History Of Violence
-
Sun 13 November 2005 // 15:00
Mon 14 November 2005 // 21:00
Tue 15 November 2005 // 21:00
(David Cronenberg / Canada-USA / 2005 / 95 min / 35mm / cert 18)
(Sun 13th @ 3pm + Mon-Tues 14th-15th @ 9pm / £2)
A return to form for the Canadian auteur who, in this adapation of the cult graphic novel by John Wagner, provides us with a powerful American myth as potent as an old western. Viggo Mortgensen plays Tom Stall, a mild-
mannered diner owner in a small, midwest American town who one night, acting in self-defence, uncovers his capacity for violence and ability
to commit brutal murder. The subsequent effect on his family and the community provides a complex critique on the nature of violence within the framework of American community life, as well as forming a continuation of Cronenberg's own preoccupation with the effect of intangible events on human relationships and psychology. Despite an aparrent mainstream sheen and formulaic plotting, the violence - when it comes - is both visceral and shocking, marking this as very much the work of the man who gave us 'Videodrome'and 'Crash'. Mythic cinema at its finest.
(Sun 13th @ 3pm + Mon-Tues 14th-15th @ 9pm / £2)
A return to form for the Canadian auteur who, in this adapation of the cult graphic novel by John Wagner, provides us with a powerful American myth as potent as an old western. Viggo Mortgensen plays Tom Stall, a mild-
mannered diner owner in a small, midwest American town who one night, acting in self-defence, uncovers his capacity for violence and ability
to commit brutal murder. The subsequent effect on his family and the community provides a complex critique on the nature of violence within the framework of American community life, as well as forming a continuation of Cronenberg's own preoccupation with the effect of intangible events on human relationships and psychology. Despite an aparrent mainstream sheen and formulaic plotting, the violence - when it comes - is both visceral and shocking, marking this as very much the work of the man who gave us 'Videodrome'and 'Crash'. Mythic cinema at its finest.