eXistenZ
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| eXistenZ | |
|---|---|
 Original film poster for eXistenZ |
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| Directed by | David Cronenberg |
| Produced by | David Cronenberg Andras Hamori Robert Lantos |
| Written by | David Cronenberg |
| Starring | Jennifer Jason Leigh Jude Law Ian Holm Willem Dafoe Don McKellar Callum Keith Rennie Christopher Eccleston Sarah Polley |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky |
| Editing by | Ronald Sanders |
| Distributed by | Alliance Atlantis |
| Release date(s) | February 16, 1999 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Country |  Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | CAD 31,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb • Allmovie | |
eXistenZ is a 1999 psychological thriller/science fiction film by Canadian director David Cronenberg. It stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law.
András Hámori and Róbert Lantos (two producers of the film who are both of Hungarian origin) said in an interview that they intentionally hid a pun in the title: "isten" is the word for "God" in Hungarian. This is why the X and Z are capitalized in the title of eXistenZ, to single out the word "isten".[1]
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[edit] Plot
Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the greatest game designer in the world, is testing her latest virtual reality game, eXistenZ, with a focus group in a large hall. The game is fully immersive; to play, players must plug a 'pod', a bio-organic gaming device, into a 'bio-port' near the bottom of the spine.
As they begin, Geller is attacked by an assassin armed with a bizarre organic gun which is undetectable by security. Fearing other assassins, she flees with marketing trainee Ted Pikul (Jude Law), who is suddenly assigned as her bodyguard. Unfortunately her pod, containing the only copy of the eXistenZ game, is damaged in the assassination attempt. To inspect it, she talks a reluctant Pikul into accepting a bio-port in his own body so he can play the game with her. The results lead the pair on a strange adventure where it becomes impossible to tell whether their actions are their own or the will of the game, and whether they are in the game or the real world.
[edit] Cast
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allegra Geller
- Jude Law as Ted Pikul
- Ian Holm as Kiri Vinokur
- Willem Dafoe as Gas
- Don McKellar as Yevgeny Nourish
- Callum Keith Rennie as Hugo Carlaw
- Christopher Eccleston as the Seminar Leader
- Sarah Polley as Merle
- Robert A. Silverman as D'Arcy Nader
- Oscar Hsu as the Chinese waiter
- Kris Lemche as Noel Dichter
- Vik Sahay as Male Assistant
- Kirsten Johnson as Female Assistant
- James Kirchner as Landry
- Balázs Koós as Male Volunteer
- Stephanie Belding as Female Volunteer
- Gerry Quigley as Trout Farm worker
[edit] Reception
[edit] Awards
[edit] 1999
- won, Silver Bear: David Cronenberg
- Nominated, Golden Bear: David Cronenberg
Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival
- won, Silver Scream: David Cronenberg
[edit] 2000
- won, Best Achievement in Editing: Ronald Sanders
- Nominated, Best Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design: Carol Spier, Elinor Rose Galbraith
- Nominated, Best Motion Picture: David Cronenberg, Robert Lantos, Andras Hamori
- Nominated, Best Sound Editing in a Foreign Feature: David Evans, Wayne Griffin, Mark Gingras, John Laing, Tom Bjelic, Paul Shikata
- Nominated, Best Science Fiction Film
[edit] Novelizations
Christopher Priest wrote the tie-in novel to accompany the movie eXistenZ, the theme of which has much in common with some of Priest's own novels. He uses the pseudonyms John Luther Novak and Colin Wedgelock, usually for his movie novelizations.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Existentialism
- Post-structuralism and Destabilized meaning
- Alternate reality game (ARG)
- Ludology
- Simulated reality
- Lucid dreaming
[edit] External links
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