Infinity Pool (2023)

“Where do you think you’re going, you little baby??!”

Brandon Cronenberg is baaaaack with a psychedelic not-so-sexy psychological thriller and it’s full of rich people doing bad things, men having their egos destroyed and impressively erect nipples! Infinity Pool mocks the artist’s journey and lampoons tourist/resort industries. Alexander Skarsgård’s character James loves the attention he gets in the 1st act, revels in the lawlessness of the 2nd act, but by act 3 he cowers before his consequences. Mia Goth shines as James’ unhinged, very untrustworthy guide through the underworld.

I’m not gonna lie, I love a doppelganger story, and if you like Cronenberg’s previous film Possessor, you’ll probably love this. It’s wicked and dark and very, very funny. I love how the film just skips over trying to explain any of the sci-fi philosophy and dives straight into the debauchery. I love how James fetishizes the urn of his dead clone and how the tourists are in-elegant and crass. The entire fictional resort is a shimmering illusion of tranquillity, built at the expense of an impoverished nation, where the wealthy can wreak havoc as long as they pay enough money to keep the system happy.

With his longtime collaborator Karim Hussain behind the lens, they created some impressive hallucinogenic orgy/horror sequences using a lot of practical, in camera effects. The result is a kaleidoscope of ominous body parts that shocked the crowd at its Sundance premier. Though the theatrical version cut about 90 seconds of sexual content in order to please the MPAA, Cronenberg seemed satisfied with both versions when he talking with Collider, explaining that the R rated version isn’t hugely different. I still hope to see the full version once it’s out of theaters!