The full trailer for Crimes of the Future unveils a sensational and disturbing synthetic world that Kristen Stewart must navigate in the hopes of uncovering a shadowy organization. The film marks director David Cronenberg's return to the horror genre for the first time since eXistenZ, his 1999 sci-fi feature about a video game designer and her bodyguard playing a dangerous virtual reality prototype. While best known as a leading figure in cinematic body horror with titles such as Rabid, Videodrome, and The Fly, Cronenberg's works post-eXistenZ skewed drama, no longer addressing the complex themes that his past films dared to illustrate.
Crimes of the Future, on the other hand, goes all-in on the director's preferred subject matter and concerns a human society set sometime in the future that must adapt to a synthetic environment. Viggo Mortensen stars as a performance artist whose body is undergoing a drastic transformation, displaying it publicly in shocking avant-garde shows as seen in the Crimes of the Future teaser trailer released several weeks ago. He and his partner, played by Léa Seydoux, grapple with Kristen Stewart's investigator from the National Organ Registry.
Distributor NEON has shared the full red band trailer for the film ahead of its Cannes Film Festival premiere. It shows numerous new scenes compared to the teaser, such as Mortensen and Seydoux intertwined in bed and Stewart's character confronting Mortensen, stating, "Surgery is the new sex." Several new cast members are also revealed, including Denise Capezza, Lihi Kornowski, and Underworld actor Scott Speedman. Check out the trailer below:
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The footage is indicative of a proper return to form for Cronenberg, who is no stranger to the bizarre. The trailer's imagery is provocative and wholly unique, traits that have historically separated the director's art from nearly any other in cinema. His ability to fuse the base ideas of science-fiction and horror with the abject realities of the human body is evident in Crimes of the Future, as the characters perform gruesome probings on one another in dilapidated buildings and find pleasure in cutting others open. Once again, his recurring motif of organic technology is ever-present, featuring wriggling chairs and human-sized pods which scan and drill into Mortensen's midsection.
Whereas the film's themes are prominent in the trailer, the plot is not, which can ultimately be a good marketing strategy to attract viewers for NEON's wide release in June. The synopsis mentions a "mysterious group," though one can only assume which of the characters in the trailer belong to it (if any), and its purposes are even more unclear. The lack of information generates intrigue, especially because Stewart's character's motivations are simultaneously indeterminate; her tense relationship with Mortensen and Seydoux could lead to a highly unsettling climax that establishes Crimes of the Future as one of Cronenberg's best films.
Source: NEON