It feels good to be in the hands of a master filmmaker, someone who includes nothing in his film except what interests him and what relates to his themes, and who has no impulse to pander to audiences or boards of studio executives. It must be far from easy, but at 82 years of age, David Cronenberg still manages make films that no one else would or could, fusing philosophy and technology to create disquieting but fascinating scenarios about highly potent existential issues. In this case, the subject is coming to terms with death and mourning. Karsh Relikh (Vincent Cassel) is a wealthy tech entrepreneur who has developed a means for customers to view their loved ones’ remains as they decay in their graves. It’s outrageously morbid, even sickening to many, but it’s a business that takes off, and Karsh finds it personally comforting as he regularly studies his late wife’s corpse remotely. As always, Cronenberg pinpoints – as only he can – a fine midpoint between behavior that is equal parts disturbing and poignant. Many of his films are tragic, but in The Shrouds, possibly because it’s so autobiographical - (to the extent that star Cassel even quite resembles Cronenberg) – he allows his hero to move on from his neurosis, though probably not permanently.
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