Cosmopolis

David Cronenberg is one of my favorite directors, and while Cosmopolis is by no means his best work (Crash, Videodrome and A History of Violence all take that honor), his ability to bring out the best in his actors and the worst in people is in full force yet again. Based on the darkly comic novel of the same name by Don DeLillo, this film is unlike anything you've ever seen, will not be to everyone's taste, and is not - I repeat, NOT - aimed at lead star Robert Pattinson's audience of shrieking tween/teen fangirls. On the contrary, this is a film for older teen and adult eyes only. Cosmopolis mostly takes place in a massive, technologically advanced stretch limo owned by Pattinson's character Eric Packer, a 28-year-old billionaire who lives the good life. The basic premise involves his trip across New York City to get a haircut, but there's much more going on in Cosmopolis' almost two-hour runtime. In between Packer's pleasure seeking, suicidal business deals and philosophical discussions, there are several events that not only impede the course of his limo, but also cost him his life. No spoilers, but like many other wonderful thrillers of late, everything seems normal until the shocking events and plot points come about. While the fact that the film mostly takes place in a limo is intriguing, the film does suffer from a few minor pacing problems - some of the discussions meander quite a bit, and there is sometimes too much left to the viewer's imagination. On the other hand, the latter attribute could also incite much discussion about wealth, longing and moral ambiguity. In general, Cosmopolis is an insightful picture, but most Twilight fans will be bored - and just as well, since the content is quite risque. There are two fairly graphic sex scenes, each featuring Packer with one of his mistresses. The first has no nudity of note, but still quite a bit of detail, including a few thrusts. The second is far more graphic, with full-frontal female nudity, almost full-frontal male nudity, and even brief implication of fetish activity (the woman takes out a taser and brags about it somewhat, but doesn't use it on Packer, even though he really, really wants her to). In another scene, Packer gets a prostate exam by his doctor during a conversation about a business deal. He's fully nude in this scene as well, and although we see him only from the waist up, there's some sexual tension in this scene as well as other snippets of conversation with his wife and a business partner. There are three brief but shocking moments of violence: a diplomat is stabbed in the eye with a knife on live television (some spurts of blood, though this is filmed from a distance); one man unlocks a gun another man is holding with his voice, and the latter man shoots him in the head (not graphic, but very shocking); and a man shoots through his hand (the bullet impact and blood are both shown). Also, a man is approached several times by people who want to kill him. In terms of profanity, there are about five f-bombs and some miscellaneous uses of "t*ts", "n*gger" and "*sshole". In short, Cosmopolis might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's still a good thriller with a career-best performance from Robert Pattinson. However, Twilight fans should look elsewhere.