadon as Elise Packer), his bodyguard (Zeljko Kecojevic), the various women he is having affairs with and a few strangers who hold a grudge against him because of his wealth. Eric is generally uninterested in what’s happening unless it has to do with sex, his daily medical checkup, upcoming haircut appointment or the Rothko Chapel - which he wants to buy. Writer/director David Cronenberg (who bases the screenplay on the book by Don DeLillo) has something to say about the way the ultra-rich have become disillusioned from reality and how, in the end, they’re no better than anyone else. Did we need someone to remind us of what we already knew?

Eventually, you realize most of the film will be set in the limo and that even if Eric gets to his haircut appointment, it's not going to inject much excitement into this slog. I can almost guarantee that this revelation, combined with the fact that you probably don’t know anything and/or don’t care at all about currency speculation and asset management will mean you'll be bored. The diabolical thing about Cosmopolis is that it keeps teasing that something interesting might happen. There’s a pretty shocking interview, talks about an assassin targetting Packer, two sex scenes and just enough weird behavior from our protagonist to make you think “something world-changing must be around the corner”. I don’t want to discourage you from watching this film completely (though I suppose I am with my final rating), but if you read the film's opening quote and your reaction is either “What?” or “Uh-oh”, then Cosmopolis isn’t for you and if you keep watching, the conclusion is sure to make you angry.

The ratings I’ve seen critics assign Cosmopolis tell me this film has an audience. One thing’s for sure: I’m not it. The film isn’t badly made, it’s just so hard to get involved in its “story” and protagonist that the effort never feels worth it, particularly considering how long the film takes to say so little. (January 14th, 2023)

[scenesandscreens]

Cosmopolis (2012) Director - David Cronenberg, Cinematography - Peter Suschitzky "What is the flaw of human rationality? It pretends not to see the horror and death at the end of the schemes it builds. This is a protest against the future. They won't hold off the future. They want to normalize it, keep it from overwhelming the present. The future is always a wholeness, a sameness, we're all tall and happy there. This is why the future fails. It can never be the cool and happy place we want to make it."

[doomonfilm]

Thoughts : Cosmopolis (2012)

With the recent announcement of Robert Pattinson’s casting as Batman, the internet was (of course) up in flames with the polarizing debate that ensued.  For those only familiar with Pattinson in the Twilight saga, the opposition was strong.  A brave few film fans (like myself), however, started listing films of Pattinson’s that proved his mettle.  I named the ones I was familiar with (Good Time and Damsel), but one film I’d not heard of kept popping up in defense of Pattinson : Cosmopolis.

Eric Packer (Robert Pattison), the billionaire currency speculator and asset manager, decides he needs a haircut.  In order to facilitate this haircut, Packer has to take one of his stretch limousines across town to his favorite barber right in the middle of a Presidential visit to the city... a visit that is increasing traffic and traffic jams.  Under the protection of Torval (Kevin Durand), his Chief of Security, Eric and his limo traverse deeper and deeper into Manhattan.  Along the way, Eric tends to personal matters, including encounters with his new bride Elise (Sarah Gadon), a meeting/affair with his art consultant Didi Fancher (Juliette Binoche), a full physical from Dr. Ingram (Bob Bainborough), and several meetings with members of his staff : Head of Technology and Cyber Security (and startup partner) Shiner (Jay Baruchel), Systems Analyst Michael Chin (Philip Nozuka), Chief of Finance Emily Hampshire (Jane Melman) and Chief of Theory Vija Kinsky (Samantha Morton).  As a celebrity funeral further impedes traffic, an anti-capitalist demonstration begins to form throughout Manhattan, making Eric’s presence in the street more dangerous by the moment.

The lived-in, heavily textured world of David Cronenberg is present in this film, but the thin veneer of the limousine provides an oddly filtered, slightly disconnected experience in it.  Add to this that most every location outside the limousine, be it Elise’s library, the diner, or even the tight sidewalks are almost as claustrophobic as the limousine, and you are given a perfect visual analogy for the separation and ensuing pressure that Eric feels in connection to the world around him and how it moves.  What seemed like parallel annoyances and obstructions to his simple goal become directly relevant, as the Presidential motorcade and heightened political unrest raises the credibility of threats, and the celebrity funeral that impedes his progress turns out to be the funeral for his favorite rapper, Brother Fez (played by K’naan).  The further and further than Eric gets from his comfort zone, the ‘realer’ the world gets, as the barriers of comfort and financial separation are eroded.

Eric and his needs/desires become a microcosm for the needs/desires of the grotesquely rich, and how the trajectory towards satisfying these needs/desires stays forward moving regardless of what’s going on in the world around them, or who is left in the wake of the journey.  Something as trivial as a haircut, especially on someone whose hair is well put together throughout the majority of the film, becomes a steadfast beacon that must be reached, with all business and other desires becoming forced to acquiesce to the gravity of the haircut’s will.  In the search and hopes of bedding his newlywed wife, he continually pushes her further and further away with his own sexual exploits that he rubs in her face.  His circle of confidants is tight, and driven by what benefits him, be it financially, sexually or otherwise, making his journey as twisted as the premise presented.

The tension in this film is so tight that it feels all hell could break loose at any given moment.  The aged, earth-tone finish to the color timing gives the film a quality that makes it hard to pinpoint any particular time or era, with shades of many eras making their presence felt.  The journey from Manhattan to Uptown is unfolded in the background slowly but surely, giving the journey a Dante’s Inferno feeling of going deeper and deeper into the danger.  As mentioned earlier, the claustrophobic nature of this film permeates no matter the location, putting the viewer face to face with Eric’s nature and convictions, making it impossible to set aside.  The soundtrack and score drive home the brooding nature of the film, but give it a life not necessarily present in the other works of Cronenberg (or at least not the works I am familiar with).

Robert Pattison displays a huge sense of entitlement and tone-deaf nature that suits the disconnected nature of a billionaire from the greater populous, using the performance as both a distancing mechanism and a backhanded way to gain sympathy as the story progresses.  Sarah Gadon shows the unconditional love of wanting her husband to succeed, but the heartbreak of knowing she made the mistake of marrying an unfaithful man.  Zeljko Kecojevic gives the feeling that he is not on the up and up despite being on top of his job, making him a shadow antagonist with his tethered presence.  Eric’s staff is made up of people who mirror ideals more so than characters : Juliette Binoche represents temptation and limitation, Jay Baruchel echoes the burden of manifesting dreams, Samantha Morton shows that success is a state of constant worry and planning, while Philip Nozuka represents dealing with issues rather than letting them control you.  Patricia McKenzie plays another distracting temptation, but one that is controlling the situation rather than allowing Eric to fulfill his whims.  Appearances by Paul Giamatti, Mathieu Amairic, Kevin Durand, K’Naan and Bob Bainborough round things out.

For those in belief that Robert Pattison is a one-note actor, not only can a film like Cosmopolis dispel these thoughts, but it also shows that he has the qualities needed to portray a character like Bruce Wayne.  I’m definitely curious about the future of the Batman character in light of DC’s recent history, but I do believe this casting is a step in the right direction.