A History of Violence

The work of director David Cronenberg is probably known to a small handful of people. And, if you know me, you know that being the biggest movie geek around, I am one of that handful. The Canadian born director has crafted some very underrated and memorable thrillers like 2002's Spider, 1999's eXistenZ, and the adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone. But mainstream audiences haven't truly caught on to Cronenberg, and A History of Violence is a great reason why. The film has almost a film noirish quality, everything is completely unspoken and the actor's brilliant performances all speak for themselves. Cronenberg sets a very quiet tone for the entire movie, that works so well with the subject matter, every detail in it is so subtle, and herein lies the problem for the average moviegoer. It's so subtle that unless you're a sophisticated coniseur of film then you won't pick up on so many of the wonderful details that make the movie so great. When the film opens Cronenberg utilizes a Orson Welles like shot that he sits on for at least 3 minutes, which may not seem like much, but believe me it's not done often. That opening scene is jaw dropping in it's entirety, and hooked me for the entire movie. Cronenberg then introduces us to the main chracters in a timely fashion, he doesn't dwell too long on introduction knowing that the audience knows what's coming and looks forward to it, but he also doesn't leap straight into it and abandon any hope of an emotional reaction from the audience. Very smart. Viggo Mortensen who I thought was weak at times in Lord of the Rings delivers a terrific, very emotional performance, the chemistry between him and Maria Bello (who is excellent) is amazing. The husband/wife relationship is beautiful and yet graphic, and the audience just gets totally sucked into them. The supporting cast is solid, and the cinematography while quite simple is also very effective and used to Cronenberg's advantage quite well. Some people have been talking about the violence in the aptly named film, but it is based on a graphic novel. And the violence isn't compartively very brutal, but the film is so quiet and reserved that when you do get to violent parts it explodes out and is very shocking. Summing up A History of Violence is not tough at all, in 2005's dreary and laid back lineup of sequels, remakes, and general crap, this masterful piece of cinema is a real treat. Second only to Paul Haggis's Crash this year when judging the absolute best. Which really makes me smile that the two best of the year were made by Canadian filmmakers. But as amazing as Crash was, Cronenberg's direction in History of Violence was so incredible I'd say he did a better directorial job than Haggis in Crash. Although Paul Haggis's script for Crash was near perfection.