Review: Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg, 2023)
A thrilling, dizzying and disturbing film about the rich’s lack of accountability.
Brandon Cronenberg’s career so far has, quite unfairly, been crushed underneath his father’s huge name within horror. The two are of course related, and they may work under similar ideas, but Brandon Cronenberg’s films have consistently been oversimplified through comparison to the works of his father. David Cronenberg is an all time great, within horror or otherwise, but this comparison takes away any of Brandon’s own power as a director.
Having already proven his ability to disturb with parts of Antiviral (2012) and Possessor (2020), Brandon Cronenberg returns now with Infinity Pool — his best film, and so far the best film of 2023.
Starring Alexander Skarsgard (of last year’s The Northman) and Mia Goth (Pearl, X, High Life), Infinity Pool is about James Foster (Skarsgard). Holidaying with his wife Em in search of writing inspiration (having written only one previous book, some years ago, to very little fanfare), James is missing something from life. He seems to find it briefly when he meets Gabi (Goth), a young woman who knows his previous work and is a fan of his book. James and Gabi, along with their significant others, enjoy some luxury in the fictional La Tolqa… until…
