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...Spider, portrait a madman desperately trying to grasp why he lost his mind, is free of both directorial muscle--flexing and the intellectual doily--making endemic of directors who think they have something big to say. Working with frequent collaborators such as cinematographer Peter Suschitsky and composer Howard Shore, Cronenberg consistently hits the right notes on everything from the visuals, to the nuanced tone of the performances, to the dark humour, to a raise en scene that is loaded with detail but never cluttered.
A History of Violence opens with a long take that starts on the exterior of an old-time country motel, cicadas buzzing in soft light, and tracks to a convertible just as a guy emerges from a cabin and slides into the passenger seat. It's a nostalgic image suggesting one of the numerous American Dreams the movie alludes to. But Leland and Billy (Stephen McHattie and Greg Bryk) are no Kerouac and Cassady travelling the highway in search of angel-head highs. As the hypnotic travelling shot moves with them toward the motel office gets sinister, especially in the off-hand comment, "The maid was giving me trouble." Moments later, a laconic shocker of a scene displays a bloody destruction of life as casual and banal as the mops and vending machines that the camera lingers on. Leland and Billy are snakes in the grass who put into motion what turns out to be a fable about human identity and the inevitability of violence.
Opening on darkness, Cronenberg crash cuts to light. A golden-haired little girl, terrified by a nightmare about monsters, is being comforted by her handsome, well-intentioned father, who assures her that monsters don't exist. Unfortunately, we've seen Leland and Billy in action back at the motel, so we know better. Moreover, we eventually discover that daddy might be concealing scary facts about himself from little Sarah (Heidi Hayes), teenage son Jack (Ashton Holmes) and wife Edie (Maria Bello).
Daddy is Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), such a model of small-town good-heartedness, generosity and dedication, Frank Capra would have been proud to shake his hand. It's a wonderful life in Millbrook, Indiana, a reverie of America Cronenberg brought to life on Toronto sound stages and the actual town of Millbrook, Ontario. During an interview several weeks after the movie world-premiered in competition at Cannes 2005, and preceding its North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, Cronenberg told me that he decided to retain the real burg's name because...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
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More articles from Take One
Industry: TIFF turns 30., September 01, 2005
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this is a story.(SHORT TAKES), September 01, 2005
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