Infinity Pool (2023)

Infinity Pool is a hedonistic acid trip with allegories to the current media-political landscape.

Written and Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, son of the King of Venereal Horror, David Cronenberg. Most people know David from the 1986 film The Fly. Brandon on the other hand is still best known as living in his father's long shadow. Brandon has a lot to say in the film and sometimes I can't tell if the directorial choices are intentionally backward to sell a message or just because he's a relatively new director. I think on the positive side, that his father gave him the tools to speak.

The film stars Alexander Skarsgard who you might recognize as The Northman, True Blood, or The Legend of Tarzan. I always thought it was interesting that Skarsgard played The Northman and in True Blood, he was also named Northman. Here he plays James Foster, an aspiring writer who would go to many lengths to gain fame and a fanbase.

Mia Goth has been in a lot lately and I loved Pearl last year. If you missed Pearl and X last year then perhaps you saw the remake of Suspiria and the 2016 film A Cure for Wellness. Mia can really show her range but the academy will ignore her until she puts out something during Oscar season which ended in December. She plays many roles in the film all within one character as she is the manifestation of fame. Her character at first is someone Foster lusts after.

Foster lusts after her at first, then slowly starts to understand that fame comes at a cost, then at the end of the film she's removed all the temptation of fame and if I'm not mistaken she is without make-up at all. None of this is really a spoiler as I imagine the subtext of the film will mostly go unnoticed. I'm not sure who Cronenberg was making this film for. It appears he made it for himself and those who expected him to follow in his father's famous footsteps. I get that it's a play on how the world is right now. People kill their former selves to become someone famous. Examples are Howard Stern and Steven Colbert. They were very different people in the 1990s and 2000s than they are today. I believe that was Brandon's message, maybe not those people exactly but the message was the same.

I wouldn't go as far as to say I would recommend the film and some of the directorial choices prevent me from calling it a good film, but it's above average. B-

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