Slow-burning “Cosmopolis” will isolate audiences

Juan Barquin/Columnist

After “A Dangerous Method” — which could be considered his biggest disappointment of the 2000s  — David Cronenberg is back in the spotlight with “Cosmopolis,” and he’s brought along “Twilight” star Robert Pattinson. This could sound like a recipe for disaster, but Pattison sheds his bland past and clothing to help craft a damn fine drama.

White stretch limos decorate the first view of Manhattan and it takes no time for Cronenberg to push us into one, as we inhabit a world that is strangely isolated yet somehow familiar. Here we find Eric Packer, a tightly-wound billionaire setting off on an odyssey across the city to get a haircut, only to find himself in multiple interactions with off-beat delivering a never-ending barrage of dialogue, most of which only serve to give further insight to Packer’s character.

David Cronenberg presents these conversations with plenty of long shots and a strong focus on faces to capture even the smallest change in expression. Many of the scenes utilize silence over sound to emphasize the dialogue, but a precious few are accompanied by a subtle yet evocative score by frequent collaborator Howard Shore, as well as a few tracks by artists Metric and K’naan.

The endless cast of supporting actors features some familiar faces in curious roles. Juliette Binoche plays a hyper-sexualized middle-aged woman who offers a stark contrast to Packer’s prudish wife Sarah Gordon, who only meets with her husband for meals, but never gets to eat — a clever metaphor for their sexual relationship.

Samantha Morton’s chief of theory is one of the most interesting people to enter the limo, especially during one of many amusing and important bits in the film in which Packer has his asymmetrical prostate. Paul Giamatti’s appearance as a former employee adds one of the most impressive supporting performances in “Cosmopolis,” providing some of the film’s most engaging and intense scenes.

Author Don DeLillo’s musings are ever-present throughout the script, as the writer-director does not shy away from the intended social commentary nor the inclusion of his own personal style.

There’s been an awfully relevant bit of chanting from the film’s protesters, what with the sheer amount of demonstrations — on wall street and many parts of the globe — that have come up over the past year.

Much like “Videodrome” and “eXistenZ,” “Cosmopolis” explores the concept of technology overtaking humanity, isolating the human psyche and creating a world entirely separate from the outside world.

The exposure to the larger world only happens in small doses: a riot here, a pie in the face there, with a few gunshots to top it all off. Within the sanctuary of the limo however, which Cronenberg makes out to be endless rather than constricted with his camerawork, we only have Packer’s cold and limited line of sight.

Through Robert Pattinson’s most notable performance yet, we come to understand Packer’s character and his self-destructive nature, if only for a few minutes.

“I could tell you my situation has changed in the course of a day,” he says, and it shows in the way he unravels from a disillusioned, upper-class businessman to a desperate mess of a human being in the final moments of “Cosmopolis.”

The indifferent nature of “Cosmopolis”is sure to turn off many of the people who choose to watch it, be it “Twilight” fans or those with impossible expectations for Cronenberg’s return to form.

However, the film echoes so much of the director’s past that it’s hard not to find yourself entranced by this dark exploration of one man’s spontaneity leading him to ruin.

–juan.barquin@fiusm.com