Cronenberg Cocktail

One of the most influential and internationally successful Canadian filmmakers, David Cronenberg has helped to revitalize several cinematic genres, examining the queasy contours of violence, sex and technological obsessions in modern (and future) societies. Whether working in horror (Rabid, Shivers), Science Fiction (The Fly, Videodrome) or in literary adaptations (Naked Lunch, M. Butterfly), the Toronto-based director has created films that continue to provoke, disturb and entertain audiences all over the world. In this survey a range of Cronenberg's films will be presented, from his early experimental features Crimes Of The Future and Stereo to his latest, perhaps most successful (if deeply troubling) release A History of Violence. The series has been selected by the Gallery’s Film Curator Ron Foley Macdonald, who will deliver an illustrated lecture on David Cronenberg, titled Those Queasy Contours, at the Gallery on 26 October at 8:00 pm.

27 September: Stereo and Crimes Of The Future

Cronenberg, Canada 1969/1970, 60 minutes each. Cronenberg made these two cool, measured 35mm films not long after he helped found Toronto's Film Co-op in 1967. Using minimal dialogue and severe architectural settings, the films explore an alienation at odds with the exuberant counterculture of the times: calculating, unsettling and unforgettable.

4 October:  Shivers

Cronenberg, Canada, 1975, 87 minutes. Cronenberg’s deft use of the grotesque in his first commercial feature film revitalized the horror genre. Shocking, suggestive and funny, Shivers established Cronenberg as a Northern rival to American directors such as George Romero (The Night Of The Living Dead) and Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

25 October:  Videodrome

Cronenberg, 1983, Canada, 90 minutes. Videodrome features Cronenberg's first use of a major American star, the hyperkinetic James Woods. Examining electronic media in a visceral Machluhan-esque nightmare, this Sci-Fi film involves mind-control and transformation through TV. Nor for the faint of heart!

26 October at 8:00 pm: Those Queasy Contours — Illustrated lecture on Cronenberg by Ron Foley Macdonald.

1 November: The Fly

Cronenberg, Canada, 1987, 100 minutes. A stunning remake of a minor 1958 Vincent Price horror cheapie, Cronenberg's version of The Fly stars Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis in an AIDs-influenced story about the human body run amok. Bloody, and yet strangely compassionate, The Fly remains one of Cronenberg's most disturbing films.

8 November:  Dead Ringers

Cronenberg, 1988, Canada/UK, 115 minutes. Based on a bizarre true story, Dead Ringers sports an astonishing dual performance by Jeremy Irons as twin gynecologists who share each other's lives and loves. Abandoning the physical excesses of earlier films, Cronenberg uses the power of suggestion to build up a full head of dread and terror.

15 November:  Naked Lunch

Cronenberg, 1991, Canada/UK, 115 minutes. Cronenberg’s screen translation of William Burroughs’ (supposedly unfilmable) beat-era novel is an unexpected masterpiece. An extraordinary cast (Ian Holm, Peter Weller, and Judy Davis) blends bizarre sex, sci-fi excesses and the abuse of controlled substances into an imaginative, original whole – more Cronenberg than Burroughs.

22 November: eXistenZ

Cronenberg, 1999, Canada/UK, 97 minutes. In this daring and visionary film, video gaming enters the human body directly through a portal plug at the base of the spine. With a cast that includes Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Willem Dafoe, the film bridges the gap between remote science fiction fantasy worlds and everyday popular culture.

13 December: A History Of Violence

Cronenberg, 2005, USA, 100 minutes. Both acclaimed and vilified when first released, this trenchant adaptation of Vince Locke's graphic novel is now considered to be Cronenberg’s most impressive (and commercially successful) film. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris and William Hurt, the film examines the nature of violence and how it permeates contemporary North American domesticity.