Latest news with #CrimesoftheFuture
See - Sada Elbalad
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Kristen Stewart's Directorial Debut "The Chronology of Water" Receives Warm Reception in Cannes
Yara Sameh Kristen Stewart's long-awaited directorial debut 'The Chronology of Water' premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to a just over four-minute standing ovation on Friday night — and left many in the crowd wiping their eyes. An emotional Stewart embraced her actors with hugs and high-fives as the ovation carried on. She later bounded across the auditorium to give Cannes head Thierry Frémaux a long hug. 'I don't have anything else to say; I left it all on the screen,' Stewart said. 'Just thank you all for being here. Seriously, we finished the movie five minutes ago — it's not even done. We got so lucky, and I'm so grateful to be here.' She then gestured to her star, Imogen Poots, to take the mic, saying, 'Truly, your body is the movie, I'm giving it to you.' An emotional Poots obliged, saying only, 'She's the best director, and I hope you all liked the movie.' Stewart's long-gestating project, adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch's bestselling 2011 memoir, went down well in the room, and Stewart was mobbed by her fans in the Grand Lumiere Theater, making it tough to get out of the venue. Stewart took screenplay co-writing credits with Andy Mingo on the pic, which stars Imogen Poots in the tale of turning trauma into art that's playing in the Un Certain Regard strand. The story follows protagonist Lidia from her earliest childhood memories in the Pacific Northwest, through explosive misfires and mistakes, children that almost-were, toxic relationships, art heroes, wins and losses. Jim Belushi and Thora Birch also star. Stewart told the Cannes Film Festival that the movie is 'about iteration. Getting up and trying again. Repossessing your body, your desires, your ambitions and your dreams. I wanted to create a form that was unruly and, again, hard to pin down.' She also said that the eight-year-in-the-planning project 'is about birth, death and rebirth, and we sort of followed that cycle. I think you can feel it in the result. At the time, it hurt a lot. The biggest wound of my 'creative' life so far. And by far my favorite scar.' Stewart is no stranger to Cannes, having starred in such films here as David Cronenberg's "Crimes of the Future" (2022), Woody Allen's "Cafe Society" (2016) and Olivier Assayas' "Personal Shopper" (2016) and "Clouds of Sils Maria" (2014). She won the Best Supporting Actress César Award for the latter. "The Chronology of Water" is produced by Charles Gillibert (CG Cinema International); Yulia Zayceva, Max Pavlov and Svetlana Punte (Forma Pro Films); Michael Pruss and Rebecca Feuer (Scott Free); and Stewart, Maggie McLean and Dylan Meyer (Nevermind Pictures) and Mingo. WME Independent is handling North American sales. Les Films du Losange has international sales and French distribution. read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War
Metro
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Shocking horror movie that caused walkouts streaming now on iPlayer
Gruesome 2022 sci-fi horror film Crimes of the Future has been added to BBC iPlayer, allowing viewers to dig into its violent delights for the first time. Directed by body horror maestro David Cronenberg, the film is set in a bleak future where human evolution has advanced to the stage where mankind is undergoing a series of bold mutations. It stars Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux as a pair of avant-garde performance artists who showcase their abilities by performing grisly surgeries live on stage – removing his organs for a shocked audience. They soon attract the attention of timid bureaucrat Timlin (Kristen Stewart), who develops a fascination with their work, proclaiming that 'surgery is the new sex.' However, not everyone was quite so enthralled with the film's shocking acts of blood-spurting mutilation – in the real world, horrified audience members reacted by walking out of the screening during its 2022 Cannes Film Festival debut. After airing on BBC2 last night, viewers can now see what all the fuss is about for themselves, with the film also being added to iPlayer where it can be streamed in full. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Since its release, Crimes of the Future has been favourably reviewed by critics, who contributed to its 80% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. own Anna Smith and Louise Griffin described it as 'strangely fascinating but disturbing,' while praising its 'tangible atmosphere and terrific cast.' Meanwhile, Mark Kermode described it as 'a playful step back rather than an evolutionary leap forward,' placing it in the lower echelons of the horror giant's work. Audiences have been even more divided, leading to a split-down-the-middle 50% Popcorn score on the review aggregator. However, those who loved it have been effusive in their praise, with user Jeffrey P calling it: 'Profound and prophetic; perhaps the greatest dystopian pseudo-sexual body-horror film ever made.' Meanwhile, Jeff M described it as 'the single strangest movie I have seen in my entire life.' However, others were less enthused, with Mark B calling it 'slow and repulsive,' adding: 'ugh!' and 'ick.' The film's reaction at Cannes was equally divisive, inspiring both audience walkouts (most of which are said to have occurred within the first five minutes) and a six-minute standing ovation. More Trending Speaking prior to its release, director Cronenberg had predicted a few people might leave the screening, saying: 'There are some very strong scenes. I mean, I'm sure that we will have walkouts within the first five minutes of the movie. I'm sure of that. 'Some people who have seen the film have said that they think the last 20 minutes will be very hard on people, and that there'll be a lot of walkouts. Some guy said that he almost had a panic attack,' the Crash and Videodrome director told Deadline. And I say, 'Well, that would be OK.' But I'm not convinced that that will be a general reaction. I do expect walkouts in Cannes, and that's a very special thing.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: When is Eurovision 2025? Final date, UK entry, latest odds and more MORE: Doctor Who's unexpected best episode yet exposes the show's biggest problem MORE: Doctor Who legend to announce UK's Eurovision points at 2025 competition
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
'Disturbing' horror film that caused mass crowds of people to walk out at first screening is set to air on BBC
A controversial horror film that caused mass crowds to walkout during its first screening will air on BBC on Friday evening. The movie, which stars Twilight's Kristen Stewart and Lord of the Rings' Viggo Mortensen, will be shown on BBC2, although it's not for the faint-hearted. Dozens of viewers couldn't handle Crimes of the Future and had to leave the Cannes Film Festival screening. But the 2022 David Cronenberg hit - which has been described as 'skin-crawling - also received a seven minute round of applause, as well as an 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film includes a gory child autopsy scene, shots of bloody intestines and characters who orgasm by licking each other's open wounds The synopsis reads: 'As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. 'With his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. 'Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed... 'Their mission -- to use Saul's notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.' Cronenberg told Variety previously about the walkout uproar: 'It doesn't make me sad. 'I mean, the worst thing is if your movie is boring and I've been some screenings in Cannes where nobody walked out, but nobody cared about the movie either. 'And that would be very depressing.' Crimes Of The Future marks Canadian auteur David's long-awaited return to body horror, and he shot the entire film in Greece. The story is set in the 'not-too-distant future' where humankind is learning to adapt to their 'synthetic surroundings.' The evolution moves humans behind their 'natural state' and into a new metamorphosis that alters their biological makeup, known as Accelerated Evolution Syndrome. While some have embraced what is known as 'trans-humanism' and its limitless potential, others have tried to police it. The story centres on Saul Tenser, a performance artist who has embraced Accelerated Evolution Syndrome and has sprouted new limbs on his body. Tenser and his partner Caprice have used the removal of these organs to thrill their audiences, though they're forced to re-consider their most shocking performance to date when the government and an emerging sub-culture taking notice. The movie left critics divided following the screening. Director David warned in a previous interview: 'There are some very strong scenes. I mean, I'm sure that we will have walkouts within the first five minutes of the movie. I'm sure of that. 'Some people who have seen the film have said that they think the last 20 minutes will be very hard on people, and that there'll be a lot of walkouts. Some guy said that he almost had a panic attack.' The science-fiction horror airs BBC2 tonight at 11pm. Crimes of the Future - what the critics are saying: The Guardian Rating: Peter Bradshaw writes: 'As he did with 90s hit Crash, the director creates a bizarre new society of sicko sybarites where pain is the ultimate pleasure and 'surgery is the new sex' 'At all events, it's an extraordinary planet that Cronenberg lands us down on, and insists we remove our helmets before we're quite sure we can breathe the air.' The Times Rating: Kevin Maher writes: 'It is immediately one of the great mysteries of cinema that a film featuring mutant ballet dancers, open-air surgery and eroticised wound-licking could be punishingly dull, but the veteran director David Cronenberg has managed it. 'This dystopian parable, one of the most anticipated titles in Cannes, has turned out to be one of the worst films of the festival.' The BBC Rating: Nicholas Barber writes: 'Crimes of The Future returns pleasingly to the obsessions of his earlier films, without reaching the heights of many of them. If only the story had been allowed to do some more mutating of its own before it was put on screen.' The Telegraph Robbie Collin writes: 'Seydoux gives the film's best performance: even wrenching moments are played at a glassy remove. But unlike Cronenberg's Crash, which shook Cannes to the core in 1996, there's no shock of the new in Crimes of the Future – a crucial requirement for every true festival coup de scandale. 'A provocation aimed at those who booked tickets the minute the trailer hit Twitter can't help but feel a little passé.' The Independent
The Sun
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
BBC to air ‘skin-crawling' horror so terrifying it prompted mass walkouts TONIGHT
A DISTURBING science fiction horror drama is coming to the small screen tonight - and it's not one for the faint-hearted. The controversial gore-fest is making its way to BBC2 - despite causing mass walkouts at its first ever screening. 3 3 The 'skin-crawling' body horror saw dozens of viewers walk out of the initial Cannes screening - while it also received a seven minute round of applause. Crimes of the Future is from the brains of filmmaker David Cronenberg and stars Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart. Stewart plays a curious investigator hired by an organ agency as they commodify the act of surgery for a live audience. The 2022 film's synopsis explains: "As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. "With his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. "Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed... "Their mission -- to use Saul's notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution." The dystopian world movie saw audiences and critics walk out mid film - but has still ranked highly according to other gore-loving fans. Yet the polarising horror has scored an impressive 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. Cronenberg told Variety previously about the walkout uproar: 'It doesn't make me sad. BGT fans left horrified by 'most disgusting act ever' and say 'surely that's illegal' 'I mean, the worst thing is if your movie is boring and I've been some screenings in Cannes where nobody walked out, but nobody cared about the movie either. "And that would be very depressing.' Crimes of the Future airs on BBC Two tonight at 11pm. 3
New York Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Forget Grotesque Sights. David Cronenberg Does Grotesque Desires.
In David Cronenberg's newest film, 'The Shrouds,' a widower named Karsh Relikh, played by Vincent Cassell, takes a woman on a blind date to his dead wife's grave. They stop in front of her tombstone — a double plot, with empty space for Karsh to occupy in the future — and pay their respects in a very Cronenbergian way. On a screen on the headstone is a real-time image of his wife's body, decaying in its grave, captured by the high-tech metallic 'shroud' she was buried in; it is also transmitted to a smartphone app that allows Karsh to zoom and rotate the image at will. This technology allows people to remain connected to their loved ones by watching their bodies disintegrate, like a mash-up of the Buddhist corpse meditation and a mindfulness app. 'I can see what's happening to her,' Karsh says, enraptured, as his date squirms in discomfort. 'I'm in the grave with her. I'm involved with her body the way I was in life, only even more.' You know what you are about to be shown: a body in some state of decay. But as the screen traces the desiccated shape of Karsh's wife, Becca, with tender slowness, the effect is still irrationally startling. Death has rendered Becca's elegant features down to an anonymized skull. Even so, there is someone on the screen whom Karsh recognizes and responds to at the deepest emotional level. You feel disgust, of course, but also a secondhand intimacy. What's shocking is not the rotting body but the affection with which it is viewed, a tenderness that allows you to continue looking. You are not encountering death in the abstract, impersonal and horrific: You are seeing it anew, through the devoted gaze of the lover who has been left behind. These days there is nothing so shocking about seeing gruesome things on film. Horror movies are now mainstream, and it's common for at least a few of the biggest releases at any given megaplex to offer some kind of grisly fright. Violence is also more common than ever on the screens of our laptops and phones, where social media catalogs accidents, bombings and dead children with eerie nonchalance. Despite all this, Cronenberg's films remain difficult to digest. They are full of disconcerting bodily transgressions, rooted in aberrant desire. They get under the skin, repulsing even viewers accustomed to the usual Hollywood blood and gore. His last film, 'Crimes of the Future,' from 2022, prompted one dissatisfied reviewer to write that it 'should be renamed crimes against humanity.' Perhaps this is because of the way Cronenberg's movies tend to relish the things that are most terrifying to the audience. Other horror films share the viewer's repugnance, even reinforce it; only Cronenberg asks you to imagine what it would be like to be erotically transfixed by a car crash (as in 'Crash') or by tenderly performing ornamental surgeries on your partner (as in 'Crimes of the Future'). His films invite you into a morality that does not yet exist, hinting at the possibility that the values and norms of your world could be supplanted someday. In a recent interview, he pointed out that we already possess the technical know-how to make something like his fictional death shrouds: 'It's an imagined technology probably nobody really wants, but I'm saying: What if somebody did want it?' Rather than dwelling in the horror of transgression, his interest is in what lies beyond — in transgression's intimate life. Lately it feels as if movies are more Cronenbergian than ever, obsessed with triggering our fear of the body's capacity for gruesome transformation. 'The Substance,' a hit from the French director Coralie Fargeat, served up the story of an aging actress who creates a younger, sexier double of herself to stay on top of her body-obsessed industry — but suffers a rapid and freakish decrepitude when the double decides to go rogue. 'Mickey 17,' a science-fiction romp from the Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho, follows a high-risk worker who is used as an experimental guinea pig, then cloned and tossed ruthlessly down a recycling chute. In each, we see bodies agonizing under the burden of a monstrous social system. But each, arguably, approaches its material from a conventional moral standpoint. Fargeat's story just exaggerates our misogynistic fear of aging into a full-blown spectacle, where viewers squirm at the idea of a monstrously aged and disfigured Demi Moore realizing that her index finger has become the wizened necrotic digit of a crone. What's missing in the film — which Fargeat herself says was influenced by Cronenberg's 'The Fly' — is the invitation to feel differently about the impasses of body image and aging. The story simply performs 'fear fulfillment': the affirmation of dread we already hold inside us about aging, loss and rejection. No matter how bad you think growing old is going to be, 'The Substance' seems to say, it'll actually be worse. 'The Shrouds' is just the most recent in a late-in-life sequence of Cronenberg movies that do the opposite: Instead of terrifying you by showing you something you are already terrified of, these stories reveal squeamish new possibilities. Cronenberg films used to look into the future; 'Videodrome,' from 1983, even coined a phrase, 'Long live the new flesh,' that has lived on as a celebration of biological matter extended and mutated by its entanglement with technology. (Never fear, those stories seemed to say: Once the future has made you into something unrecognizably alien, it won't feel alien anymore. It'll feel like home.) But in this recent work, the 82-year-old Cronenberg seems more interested in looking back at mortality, a problem that no technology has been able to solve. He shows that once-new flesh aging, breaking down, sinking into disability. He also shows its vulnerabilities opening up new avenues for emotional connection. Karsh Relikh finds a sort of renewal in his romance with a blind woman, who places her hands directly on his face to learn about him, inviting him back into a world of touch. In 'Crimes of the Future,' the widespread loss of the sensation of pain leads to a culture of erotic surgery, in which lovers explore and reshape one another's bodies. In contrast with the bodily regimes of Fargeat and Bong — and horror directors like Julia Ducorneau and Cronenberg's own son, Brandon — Cronenberg's is an almost optimistic vision. It's just an extremely unusual one. When we think about aging, we think about the abjection of the flesh, its inevitable disintegration, the rigidity of its path through the world. The most striking thing in 'The Shrouds' is how this vulnerability is refigured as an enticing point of potential. The losses that Karsh's wife suffers in her long battle with a rare cancer — an amputated arm and a mastectomy — are recast as eerie and unnerving, but also startlingly erotic. They make her body more unmistakably her own. The horror comes instead in the form of Karsh's virtual assistant, an A.I. avatar who happens to have Becca's voice and appearance: It begins to lash out, mimicking Becca's disfigurements and gyrating lasciviously. Becca's disintegration emphasizes the parts of her that endure; the avatar, on the other hand, is a parody of that real flesh, an uncanny and malevolent imitation. It is the versions of Becca that won't decay — the digital copy, the nightmares Karsh has of her painful last days — that are monstrous, nothing like the woman he longs for. The real version, the one that lingers on in the shroud, is at peace. Unlike the screen, which mummifies an image, the shroud allows for the passage of time, the ability to change, the heightened meaning that mortality gives to what we do while we still live. 'I lived in Becca's body,' Karsh tells Becca's identical twin sister, as he struggles to explain his grief in living on after her. 'It was the only place I really lived.' Death is sublime and terrifying, life-ending and life-giving. What it's not, as Cronenberg has told us throughout his long and strange career, is the end.
