Body is reality. Surgery is the new sex. Long live the new flesh.

The amalgamation of David Cronenberg's own infatuation with the core concept of bodily transformation. Of course, those who have closely followed along with Cronenberg's early career knew that this was something that his career would be building up towards, after having not directed a body horror film since 1999's eXistenZ. But supposedly after hearing that with Crimes of the Future, Cronenberg had promised what would be something so gross and could provoke walkouts - yet there's not a moment where I wanted to look away, in fact even the surgery scenes felt more erotic than they did disgusting (unsurprising of Cronenberg, considering Crash).

Yet on the whole it feels like Cronenberg looking back on exactly what it is that he's stating as an artist, especially when you're putting his fascination with bodily alterations into count. This is true of Viggo Mortensen's Saul Tenser, who may just as well be a stand-in for Cronenberg himself, ultimately leaving us wondering what more could he do with changing up human bodies for the sake of creating what we would already see as "art." But on the whole I think that's why it's so beguiling. I'm just glad to see Cronenberg has come back after quite a while of not having seen a film from him in several years.