A sharp way for Cronenberg to examine the dead.
David Cronenberg is a brilliant, bizarre, and absorbing filmmaker, who is able to take certain audiences in his own visionary world. And by “certain audiences,” I mean people who appreciate elevated movies of any genre.
“The Shrouds,” his first entry since “Crimes of the Future,” is further proof of his talents, especially since he casts Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger in three roles, Guy Pearce, and Sandrine Holt; and since he tackles on the subject of life and death. Mostly how the living are viewing the dead. And I mean that literally and metaphorically.
Cassel is brilliant as Karsh, a businessman, who runs a restaurant and cemetery, known as “The Shrouds.” And I checked there are places that combine both places together. It’s more like restaurants inside cemeteries.
He’s developed the shrouds, which are tombs that allow people to watch their dead loved ones’ bodies decompose. You can turn on the screens with the “GraveTech” app and all recorded through the Shroud Cam. His Jewish wife Becca (Kruger) is buried here, as she’s Jewish and her religion requires her spirit to struggle to accept her demise before she can ascend into Heaven. At least that’s what Karsh explains to his blind date.
One day, he finds out his shrouds have been vandalized, and those responsible have locked him out of his own program. So, he has his computer programmer brother Maury (Pearce) trying to fix this hacking. And it’s not just the graves he’s concerned about, but he also notices that the bones may be developing something unorthodox. Something that I have no idea about, so please don’t ask me.
Karsh also has an A.I. assistant on his phone named Huney (voiced by Kruger), who is smart and sassy, whether she looks like a CGI human or koala. And these segments are certainly more lively and sometimes funnier than how Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun played avatars of themselves in “Love Me.” But these segments also get a lot more complex than how I’m describing them in my review.
And the third character Kruger also plays here is Karsh’s neurotic sister-in-law Terry, who was once married to Maury and has a conspiracy theory fetus. And Holt plays his blind client Soo-Min Szabo, who wishes to have her Hungarian magnate husband buried at the Shrouds. And both female characters have their moments of passion with the main protagonist.
“The Shrouds” is also labeled a body horror film, so we have flashbacks with Becca slowly deteriorating. I can’t say how for the sake of spoiler alerts, but Cronenberg specializes in the genre, so we should trust his judgement. There are times that lack the ambiance of where the director is going within this genre, but there are aspects we should acknowledge and appreciate. He sees something strange and yet affective in his characters, and a majority of us are able to see his visions through his eyes.
Cassel gives his best performance since “Black Swan” as a man trying to unravel the damages done to his shrouds and what becomes of his marriage before and after his wife’s death. And Kruger is devilishly entertaining in her three roles, because of the twisted things she brings into them, and the animation for her A.I. character is delightful. And all three of them have chemistry with the main actor with eroticism and charms.
I’m currently watching “The Studio,” the new AppleTV+ series with Seth Rogen playing the newly appointed head of a major studio called Continental Studios, which chooses to make big budgeted movies over independent films. I doubt “The Shrouds” is a film that studio would finance, but Sideshow and Janus Films are the independent companies to help bring this film to the public. I have great taste for films on both sides of the equation, and I was interested to see how Cronenberg makes a grave decision with this film. And he makes a good decision to present it.
