Cosmopolis (2012)

Genre

Drama

Director

David Cronenberg

Country

USA

Cast

Robert Pattinson, Sarah Gadon, Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton, Matthieu Amalric, Juliette Binoche, Jay Barucel, Kevin Durand, Philip Nozuka, K'naan, Emily Hampshire, Patricia McKenzie

Storyline

28-year-old billionaire Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) is riding across Manhattan in a limo just to get a haircut. This simple quest, however, develops into an odyssey as the people he meets start to tear his world apart.

Opinion

Although I wasn't very fond of A Dangerous Method (I had to watch it in multiple sittings, and I did that only because of Michael Fassbender), I usually like Cronenberg's films. They are both fascinating and terrifying. And thought-provoking. And hard to sit through. Well, Cosmopolis as well was pretty hard to sit through, the reason being it was dreadfully tedious. Pretty much like A Dangerous Method.

There isn't much of a plot - the poor (so to speak) guy only wanted to get a freaking haircut, he only picked the wrong day. And by the way, who, in a day of protest, would go to a dangerous neighbourhood on the other side of the city only to get a haircut? -, there are just a lot of things happening at random that don't make a lot of sense.

I would have gladly passed over it if the script had more to offer. But unfortunately, that isn't the case. Although the dialogue is interesting, weird, quite complex, makes sense, way more sense of the events taking place, and alone manages to handle plenty of contemporary issues such as solitude, alienation, capitalism, technology, power, sex and many others, the characters are shallow, to say the least. They can't even be called characters since they are just some famous actors appeared out of nowhere to have a deep and meaningful conversation with Robert Pattinson. I would have probably enjoyed more a Robert Pattinson's monologue, also because there wasn't much of a debate between him and the people.

And that brings me to one of the few things I was able to appreciate about Cosmopolis, Robert Pattinson (thank God, I'd add, because he's the reason I decided to watch it in the first place). He carries the role beautifully, delivering each line of dialogue to perfection and some humour as well. Among the other famous people, Sarah Gadon deserves a mention for playing Pattinson's wife Elise. The character is pretty shallow but she gives a solid performance and their sexual tension is up to the roof.

At last, the visuals. The film is simply gorgeous to look at. The dream-like photography is stunning, the limousine setting is very claustrophobic.