Review of Possessor
midlandsmovies • February 7, 2021
Possessor (2020) DIr. Brandon Cronenberg
Dad would be proud. Okay, so it is derivative to compare a director to their famous parent but Brandon Cronenberg’s belated follow up to his 2012 debut Antiviral has many of the hallmarks of David Cronenberg’s work. Not only that, it delivers with aplomb.
If Antiviral focused on our obsession with celebrity culture – with an increasingly deranged and sickly Caleb Landry Jones consuming the illnesses of the rich and famous – Possessor is far more concerned with how we present ourselves to others.
Andrea Riseborough plays Tasya Vos, an assassin working for an illicit company which has the technology to place their agents into another’s body. From here they can conduct a hit while framing someone close to the victim, or a known enemy.
Vos is one of the best, as her handler Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh) explains, but early on we see the toll that the work is taking. As if the bodies she inhabits are also taking a little bit of her. Riseborough really shines in these scenes where Vos tries desperately to put on a face of normality. She rehearses life around her child and partner.
Cronenberg does an excellent job with the script, never wholly reliant on shocking set-pieces, although he satisfies the gorehounds with some truly uncomfortable moments. Brandon shows the same skill for satire that his father has. Moments of Possessor feel like a skewer for the very art of acting – not just how we present ourselves in an increasingly technological world but how actors assimilate themselves with a character.
He also knows exactly how much to show us. There are no repetitive segments of Vos jumping from body to body. After the first murder (which sets up the film) Vos only inhabits one more person; Colin Tate, the future son-in-law of a wealthy CEO.
Here the film switches, with Riseborough taking a backseat for a star making turn from Christopher Abbott. Abbot plays the vulnerable Tate with a real sensitivity and is even more impressive when Vos has taken over. Switching between the mannerisms of the two characters, Abbott steals the movie as he struggles with the cold, calculating killing of Vos, and his own remorse at what is happening.
Possessor also looks amazing. Once again working with director of photography Karim Hussain, Cronenberg turns the Canadian cityscapes into bleak, dystopian metropolises. Impressively, there’s also little CGI, with the majority of effects done practically – giving the film a surreal, rough edge.
It’s guilty of style over substance at times. The second half hangs on how attached the viewer is to Abbott’s character, and the finale features a fairly hollow twist, that surprises but feels a little unearned. Like Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade, Possessor relies on you having so much fun with the concept that you will occasionally overlook the flaws.
Matthew Tilt
Twitter @Matthew_Tilt
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