Brandon Cronenberg’s First made him a filmmaker I always watched for and hasn’t disappointed with Possessor and Infinity Pool. Revisiting his debut in 4K is rewarding anew.
In 2012, the idea of celebrity viruses was good satire. Sadly, the cavalier attitude of many during the still ongoing pandemic makes it highly likely that fans would take celebrity viruses.
Even if it weren’t frighteningly prescient, Antiviral would be a poignant cautionary tale with plenty of squirmy disease stuff.
The sterile white aesthetic is vivid in 4K. Cronenberg and cinematographer Karim Hussain explain the 4K restoration in a new bonus feature and show the difference between this and the film prints, which is how I first saw it.
Now the stark white billboard, white Lucas clinic, even Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones)’s apartment and bedsheets, counters, cabinets and appliances are all sterile white. In closeup, you are right there beside Jones, as well as those closeups of mouth injections.
There are a few black voids for contrast, when he’s hooked up to the tubes, and in a video call with Tesser (Wendy Crewson).
Previously released bonus features are still included, such as Cronenberg’s short film Broken Tulips. It’s essentially the Edward Parris scene with the celebrity virus sales pitch. The only difference is Broken Tulips shows him going home infected.