The Skin You're In: A "Possessor" Review
★★★ 1/2 (3.5/5)
For the past eight months since doomed to life indoors, we’ve all been treated to a myriad of nameless films that simply come and go. You probably know the kind—they take up no mental space whatsoever. Picture rifling through thumbnails in Netflix on a shapeless Saturday afternoon. Maybe you stop when you see a recognizable face. You read the caption then think to yourself, “what have I got to lose?” and you take your swing. More often than not, your response is something along the lines of, “eh, that was pretty good”, then you go about your day while the imprint sort of just dissipates from your memory—which is completely fine. Sometimes movies don’t need to make a profound impact for you to appreciate it in the moment. The inherent problem with this is that it results in a sort of complacency. Lately, these subpar films outnumber the objectively good ones maybe 8 to 1, it seems. And these subpar films usually have one consistent trait: you can feel a substantial lack of effort to make it something that’s actually worth standing out.
Actual live image of someone who was expecting to see a different kind of possession movie.
Brandon Cronenberg’s latest sci-fi horror/thriller Possessor is a film that instinctively knows how to stand out. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival back in January and after a short theatrical run at the beginning of October, started to make its rounds on the rental circuit of streaming platforms. It quickly became a cult hit among genre fans though generally overlooked due to its lack of mainstream marketing and controversial subject matter; the film doesn’t just push envelopes, it dropkicks them. Possessor is a gritty tale of unflinching violence and graphic sexuality, but Cronenberg tells it with stunning visual flair and nuanced execution. For anyone who thinks his name sounds familiar, Brandon is the son of legendary body-horror filmmaker David Cronenberg, who turned Jeff Goldblum into a man-fly in 1986. So with that in mind, understand that Brandon is of a lineage that has a history with pushing the limits in cinema.
Possessor follows Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough), an elite operative who carries out high-profile assassinations for a futurist corporation. By leveraging brain implant technology, these possessors take control of a subject’s bodily functions to commit grisly murder then get away scot-free. While she’s proven to be the best at what she does, the brutal nature of her work has made her increasingly apathetic to the world around her. When she occupies the body of a rival corporation’s low level employee (Christopher Abbott), they both become entangled in a vicious descent that untethers the binding between their existences.
Though Possessor is only his second feature film, Brandon Cronenberg has proven his worth among the most talented indie filmmakers today. His uniquely constructed universe is a bold envisioning that pays careful attention to the details that help establish its near-future aesthetic. Any fans of Black Mirror should be thoroughly pleased with Possessor’s shared ability to feel grounded in reality while absorbing you in its dense sci-fi atmosphere. The film’s pacing is well crafted and builds suspense by embedding graphic brutality at pivotal points of the narrative; the moments between develop its characters in a way that make these tense payoffs feel earned, though never shying away from its responsibilities as a personal story at its core. The unfiltered violence is primarily effective because of its commentary on the ugliness that arises when we abandon our humanity. Possessor posits that the willful ignorance of what makes us people results in a progressive corrosion that has the power to kill the spirit and transform us into something hideous—the foundational basis for all body horror is rooted in this very concept.
A high concept movie like Possessor demands complex performances and from a casting perspective, it’s nearly faultless. Andrea Riseborough delivers a powerful performance as Tasya Vos, the coldhearted contract killer whose rapid disassociation as a result of the zoetrope of personalities she must embody, is driving a spiked wedge into her personal life as a mother and a wife. Her counterpart in Christopher Abbott also does heavy legwork as Colin Tate, the subject of mind control. There’s brooding intensity behind his black eyes, they match the robust physical eruptions that outline his character’s mortal struggle to retain control of his agency. Supported by a strong backing cast that includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Bean, Tuppence Middleton and Rossif Sutherland, Possessor gets maximum mileage from its highly credible cast. Their collective commitment to the story will grip you and drag you into its bleakest depths with no regard or hesitation.
For those who aren’t big fans of graphic violence in movies, it’s easy to hear one thing about Possessor then slap a label on it as run-of-the-mill gore porn. While those with really sensitive stomachs might want to steer clear of this one, the truth is that directors like Eli Roth aren’t making movies on this wavelength. Gore porn (or splatter film) is, by nature, self aware—it has a target audience that expects exaggerated violence to the point where it’s almost comical. In Possessor’s case, you can feel Cronenberg’s intention to craft a film that demands to be taken seriously, that audiences might think about long after the credits have rolled: from the opening sequence, you’re drawn into a world that’s sleek and futuristic, though plausible enough to still feel somewhat reachable. The characters feel layered, never unrealistic so the violence against them isn’t cheapened, rather heightened. As a result, Possessor is provocative while never feeling deliberately offensive. Achieving this delicate balance is no easy feat, as even his dad could probably tell you:
Wipe that smug look off your face, you brilliant jerk.
While it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, this brutal genre showcase finds its stylistic stride from the opening frames and gains locomotive steam as it careens into the heart of psychological darkness. By the time we reach its gruesome conclusion, we find ourselves grappling with concepts that run much deeper than what we saw on its razor bladed surface: identity, reality, control, our relationship to technology, to each other, to ourselves. Possessor at its core is a story about the struggles of being human and the pitfalls that come when we deny our programmed humanity. Some interpretations might suggest a conflicting reading of these ideas as being tied to an embrace of those Freudian instincts and the independence it truly yearns for. No matter your reading, one objective fact is for certain: Brandon Cronenberg’s second feature film is a bold statement that rivals some of his own father’s best work. It’s a solemn reminder on so many levels of why we love science fiction and horror—in times of unprecedented change, it helps us cope with what we can’t control. And ultimately, coming to grips with this finite vulnerability is what being human is all about.