David Cronenberg - Vik Sklyarov

Name: David Cronenberg  
Year Born: 1943
Country of Origin: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Background (education/upbringing): Graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Literature.
First Feature: Stereo
Most notable Films: The Fly, Crash, They Came From Within, Fast Company,  A History of Violence, Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone.
Genre’s Explored: Horor, Sci- Fi, thriller, drama, psychological
Stylistic Tendencies: Horrific, explicit, weird, grotesque, bodily transformation, tear of flesh, erotic
Typical Content: violence, gore, explicit content
Awards & accolades:
Special Jury Award for Cash  - Cannes Film Festival 1996
Silver Bear Award – 49th Berlin International Film Festival
Inducted to Canada’s Walk of Fame in 1999
Long-term collaborators: Viggo Mortensen, another not so well known actor Robert A. Silverman
His trademarks:
Horror, mutation, body transformation, carnage, psychological, explicit material
Often films in Canada instead of the LA area.
His sister is usually the costume designer for his films.
Was President of Jury at Cannes in 1999
Resource:  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000343/bio



Spider (2002)

Synopsis: Dennis Clegg or “Spider” is a mentally ill man who’s taking residence at a halfway. Always mumbling and writing in his notebook while remembering his past and the death of his mom.

This film is portrayed to the audience in a very slow, character observing type of way. Since it’s very character driven, as the movie proceeds the audience is able to find out more about the character and what he’s experiencing. The style of the film is very closely related to the style of Cronenbergs previous films, though not as wild and crazy like Videodrome or Rabid the film is still  a dark, haunting, psychological drama/thriller with different twists and turns. The performance by Ralph Fieness is superb, playing as a mentally disturbed man who is released from a psycho ward and is allowed to stay at a halfway home where he's watched and taken care of by the landlady. We see that Spider is a schizo, always mumbling to himself and writing hieroglyphic characters into his notebook. In the beginning of  the film we are introduced to the character and throughout the film we get the chance to take a journey through the characters mind and the story he re-creates. At the end of the movie we are in a way still left pondering, and confused trying to realize if what we saw actually happened to the main character or was it all part of his schizophrenic imagination and recreation of his past. The psychodrama of  this film is shown in how Spider loses his senses and figuring out the distinction between his mother, the whore and the land lady has become a blur, with everything colliding and turning into a giant nightmare where it's hard to tell what's reality and what's fantasy. The horror lies in the fact that his father is a cruel and hideous drunk, cheating on his mother and then ending up murdering her in a very gruesome way, without even feeling any shame or regret, we are trapped in this nightmare along with Spider. However, as the story proceeds and we dive into Spider's nightmare and imagination we find out the sad truth, what he played out in his head isn't really how it all happened. Cronenberg first sets the pace, brings us straight into the mind of Spider and all the craziness that follows it and then as everything collapses he brings us out, back to reality and shows us  what really happened as the story ends with a twist The truth is -Spider has a mental disorder, he's a schizo and the only place he belongs at is a mental asylum.

Although the movie doesn't entail carnage, bodily transformations, caranage or anything that explicit or erotic, the film still holds on to Cronenbergs dark, psychological, violent style but a much more lighter not than his previous films.


A History of Violence (2005)

Synopsis: After defending himself and the people in his diner from robbers, Tom becomes the local hero. This causes his past to interfere with his presence in a violent and upsetting way for both him and his family.

The style of this film is very well related to many other action/thriller movies out there. We have our protagonist and the antagonist characters that are out to get him. The only choice the protagonist has is to defend himself and his family from those that are out to kill him. The style in this one is a lot different than the style of Spider and Cronenbergs other films. The story is much simpler, has quicker pacing and more action packed. The only similarity between the two is its also a bit character driven and there’s a mystery to the main character, but just like at the end of Spider,  in this film we also find out the truth about the character, but that isn't really quite full outcome the film was going for, there was definitely more to show, then to tell. A History of Violence leans towards a more mainstream movie, less story, more gun fights and violence. However, the story was still interesting to watch and see what the outcome would be, even though it wasn't as pleasing at I thought it would be. Much of Cronenbergs true filmic style is missing from this film, it's still has it's mysterious characters which entails the main character with a psychological disorder and a dual personality. The main character Tom Stahl ( Viggo Mortensen) is a calm, well mannered family man who owns a diner. One evening two men barge into his diner, threaten and assault his customers intending to rob his and then kill everyone. Tom manages to defend himself and kill the two men, thus making Tom the town hero. This then catches the attention of some people, a group of gangters/maffia/killers from Tom's previous life to collide with his present, the leader of the group refers to Tom Stahl as Joey Cusac. Throughout the movie it's a cat and mouse chase, until Tom finally decides to stand up to these men and prepares himself for the repercussions that follow. The style of the director isn't much revealed in this film, other than the fact that the film has a dark tone, it's violent and the main character has a psychological disorder - it's definitely not the greatest film to show the example of Cronenbergts style whereas  Spider is much more enriched with the directs true style and techniques of film making and story even though the level is much minor from those of his much earlier films.