Written and Directed by Brandon Cronenberg
Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott and Tuppence Middleton
Running time 1 hour and 42 minutes

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport

“I think I know you from somewhere.”

Have you ever watched the silent flick, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? If not, no worries - but you really should check it out. In the film, one of the characters emulates the former Dr. Caligari after finding some of the grand doctor’s writings. The character takes on Dr. Caligari’s persona, which is very much in the way that I can describe the moments when I become my father. There is something that grabs a hold of me and I lose all control. My dad’s characteristics emerge and my mannerisms morph. I start speaking loudly (think Jolly Green Giant) to command the attention of those around me, flailing my arms about to articulate my pertinent points, all sense of regard to those around me is shut off and selective hearing is enacted. I am still me, but as him.

When these moments occur, I feel that my true personality, my true self, is outside my body, staring back at me and watching the motions of my father play out. As I watched Brandon Cronenberg’s extremely well crafted sophomore feature Possessor, I could not help but be reminded of this feeling of puppetry. Possessor tells the story of a covert establishment that utilizes brain-implant technology to inhabit a person’s body in order to carry out assassinations.

With the story’s non-specified time setting and eccentric production design, one may think it is a futuristic sci-fi. However, I don’t think it would be a stretch to think the time is all that near. It is no secret that Elon Musk is already looking into ways to mesh our minds with computers. What if you could be someone else? Would you be up for body swaps? The opportunity to walk in another’s person’s skin but still remain you. I find the entire concept bloody frightening. Possessor is not a movie that one should watch if they are looking for a relaxing time at the cinema. It is a wild, weird, often intense and violent experience that, most likely, will not be for everyone.

Andrea Riseborough (Mandy, Birdman) plays Tasya Vos, the agency’s top agent that is clearly suffering from exhaustion and familial problems and there are concerns for her mental health. Her boss, Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh) needs her to perform one more job, an important assignment that would be a game changer for the organization - the killing of a CEO of a data mining company and his daughter. I already had a fear of the camera “eye” on laptops and mobile devices, however this movie has now taken it to a whole new level. The company utilizes the webcams to obtain information about consumers. As much as an activity such as this was shocking to me, I didn’t find it surprising. Isn’t my phone always listening to me?

It was the character of Girder that hit me hard. Her company is in the business of murdering high profile persons, mainly executives of questionable conglomerates, for the supposed benefit of society. Yet, when it comes to her own people, her employees wellbeing, she casually tosses this aside in the name of money and angles. This film explores ideas and concepts that may come off as outlandish but, in reality, as a society we are not too far away from and, in many ways, are already there. We are living in a time in which the welfare of people seems to never be as important as the bottom line.

There are moments within the film that will haunt me. Tasya’s target, the villainous CEO John Parse (Sean Bean, who will always be Alec to me) is, without a doubt, a wicked bag of flesh who experiences a gruesome, somewhat satisfying, death. His ultimate demise is accomplished by Tasya possessing the body of an unknowing Colin (portrayed masterfully by Christopher Abbott). Colin is an employee of Parse’s company and dating his daughter Ava (Tuppence Middleton). The scenes in which the host realizes he is being manipulated are what nightmares are made of. Anxiety inducing imagery aside, I already want to watch this again.

I feel so fortunate that I was able to see this at Sundance and hear the Q & A with Brandon and the cinematographer, Karim Hussain. I loved hearing their production tales, their overall passion for filmmaking and practical effects. Essentially, these dudes are a bunch of movie nerds that would be a perfect addition to MJ’s Pizza Film Club. Due to their efforts, I will now sleep a bit more soundly knowing there are filmmakers out there that recognize the importance of creating a realistic skin mask. This gives me hope for the fate of cinema.

Watch for this flick, hopefully coming to a cinema near you soon.