What’s it about?
A failed writer and his wife are holidaying in a luxury compound in a poor but beautiful foreign country. When they leave the security of the compound on a day trip with another couple, they are exposed to bizarre local customs.
What did we think?
Writing a synopsis of Infinity Pool is a challenging task – the hook of the film is such a shift in mood and genre that a spoiler-free summary is pointless, while on the other hand the plot of the film is only a small part of the rich, fucked-up tapestry that this movie creates.
You want a Super Quick Review? It’s a black comedy sci-fi kaleidoscopic fuckfest of a psychological horror movie, and it’s one of the best times I’ve had in the cinema in ages.
The film opens in White Lotus mode, with bored wealthy people bumming about in a fictional tourist destination where they are kept strictly separated from the local populace. The plot kicks into gear when we find out precisely why that is, becoming a completely different animal of a film. There’s literary comparisons to be made in both the sci-fi and psychological thriller aspects of the film, but doing so would give away a little too much, and so much of the film’s enjoyment comes from not having a clue what the fuck is going to happen next.
This is the least accessible film I’ve seen all year, while also being Brandon Cronenberg’s most accessible film – It’s gorgeously shot in an incredibly creative and experimental way that’s akin to being at a rave one minute, watching a sunset the next, and then being thrown into a house of horrors that’s also somehow a rollercoaster. Alexander Skarsgård turns in an incredible performance in the lead role, but has the great misfortune of sharing the screen with Mia Goth, who cements her place as an absolutely phenomenal talent, with a completely dominating presence whenever she’s on-screen (and sometimes when she’s not).
It’s pretty important to note that this isn’t a film for the faint of heart, when the classification refers to explicit violence and sexuality, they mean EXPLICIT. This never comes across as exploitative, but is instead used like stark punctuation to provoke the strongest possible response from the viewer, and if my audience’s reactions were anything to go by then they succeeded admirably.
It’s absolutely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a phenomenal bit of work and I had an absolute hoot.
