First entry in blog series where I explore and analyze NFT projects by film auteurs coming from traditional cinema to see how did they approach the medium and with what effect.
One of my favorite examples, if not the favorite, is Death of David Cronenberg. Not only because the author is one of my favorite film directors of all time but also because his approach to NFTs in this case is simple and genuine.
But first, let’s rewind.
David Cronenberg is most famous for his sci-fi horror masterpieces like Scanners, Videodrome, and The Fly. Considered to be the godfather of the body horror genre, he is a highly influential filmmaker and auteur who developed his own film language using the human body to explore and express human condition.
Cronenberg believes the body is the core of human existence. “It’s what we are and everything comes from that,” he says. He thinks the same for technology — it’s an extension of our body and senses like weapons are extensions of our fists. But more importantly, our bodies reveal our age, health, and lifestyle. They show wrinkles and scars, we express ourselves through tattoos and piercings. We go to the gym to sculpt our bodies and we fear disease, injury, and death because of our attachment to our physical selves.
His films can be gory as they get, with body mutation, body explosion, and body mutilation, all done with practical effects which makes it extra graphical if you ask me. There’s a reason why fans call him the Baron of Blood and the King of Venereal Horror. I wouldn’t say his movies are scary, more creepy, and uncomfortable in some primal way. Cronenberg is not only a horror filmmaker tho. It’s kind of an understatement to put him in that bracket because he is successful in almost every genre ranging from psychological dramas to thrillers but the common thing is his exploration of our deepest fears and desires. Some would say those are dark themes but Cronenberg doesn’t consider them to be dark. Everything is just the human condition, not black and white but on a specter.
Therefore there’s a different side to them, something beautiful and tender in his movies. That makes perfect sense because his work, at the end of the day, is about embracing our nature and fragile existence.
This is also the theme of his first NFT art piece.
Death of David Cronenberg is a 1-minute film written by and starring David Cronenberg with his daughter Caitlin Cronenberg as the producer and director of photography. The piece was launched on Super Rare in April 2021 with a reserve price of 15E and sold for 25E.
The plot is pretty straightforward. Cronenberg walks into a small attic-like room dressed in a robe. He stares into the camera, then turns to look at a dead replica of himself in a bed. He approaches, leans over, kisses the body, and crawls into bed to hug it and basically spoon with it.
It’s short and simple but clear and effective. We see an old man not afraid of death and not only that, he approaches it gently, completely embracing it. It feels like he loves the dead body and that’s not far from the truth. In an interview talking about this NFT art piece, he mentioned his wife. “[She] died in that house, in a bed, and it felt when she died, partly, like I died, and I still feel that,” he said. “That corpse is my wife to me. So it’s not just a frivolous horror film. It is a film about love and the transient aspect of being human.”
Cronenberg loves everything about being human, the good parts, the bad parts, and everything in-between. He admires our bodies while accepting its fragility and transience.
When it comes to the form, Cronenberg said “It’s as if you stumbled upon it on the internet — no music, no credits. The Cronencam: A couple of cameras stuck in my bedroom.” It not only makes it voyeuristic and more creepy it’s also perfect for an NFT film since it’s experienced online. Also, it’s loopable which makes it feel like confronting death over and over again. Cronenberg did say: ‘’You never finish dealing with that [death]. Every decade of your life you have to revisit it specific to where you are.”
Cronenberg did make one more NFT, his first solo piece — Inner Beauty. Knowing everything we know about the man, you can imagine what that can be but it’s not too scary. It’s just a photograph of his kidney stones. Some would argue it‘s ironic, that the master is trolling but if you know his work you know this is an expression of love. He is giving us his insides, how more intimate can it get? Unfortunately, the reserve price of 10E still hasn‘t been met.
“Why don’t we have an aesthetic for the inside of our bodies? Because that is of our essence as well.”
David Cronenberg approached NFTs as a new art medium respecting the form while building on top of it. He explored some of his favorite subjects and I feel like he is genuine and honest with his NFT work as a true artist. He didn’t try to recycle his old work and I’m pretty sure he could have sold anything he wanted.
I hope he will return with another NFT short film.
I mentioned some classic Cronenberg sci-fi horrors but for the end, I want to recommend another side of him.
Eastern Promises, a superb crime drama about the Russian mafia with one of the best and most suspenseful fistfights in the history of cinema.
A History of Violence, a masterful thriller based on the graphic novel by John Wagner, creator of numerous characters with Judge Dredd being one of them.
Both are starring Viggo Mortensen, a masterful actor with an incredible ability to transform and embody characters he plays, sometimes almost completely unrecognizable. Both movies are must-sees in my opinion.
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