Possessor is a new film from Brandon Cronenberg, son of David Cronenberg and the apple hasn’t fallen far from the bloody tree. The version I saw was Possessor Uncut… apparently the MPAA rated it NC-17 so it’s been released on streaming without a rating and without any edits.

The film is set in a near future where concepts like privacy are more of a suggestion than not. A shadowy firm contracts agents to take over the conscious mind of civilians in order to carry out assassinations for fun and profit. The main character is one of these assassins and she’s starting to lose her memories and possibly even her ego as she takes on new jobs and new personas.

While I respect the attempt and the desire to make a cerebral and surreal science fiction film, I found the movie more plodding than brainy or dream-like. Basically, I just got bored as it mumbles its way through its plot. A plot and premise that isn’t all that original… surely its been done many times before in anthology/serial tv or novels, maybe less so in film. So whatever profound ideas it had just didn’t come across, to me, as particularly unique or profound. Which wouldn’t have mattered if the film had been better.

So, despite a reasonably good ending, I had to work to finish this film. Just a little too pretentious, a little too try-hard. I think the director has it in him to do something better… and I hope he gets the chance. You can usually not have too much Cronenberg.

Score: 69