Today, David Cronenberg is 72 years old. He is one of the great modern filmmakers. And I say that despite the fact that his obsessions are not mine. I do not share his interest in biology and generally the gooey nature of life. But given that — when he is at his best — he is a horror director, the fact that his take on reality disturbs me doubtless helps.
I pretty much turned off to Cronenberg after A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. They are still excellent films, but they seemed to indicate to me that he was going in a more traditional direction. But I will have to check out the new stuff. The one thing about Cronenberg is that he is always worth checking out. I don’t know of a film he made that wasn’t a worthy attempt.
The film that I most associate with Cronenberg is eXistenZ — his effort at virtual reality. Many people have claimed that the film would have been a hit if only The Matrix hadn’t come out that same year. I think that’s a stretch. eXistenZ is — as usual — a mind bending film with a subplot about amphibian farming and absolutely no action. The Matrix was a modernized kung fu film. But if you haven’t seen eXistenZ, you should. But you won’t. I’ve been hocking this film for 15 years and basically no one is willing to see it.
The film that Cronenberg will probably be remembered for is Videodrome. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, so I just ordered it again. What I think people miss about it is that it is a horror film. Roger Ebert wrote, “The characters are bitter and hateful, the images are nauseating, and the ending is bleak enough that when the screen fades to black it’s a relief.” I don’t see how any of that is a problem. I would add that that its concepts are deep, its images stunning, and its story utterly fascinating. (Ebert had a tendency to make snap judgments and then hold onto them forever; he wasn’t the kind to write, “I revisited Blue Velvet and I realized that I’d been wrong!”)
Do I need to warn you about this clip?
But Cronenberg is much more than these movies. I haven’t seen his early films. But just to name a few other great films: Crash, Dead Ringers, and Naked Lunch. (Who would ever have thought a movie could have been made from that novel!) Ultimately, Cronenberg offers something I find irresistible in a filmmaker: an idiosyncratic vision wedded to mastery of cinematic technique. Off hand, the only person I can think of who offers that is Samuel Fuller — and even in his case it might be better to classify him as a great social justice filmmaker like John Sayles. Cronenberg is an original in an industry that usually destroys such impulses.
Happy birthday David Cronenberg!
Afterword
Cronenberg is totally wrong about professional film reviewers. I don’t disagree with him about self-appointed “critics.” But he seems to be under the impression that professional reviewers have any special qualifications other than getting PR packages from the studio. Almost without exception, film reviewers are just reporters who fell into the job. So what do they do? They maybe read a couple of books? They are not critics in the traditional sense of the word — except in their pretense.
On this day in 1794, the cotton gin was born. Well, not born. But that was the day that Eli Whitney got the patent for it. The cotton gin had terrible social consequences for America. It reminds me of a story I once heard about Leonardo da Vinci inventing some labor saving device designed to make life easier on the workers. But all it actually accomplished was to put a bunch of workers out of work. In the long-term, that kind of thing is good for workers — in theory. But in the short-term, it sucked. The direct effect of the cotton gin was to require fewer slaves to separate cotton. But the indirect effect was to greatly increase the need for slaves in other areas of cotton production.
Today, the great cartoonist 
On this day in 1931, Billie Thomas was born. Who?! One word: Buckwheat. He was the best known of the black Our Gang kids — and one of only a handful who anyone could name. He started in the role at the age of three. And he continued in the role to the end of the series in 1944. At this point, the character of Buckwheat has kind of a bad reputation because of its being a racial stereotype. That may well be, but at a time when America and its military were segregated, I think Buckwheat was an overall positive character in the series. And it was a hell of a part, and Thomas was great in it.
On this day in 1702, the first issue of 
On this day in 1629, King Charles I threw one of his many hissy fits and 
On this day in 1934, 
Today, the great theater director 
On this day fifty years ago, the first 
There was to be no one from the Republican Congressional leadership attending the Selma fiftieth anniversary this weekend. But 
But I’m glad so few Republicans are going to the event. I hate to see hypocrisy. Every time I hear some Republicans going on about Lincoln and how terrible slavery was, all I can think is, “You would have been a slavery supporter if you had lived back then.” Conservatism is a relative thing. It isn’t that modern conservatives are just smart and they would have been liberals if they had lived in the 19th century. No. It is an attitude. They are against the powerless. And that’s also true of Bloody Sunday. They would have been the ones saying, “Well, they were ordered to disperse; they got what they deserved.” So they are right to stay away now. The less hypocrisy, the better.
Today, the great songwriter 
Before I get to the regular birthday post, I want to wish my little sister a happy fiftieth birthday today. We are almost as close in age as two siblings can be without being twins. Growing up, most people thought that she was the eldest because I was such a scrawny runt. But now I’m both taller and fatter, so who gets the last laugh, am I right?! So happy birthday Kim!
Today, the boxer