Woke up to a gray, dark day here in Nashville. With this in mind I’ve just said to myself: what better way to spend a few hours during this slightly depressing Saturday than at The Belcourt Theatre watching David Cronenberg’s very David Cronenbergian flick ‘The Brood‘?
While growing up Cronenberg’s pics were always important to me. Each one brought a bit of the flavour that ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ brought when it was released – namely, they were a subversive tonic in that Reagan Era of mindless corporate boosterism. Each Cronenberg film just had something – of course they were Canadian, so that right there gave them a parallel world vibe to the films – they spoke in American English…yet is was always cold there – and people seemed to have other concerns than just acquiring things.
Also, as someone who loves movies and is interested in the process of their production it was great to see, with each film, Cronenberg getting better. On every subsequent film his technique become more refined – he grew in confidence with the placement of the camera and his ability to bring the audience along with him wherever he was going. ‘The Brood’, ‘Scanners‘, ‘Videodrome‘, ‘The Dead Zone‘, ‘The Fly‘, ‘Dead Ringers‘ – it was a treat to grow up while seeing his films become more sophisticated and more adult at the same time.
‘The Brood’ is at the beginning of this cycle – it’s ‘early’ Cronenberg – it still has that slightly oily patina of exploitation cinema covering it, and it’s all the better for it. I don’t want to give any spoilers here, so I won’t – once you’ve seen the film go here to read more about what David Cronenberg was up to:
THE BROOD by David Cronenberg – Part 1 / 1979
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‘The Brood’ is at The Belcourt at noon today and Sunday as part of the theatre’s ‘Shocktober’ season. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
