Film Review: Possessor

Possessor is a sci-fi horror-thriller from writer/director, Brandon Cronenberg, marking his second feature after his 2012 debut, Antiviral. The film follows Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough), who works for a secretive organization as an assassin. However, it doesn’t work the way you might think. They use technology that allows her to mentally inhabit other people, that she uses as a cover to pull off the kills. Despite a psyche that is clearly overwhelmed and scarred by her experiences, she accepts a new job that requires her to to inhabit the body of Colin (Christopher Abbott), the underachieving soon-to-be-son-in-law of a tech giant, John (Sean Bean).

It doesn’t take long to see just how Brandon Cronenberg picks up from his father David Cronenberg. The film has been notable for its extreme gore ever since it premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Not only is the film absolutely brutal and unflinching in its depictions of violence and gross hallucinatory visions, there’s a coldness and excessiveness that is sure to scare away anyone remotely squeamish. Even someone as jaded and often delighted by outrageous acts of on-screen violence as me was caught off-guard at a couple points in this, especially as it got into its final act.

The opening scene makes things perfectly clear as to what kind of film you’re going to be in for. We see a woman inserting something into her head, and later acting normally before she stabs a man to death. She is soon shot by the police, and Tasya wakes up in a dark room as a machine is removed from over her head. The bigger picture of these operations are kept mostly vague as does most of the world in the film itself, but the details within these smaller moments like Tasya’s interactions with her boss, Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh), where she performs tests to make sure she is cognitively solid.

There’s a lot to love about the film. From its stylish imagery and soundscape, courtesy of cinematographer Karim Hussain, composer Jim Williams, and production designer Rupert Lazarus, to the audacious and imaginative bursts of body horror, to the performances, which are top notch across the board. Riseborough has always been a terrific chameleon of a performer, and her turn here is no exception. However, as significant and great as she is, Abbot, due to the nature of the film’s story beautifully delivers on all the weird and emotionally complex ideas that the film puts his character through as he battles for control of his mind. The supporting players are as reliable as you’d expect. Jennifer Jason Leigh has an icy presence, Sean Bean plays John as a real mean guy, which is fun to watch, and Tuppence Middleton also makes the most out of the little we see of her as Colin’s girlfriend, Ava.

If there are some things that don’t totally work, it’s mostly in how Cronenberg doesn’t necessarily dive as deep into some of the themes it touches on. It’s portrait of a corporate dystopia is painted with fairly broad strokes. We get one scene of Tasya as Colin going to work in John’s data-mining facility where he watches footage connected to people’s computers, sometimes catching them in their most intimate moments, just to record products that they are using. These ideas fall to the wayside as the film deals more in the theme of autonomy and identity, and how fickle and insignificant it can be when you factor in interests of those with power and resources beyond your imagining, and that is what stuck with me the most.

I thoroughly enjoyed Possessor, and I would easily place it among my favorite films of 2020 so far. It’s a gnarly and relentlessly brutal assault on the senses, filled with nightmarish imagery and concepts that are brought to screen with plenty of style and atmosphere to spare. The performances are strong, bringing a human touch to a film that’s largely detached on an emotional level. Watching the plot unravel, even in moments where things aren’t immediately clear, was effortlessly riveting. And while I don’t think it really adds up to all that much besides showcasing the consequences of being a workaholic, it’s a ride that had me engrossed from start to finish. Brandon Cronenberg takes the influence of his father, and crafts a voice that feels distinct to him, and it’s one I would definitely like to see grow and evolve, especially if they result in work that is as creative and uncompromising as this.

Possessor is now out in select theaters and drive-ins.