eXistenZWhat is a game? Is it something with an objective to win? Is it an escape into an immersive realm? Is there risk in losing the game? eXistenZ is a story about games; one game in particular, from which the film draws its title. eXistenZ is a virtual reality game taken to the nth degree, where participants are drawn into a world so real, it becomes virtually indistinguishable from reality. Players "port" into the master pod, and experience such rich and intense gaming pleasures that reality pales by comparison. It is a revolution of the mind...but no revolution is ever a bloodless one.
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eXistenZ begins with the story of Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a video game designer debuting her new product--eXistenZ--to a select test group. It is a world in which a person like Allegra has achieved the kind of cult-like status, and her fans worship her with a religious fervor. Stop for a moment to consider that eXistenZ was released in 1999, and that this kind of obsessive fandom was itself far from the status quo; then contrast that with video game auteurs today, people like Ken Levine, Hideo Kojima, or perhaps most of all, Markus Persson, known popularly as "Mojang", who was responsible for introducing the sensation that is "Minecraft" to the world, and the idea of a superstar (even messianic) icon video game developer doesn't seem so far from reality. Even when early on there is an assassination attempt on Allegra, it is later described by an acquaintance of her's, Kiri (Ian Holm), to be a "fatwa", invoking a word often used to describe a religious ruling or punishment for unacceptable behavior, not limited to justified killing--filmmaker David Cronenberg's movies have always managed to be as prescient as they are shocking in their body horror content. Take for instance the equipment which is used to access the games in eXistenZ, such as the controllers--which resemble half-formed fetuses, connected by umbilical cord-like wires. These interfaces resemble something wholly organic, as opposed to the hard, stiff plastic which has generally been associated with a gamepad. Then take a look at modern console controller--equipped with pressure-sensitive touch panels, ergonomic designs, etc.--and the utterly bizarre (even disturbing) mechanisms seem less unlikely...just ahead of their time. eXistenZ is, ultimately, an open-world role-playing game, where players adopt roles which disenfranchise themselves from their "real" lives. Allegra describes the experience as somewhat "schizophrenic"; words like "immersive" become literal here. Cronenberg has often not just blurred, but decimated, the barriers between man and machine--organic and technological--but in eXistenZ, the player is a part of the machine, even literally considering how they interface with the game. The ports through which the characters plug in resemble an orifice, and there is an unmistakable sexual connotation to the experience. Take Allegra's reluctant bodyguard, Ted Pikul (Jude Law), a marketing intern who while tasked with protecting Allegra, does not have a port himself; his experience getting a literal garage job to have one installed--by the suspicious attendant, simply called "Gas" (Willem Dafoe)--equates to a kind of virginal experience, and his apprehension not unlike experiencing "his first time". There is even a sense of an orgiastic trance when the test group plugs in en masse to experience the new game. It's an unsettling thought, more so considering additional features on modern controllers, like "vibration" functionality.
The primary conflict in eXistenZ deals with Allegra on the run from her would-be assassins, who are actively seeking to destroy her greatest creation--the game eXistenZ--perhaps in part due to a corporate power struggle or an ideological crisis...maybe even both. Her pursuit, and the strange, Kafkaesque world she and Ted are a part of reminds me of another dystopian film: Terry Gilliam's Brazil, itself a highly imaginative work of science-fiction, where the world almost resembles our own, but only through the spectacles of paranoia. Written, directed, and produced by Cronenberg, eXistenZ is a brainchild of his--one of many, though--just as eXistenZ is to Allegra, and she showcases a fiercely protective spirit for her "baby". As previously mentioned, eXistenZ debuted in 1999, the same year as The Matrix, another seminal, turn of the millennium story about the blurred lines between reality and a computer-generated one. In both films, there is the pervading sense that one cannot truly define reality, because our means to do so are fabricated and conditioned. For instance, there are moments where Allegra moves through the world as though she were fascinated by the smallest details, as if experiencing them for the first time. This suggests that the "real world" may in fact be just another layer of eXistenZ, and that everyone is already in the game, a thought later explored in films like Inception. An interesting detail that is unlike The Matrix, however, is that eXistenZ is predominantly set in the countryside, or other rural settings. I believe this speaks to the kind of future eXistenZ depicts, either one where the technology is so ubiquitous that even in the boonies, one is in possession of it. Alternately, it could be that there has been a paradigm shift in the role of cities, where the country is the world at large now. This theory stands to reason when it is explained that the reason for the organic appearance of the game consoles and such is due to its merging of mutant amphibian DNA, and that--although places like the "trout farm" are depicted in the context of the game--the locale to cultivate the components is best suited, ironically, among nature. Once Ted and Allegra make their way into eXistenZ, it is sudden, without fanfare or special effects to announce it, a step into a genuine virtual world, one which is still partially distinguishable due to the "staged" quality of it. It is ironic when Allegra criticizes minutiae of game characters--"NPCs" like D'Arcy Nader, played by perennial Cronenberg character actor, Robert A. Silverman--as being not too convincing, or forced narrative plot devices; in this, she sounds not unlike the predominance of video game criticism out there, which somehow manages to seemingly miss the point about the marvels of a virtual world. eXistenZ should, by all accounts, run the inescapable risk of being horribly dated--in light of the rapid advance of not only technology, but specifically video game technology. Surprisingly, even though much of the content seems absurd, it seems less so nowadays, where electronics are actually referred to as "pods" (to an extent), and touch interfaces are the standard...a world where the "Oculus Rift" virtual reality console is poised to finally make virtual reality a...well, reality. I dare not wonder just how on point eXistenZ will prove to be in another seventeen years.
Recommended for: Fans of science fiction, video games, technological thrillers, and conspiracy theories. It is a futuristic film without being alienating, bizarre yet wholly recognizable from an angle. You may never hold your video game controller the same way again.
The primary conflict in eXistenZ deals with Allegra on the run from her would-be assassins, who are actively seeking to destroy her greatest creation--the game eXistenZ--perhaps in part due to a corporate power struggle or an ideological crisis...maybe even both. Her pursuit, and the strange, Kafkaesque world she and Ted are a part of reminds me of another dystopian film: Terry Gilliam's Brazil, itself a highly imaginative work of science-fiction, where the world almost resembles our own, but only through the spectacles of paranoia. Written, directed, and produced by Cronenberg, eXistenZ is a brainchild of his--one of many, though--just as eXistenZ is to Allegra, and she showcases a fiercely protective spirit for her "baby". As previously mentioned, eXistenZ debuted in 1999, the same year as The Matrix, another seminal, turn of the millennium story about the blurred lines between reality and a computer-generated one. In both films, there is the pervading sense that one cannot truly define reality, because our means to do so are fabricated and conditioned. For instance, there are moments where Allegra moves through the world as though she were fascinated by the smallest details, as if experiencing them for the first time. This suggests that the "real world" may in fact be just another layer of eXistenZ, and that everyone is already in the game, a thought later explored in films like Inception. An interesting detail that is unlike The Matrix, however, is that eXistenZ is predominantly set in the countryside, or other rural settings. I believe this speaks to the kind of future eXistenZ depicts, either one where the technology is so ubiquitous that even in the boonies, one is in possession of it. Alternately, it could be that there has been a paradigm shift in the role of cities, where the country is the world at large now. This theory stands to reason when it is explained that the reason for the organic appearance of the game consoles and such is due to its merging of mutant amphibian DNA, and that--although places like the "trout farm" are depicted in the context of the game--the locale to cultivate the components is best suited, ironically, among nature. Once Ted and Allegra make their way into eXistenZ, it is sudden, without fanfare or special effects to announce it, a step into a genuine virtual world, one which is still partially distinguishable due to the "staged" quality of it. It is ironic when Allegra criticizes minutiae of game characters--"NPCs" like D'Arcy Nader, played by perennial Cronenberg character actor, Robert A. Silverman--as being not too convincing, or forced narrative plot devices; in this, she sounds not unlike the predominance of video game criticism out there, which somehow manages to seemingly miss the point about the marvels of a virtual world. eXistenZ should, by all accounts, run the inescapable risk of being horribly dated--in light of the rapid advance of not only technology, but specifically video game technology. Surprisingly, even though much of the content seems absurd, it seems less so nowadays, where electronics are actually referred to as "pods" (to an extent), and touch interfaces are the standard...a world where the "Oculus Rift" virtual reality console is poised to finally make virtual reality a...well, reality. I dare not wonder just how on point eXistenZ will prove to be in another seventeen years.
Recommended for: Fans of science fiction, video games, technological thrillers, and conspiracy theories. It is a futuristic film without being alienating, bizarre yet wholly recognizable from an angle. You may never hold your video game controller the same way again.