I recently watched this film for the second time, having watched it at the cinema when it was released. Since then I have wanted to watch it again, as I remembered being particularly confused by it.
My hope for clarity was realised by my second viewing, at least to the extent that I understand ... Read review
Existenz [DVD] [1999]
Director David Cronenberg'seXistenZis a stew of corporate espionage, virtual reality ... more
gaming, and thriller elements, marinated in Cronenberg's favourite Crock-Pot juices of technology, physiology and sexual metaphor. Jennifer Jason Leigh is game designer Allegra Geller, responsible for the new state-of-the-arteXistenZgame system; along with PR newbie Ted Pikul (Jude Law), they take the beta version of the game for a test drive and are immersed in a dangerous alternate reality. The game isn't quite like PlayStation, though; it's a latexy pod made from the guts of mutant amphibians and plugs via an umbilical cord directly into the user's spinal column (through a BioPort). It powers up through the player's own nervous system and taps into the subconscious; with several players it networks their brains together.Geller and Pikul's adventures in the game reality uncover more espionage and an antigaming, proreality insurrection. The game world makes it increasingly difficult to discern between reality and the game, either through the game's perspective or the human's. More accessible than Crash,eXistenZis a complicated sci-fi opus, often confusing, and with an ending that leaves itself wide open for a sequel. Fans of Cronenberg's work will recognize his recurring themes and will eat this up. Others will find its shallow characterisations and near-incomprehensible plot twists a little tedious. --Jerry Renshaw, Amazon.com
Existenz [DVD] [1999]
Director David Cronenberg'seXistenZis a stew of corporate espionage, virtual reality ... more
gaming, and thriller elements, marinated in Cronenberg's favourite Crock-Pot juices of technology, physiology and sexual metaphor. Jennifer Jason Leigh is game designer Allegra Geller, responsible for the new state-of-the-arteXistenZgame system; along with PR newbie Ted Pikul (Jude Law), they take the beta version of the game for a test drive and are immersed in a dangerous alternate reality. The game isn't quite like PlayStation, though; it's a latexy pod made from the guts of mutant amphibians and plugs via an umbilical cord directly into the user's spinal column (through a BioPort). It powers up through the player's own nervous system and taps into the subconscious; with several players it networks their brains together.Geller and Pikul's adventures in the game reality uncover more espionage and an antigaming, proreality insurrection. The game world makes it increasingly difficult to discern between reality and the game, either through the game's perspective or the human's. More accessible than Crash,eXistenZis a complicated sci-fi opus, often confusing, and with an ending that leaves itself wide open for a sequel. Fans of Cronenberg's work will recognize his recurring themes and will eat this up. Others will find its shallow characterisations and near-incomprehensible plot twists a little tedious. --Jerry Renshaw, Amazon.com
eXistenZ DVD
During the first closed-door demonstration of an amazing new virtual reality game – ... more
called Existenz – the system’s brilliant designer Allegra Geller (Leigh) is violently attacked by a crazed assassin intent on killing her and destroying her creation! Forced to flee into hiding Allegra enlists a young assistant (Law) to help her in testing the damaged system by convincing him to join her inside Existenz! The action then explodes as their world’s real-life dangers begin to merge with the fantasy of the game! If you’re ready to play it’s now your turn to plug into this powerfully entertaining hit!
gaming, and thriller elements, marinated in Cronenberg's favourite Crock-Pot juices of technology, physiology and sexual metaphor. Jennifer Jason Leigh is game designer Allegra Geller, responsible for the new state-of-the-arteXistenZgame system; along with PR newbie Ted Pikul (Jude Law), they take the beta version of the game for a test drive and are immersed in a dangerous alternate reality. The game isn't quite like PlayStation, though; it's a latexy pod made from the guts of mutant amphibians and plugs via an umbilical cord directly into the user's spinal column (through a BioPort). It powers up through the player's own nervous system and taps into the subconscious; with several players it networks their brains together.Geller and Pikul's adventures in the game reality uncover more espionage and an antigaming, proreality insurrection. The game world makes it increasingly difficult to discern between reality and the game, either through the game's perspective or the human's. More accessible than Crash,eXistenZis a complicated sci-fi opus, often confusing, and with an ending that leaves itself wide open for a sequel. Fans of Cronenberg's work will recognize his recurring themes and will eat this up. Others will find its shallow characterisations and near-incomprehensible plot twists a little tedious. --Jerry Renshaw, Amazon.com
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Production Year: 2006 - Science Fiction - Director: James Hawes - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, Penelope Wilton, David Tennant, Billie Piper
A review by DavidBell2000 on eXistenZ - DVD October 22nd, 2001
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Liked it
Characters / Performances
Outstanding
Special Effects
Good
How does it compare to similar films?
Good
Advantages:
Original, Well Directed,
Disadvantages:
Confusing
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I recently watched this film for the second time, having watched it at the cinema when it was released. Since then I have wanted to watch it again, as I remembered being particularly confused by it.
My hope for clarity was realised by my second viewing, at least to the extent that I understand the plot and could identify exactly what was going on most of the time, but it is still undeniably a fairly confusing film.
I would say that this is a good film for sci-fi fans, and action fans, but there are many people for whom this film will not be enjoyable. It is confusing, fairly high-tech, and not for someone wanting to sit down with a film they dont have to think about.
The film begins in a time a few years in advance of us, with Christopher Eccleston introducing the latest game produced by the 'Game Design Goddess' Allegra Geller, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. It 'is not just a new game, but a new games system.' Twelve volunteers are selected from the audience to experience for themselves the new game. However, in this games-orientated world, where gaming is the new religion, there are those that take offense to the amazing realism of this genre of game. To participate in the games, the game players require a bio-port to be fitted, which allows the game to be plugged directly into the spine of the game player. This allows the game to be experienced in a way that is undifferentiatable from real life. One such person has smuggled a 'gristle gun' - a gun made purely of bones and flesh in order to avoid metal detectors - and aims the gun at Allegra Gellar, screaming 'Death to the deamon Allegra Gellar'.
Jude Law plays a young PR Trainee, but ends up with the role of Gellars security gaurd as they desert the scene and go on the run...
The film is packed full of twists and turns, keeping you guessing all the time, and never quite sure what is going on. This feature of the film will undeniably put many people off. There are perhaps too many twists, and even at the end, working out exactly what has gone on is not an easy task. Personally I like this, and I think that the ending is excellent.
The three already mentioned stars, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Christopher Eccleston, are joined by Willem Dafoe and Ian Holm. All the actors (and actresses) do excellent jobs. Their skill is definately required, and the viewer can pick up a lot during the various transitions between games and the real world from their excellent performances. Director David Cronenburg decided against high tech morphing to merge games with real life, but instead simply switches straight to it, and relies on the skill of the actors to portray the transition, which they achieve with great aplom.
The camera work and direction is excellent, and the backdrops and sets are perfect. The more you watch the film, the more you realise the effort that has gone into such things. There are a number of parts of the film that on first viewing do not ring true. For example, during a driving scene, the background does not look completely real. To the more skilled eye, it is clearly done with the good old blue screen technique. On first viewing some audience members may mistake this for just bad camera work and a low budget. However, it was a consious choice by Cronenburg to give this, and a number of other scenes a look that just isn't quite perfect, to make the viewer think. Much effort has gone into the finer detail of this movie, such as ensuring none of the 'game characters' wear complicated colours or shapes on their clothes, as this would be far harder to animate were this actually a computer contained game.
The main futuristic theme of this film, is that 'computers' are no longer made up of purely manufactured 'hardware', but are in fact one hundred percent organic. They are basically living entities. This, along with a couple of shooting scenes, ameks the film quite gruesome and disgusting at times.
Hopefully this opinion has given you an indication of the nature of this film, and an idea of weather it will be your cup of tea. Personally, I enjoyed it very much, and although a little confusing at times, I found it to be original and entertaining, and would recommend it to any avid film watcher.
Mark: 7/10, worth watching.
Additionally, I would recomment that anyone watching this film on DVD watches the David Cronenburg Commentary once they have seen the film. This is a superb insight into his thinking, and demonstrates the amount of effort that he put into the movie.
Advantages: An intriguing plot effectively and intelligently executed; valid and relevant discussion of current ethical issues related to technology; visually striking and with good cast performances. Disadvantages: Will not reward a viewer who is impatient or in need of a very linear narrative; open to charges of repetition of ‘Videodrome’; are the faults a deliberate part of the simulation or just the result of bad filming?
...game system (this is the eXistenZ of the title, with the audience’s attention being deliberately drawn to the distinctive “capital X, capital Zee” properties of the title) at a market testing session, games designer extraordinaire Allegra Gellar is attacked with a bizarre firearm by a fanatical representative of the ‘Realist’ movement, who are fiercely anti-Game (i.e., anti-VR). Gellar is carried from the melee by Pikul, ... ...installed, and hence cannot play eXistenZ (or any other of the modern VR games). A trip to the local Gas Station is thus executed in order to get an unregistered bioport installed in the middle of the night, but unfortunately the proprietor, aware of a reward on the head of both Gellar and her new device, deliberately faulty port. Escaping this further attempted assassination, the pair arrive at the countryside retreat of one of Gellar’s game-development ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Nice ride to the insides of a computer game! Disadvantages: The weird version of existence may "terrorize" some watchers!
Known for his great capacity on the development of crazy cinema works, David Cronenberg is responsible for titles such as “The Fly”, “Videodrome” and many others. This time, from his weird and darkly prolific mind, comes a totally allucinated version of a computed reality.
Allegra Galler is a professional computer game designer, working for a huge company named Antenna Research. Her latest advanced software was named Existenz, probably because it ... ...So it is time to release it, and nothing better to make it sell than a real demonstration of it in front of the public, and so it is done!
However, to play Existenz, a Bioport is required. And you ask me – “What the hell is a Bioport anyway?”. Well, have you ever heard of a hole in the base of your spine? No? Me neither, until I knew this wicked game! Only Antenna is legally authorized to implant a Bioport in every player who wants to be “upgraded” ...
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Advantages: cool and fast Disadvantages: very strange
...starred in a film called eXistenZ with Jennifer Jason Leigh and thankfully its pretty good.
There are a lot of futuristic movies, some good (Matrix) some bad(Gattaca), but until eXistenZ came along they had all been pretty mediocre with the scripts always being risible and the direction laughable. Other than Law and Leigh the cast also boasts Ian Holm and Willem Dafoe who bump up the status of the film and ensure that we wont lose track of the plot ... ...plot is hard enough as, from the outset the plot twists and rollercoasters, almost losing us time and time again. For those not accustomed to fast paced action then the film will only baffle, you need some movie knowledge and a strong stomach as the film is brutal and bloody. The plot, if I can call it that sees Law rescuing the inventor of a new game(Leigh) from an assassin at one of her conventions, she introduces him to her new game and then things ...
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Advantages: Excellent quality sound; inclusion of an interesting and relevant documentary; not one but three audio commentaries. Disadvantages: The print is not anamorphic (!); slight faults in reproduction of black space are occasionally noticeable, especially during credit sequences.
...a corporate rival and take eXistenZ with them. And, as time goes on, they become less and less sure where reality ends and the game begins, and the difference between what is real, and what is virtual…
THE DISC
· Distributor: Alliance Atlantis / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment [AA019DVD].
Alliance Atlantis, who are now better known for sci-fi TV series such as ‘Earth: Final Conflict’ and ‘Andromeda’, were the ... ...however, chronicles her work on eXistenZ and is entirely relevant to this DVD. This is a very engaging documentary, well created and with a good range of footage, including interviews with both Cronenberg and Spier herself. It is presented in 4:3 standard and has a duration of just under 54 minutes.
The US theatrical trailer is presented in 1.85:1 letterbox widescreen approx. As always, this is a welcome disc inclusion and the recent nature of the ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...but we don't understand."
eXistenZ is more of a chase, suspense movie than it is an interior, horror or whatever it is that, Canadian director, Cronenberg does uniquely well. His films are renowned for their ickiness but his trick was to make you feel that the ickiness was the sprit of his real subject that he was holding up a mirror to you and the nastiness and decay you saw was really a part of yourself. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hitcher, Dolores ... ...solving anything. In this regard, eXistenZ fits the bill. Questions of consciousness form the centre of this film. Naturally we're made to ask, If VR is so real, how can we be sure we're not living in VR right now? The issue gets complicated when virtual VR (yes, VR within VR) is introduced. We get a good dose of strangeness along the way, and I think this gives us a certain degree of freshness. For instance, the VR interface units are organic in ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Entertaining. Disadvantages: A Bit Sick.
...I was sitting down with my fiance dave yesterday and he was taking a look through my DVD collection as we are moving into our new house soon and he was trying to tell me that not all my DVD's could be bought. Of course I told him they were all coming and then he pointed out eXistenZ that he thought looked rubbish. I told him to give it a go so we sat down and watched it and I for about the fifth time watching this film loved it again and here is why.
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The Film:
Some point in the future and people gather in a hall eager with excitement and anticipation. They are all there to test the newest and most real game that is not even on the market yet. They will also meet their hero, the world famous game designer Allegra Geller who is there to give them a demonstration of her new game eXistenZ which promises to be an extremely wild...
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![Existenz [DVD] [1999]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78529516.jpg)
