CronosJust as every clock winds down, so does every man's life; but if it could be wound back...could a man live forever? Cronos is the story of an elderly antiquarian named Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi), who discovers an bizarre, scarab-like mechanism concealed within the decrepit statue of an archangel. Jesús accidentally triggers the object--described by the narrator as an invention over four hundred years old, called the "Cronos Device"--and it stabs him with its pincers. But the device also has the side effect of granting him youth, but with a cost...a craving for human blood.
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Cronos is a vampire story, but it is a somewhat unorthodox one, in that Jesús is a fairly amiable and kind old man, and his vampirism is more akin to an addiction than a deviancy. Jesús is a man ensnared by the past; he runs an antique shop filled with wares from long ago, and he drives a classic Peugeot car, when the rest of the city is clustered with cheap Volkswagens. Jesús' wife, Mercedes (Margarita Isabel), is clearly younger than him, and even though it is not spoken, there is the sense that Jesús longs to be younger to enjoy more time with her and his granddaughter, Aurora (Tamara Shanath). Even if Jesús doesn't understand what the Cronos Device is doing to him in full, after his first exposure to it, he both craves its influence and behaves as though he were younger as a result of it, evidenced in ways such as shaving off his mustache. The drug-like euphoria Jesús experiences from the device is presented in such a way that Jesús looks like he is in the thrall of a high when Aurora catches him using it. Her reaction is to attempt to hide the device, distinctly aware that it is doing something to change who her grandfather is into something he is not. In contrast to Jesús' burgeoning immortality, the antagonist of Cronos and long-time seeker of the Cronos Device is a man known as "De la Guardia" (Claudio Brook), someone who has been living as an invalid in a sterile room in his company's illicit headquarters. He subsides on a diet of pills and his barren abode that resembles a meat locker is adorned with plastic-sealed statues of false archangels. De la Guardia's sanctum is depicted in a deliberately cold way, as though it were preserving the crime boss, who is perpetually cloaked in a black robe, making him look like a Sith lord from Star Wars. His begrudging enforcer is his angry nephew, Angel (Ron Perlman), who tries to claim the Cronos Device for De la Guardia, who in turn covets it as a way to prolong his life, as unpleasant as it seems.
When De la Guardia meets with Jesús--following Angel's destruction of his antique shop in search of the Cronos Device--De la Guardia speaks of what powers the device: an ancient insect which feeds on blood and bestows its gift through its transformative venom. De la Guardia opines that it is likely that insects are, in fact, God's favored creatures, and likens their characteristics to the ones exhibited by Jesus Christ...walking on water and resurrection. Cronos draws more parallels between the promise of eternal life from Jesus Christ and the form of immortality uncovered by Jesús. Cronos begins around Christmas, and the persistent sense of time slipping away is felt in other ways, such as the new year's party. Even Jesús' full name--Jesús Gris--sounds very much like Jesus Christ, and Angel is essentially a "messenger" of sorts for his uncle. When Jesús is resurrected following a violent altercation with Angel, his body is covered in fake skin by a sleazy undertaker, and even later, his own skin flakes away like that of a snake, or as if emerging from a cocoon. But for all the religious metaphor, the Cronos Device itself and its construction is described as an act of heresy. The alchemist who created it is described in the prologue as being an exile on the run from the Inquisition, and his engineering of the device has the appearance of some ancient ritual. The device itself is preternaturally free from rust or apparent age, as if its very existence were a blasphemy to the natural order of time and life. The tropes of vampire myths emerge and are in turn redefined by Cronos. The alchemist is shown to have been slain by a pane of sharp glass piercing his heart like a stake, and his residence was an abattoir full of murder and other vile acts. Following Jesús' resurrection, he looks like a reanimated corpse, and dons a crimson blanket like a cape to keep warm. When he hides out in the rooftop shed of his former apartment, the sunlight which filters through the myriad holes in the ceiling burn him like fire. And when Jesús catches the sight of blood, his ravenous hunger propels him toward it, a sustenance and an urge that threatens to turn the kindly old man into a literal monster. Cronos was the first full-length film by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, and the hallmarks of his style of vivid and yet relatable horror are planted here. As in his later films, like Crimson Peak, his protagonist, Jesús, is a decent person who is forced to confront and accept the challenges of the supernatural which threaten to consume him, a kind of worldliness of a world beyond the understanding of our own which must be dealt with and understood, but with the caution and carefulness one must exercise when approaching a deadly beast or some primal force.
Recommended for: Fans of a somewhat-unorthodox but thrilling vampire movie, a story about the anxieties of age and death versus the high cost that comes with tampering with this ostensibly immutable law. It is a touching horror movie filled with Christian allegory and striking visuals, with a melancholy musical score to match.
When De la Guardia meets with Jesús--following Angel's destruction of his antique shop in search of the Cronos Device--De la Guardia speaks of what powers the device: an ancient insect which feeds on blood and bestows its gift through its transformative venom. De la Guardia opines that it is likely that insects are, in fact, God's favored creatures, and likens their characteristics to the ones exhibited by Jesus Christ...walking on water and resurrection. Cronos draws more parallels between the promise of eternal life from Jesus Christ and the form of immortality uncovered by Jesús. Cronos begins around Christmas, and the persistent sense of time slipping away is felt in other ways, such as the new year's party. Even Jesús' full name--Jesús Gris--sounds very much like Jesus Christ, and Angel is essentially a "messenger" of sorts for his uncle. When Jesús is resurrected following a violent altercation with Angel, his body is covered in fake skin by a sleazy undertaker, and even later, his own skin flakes away like that of a snake, or as if emerging from a cocoon. But for all the religious metaphor, the Cronos Device itself and its construction is described as an act of heresy. The alchemist who created it is described in the prologue as being an exile on the run from the Inquisition, and his engineering of the device has the appearance of some ancient ritual. The device itself is preternaturally free from rust or apparent age, as if its very existence were a blasphemy to the natural order of time and life. The tropes of vampire myths emerge and are in turn redefined by Cronos. The alchemist is shown to have been slain by a pane of sharp glass piercing his heart like a stake, and his residence was an abattoir full of murder and other vile acts. Following Jesús' resurrection, he looks like a reanimated corpse, and dons a crimson blanket like a cape to keep warm. When he hides out in the rooftop shed of his former apartment, the sunlight which filters through the myriad holes in the ceiling burn him like fire. And when Jesús catches the sight of blood, his ravenous hunger propels him toward it, a sustenance and an urge that threatens to turn the kindly old man into a literal monster. Cronos was the first full-length film by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, and the hallmarks of his style of vivid and yet relatable horror are planted here. As in his later films, like Crimson Peak, his protagonist, Jesús, is a decent person who is forced to confront and accept the challenges of the supernatural which threaten to consume him, a kind of worldliness of a world beyond the understanding of our own which must be dealt with and understood, but with the caution and carefulness one must exercise when approaching a deadly beast or some primal force.
Recommended for: Fans of a somewhat-unorthodox but thrilling vampire movie, a story about the anxieties of age and death versus the high cost that comes with tampering with this ostensibly immutable law. It is a touching horror movie filled with Christian allegory and striking visuals, with a melancholy musical score to match.