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Crash
short story
24 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 29, 2007
Enjoyably bizarre and obsessive. Unlike the novel, the screenplay is so short (fewer than 80 pages) that the themes don't have a chance to get redundant or boring.
January 19, 2023
The conversation that Cronenberg’s Crash has with Ballard’s original material is mark of an exceptional adaptation.
Ballard’s depersonalised insular schizophrenic ‘cautionary tale’ about the extremities people will seek to find even microscopic satisfaction, is transformed by moving image into a personal, romantic observation of a niche sub-culture seeking a revolution of affect in a cold, distanced world.
Couldn’t have had a better filmmaker adapt this, fits so perfect into Cronenberg’s filmography.
The script is so stripped back n economic..
Most of the dialogue is one line, where the descriptions/action borrows heavily from Ballard’s articulation of automobile similes
eg
“Below it, the traffic moves sluggishly around the crowded concrete lanes, the roofs of the vehicles forming a continuous carapace of polished cellulose.”
The James Ballard character is just as much Cronenberg situated in his own narrative, as Ballard was, naming him after himself. James Ballard comes to signify Cronenberg’s own exploration of techno-mutilated bodies in search of a profound eroticism, that his films were working towards.
would say that Crash was definitely his most personal film, until the release of Crimes of the Future.
Ballard’s depersonalised insular schizophrenic ‘cautionary tale’ about the extremities people will seek to find even microscopic satisfaction, is transformed by moving image into a personal, romantic observation of a niche sub-culture seeking a revolution of affect in a cold, distanced world.
Couldn’t have had a better filmmaker adapt this, fits so perfect into Cronenberg’s filmography.
The script is so stripped back n economic..
Most of the dialogue is one line, where the descriptions/action borrows heavily from Ballard’s articulation of automobile similes
eg
“Below it, the traffic moves sluggishly around the crowded concrete lanes, the roofs of the vehicles forming a continuous carapace of polished cellulose.”
The James Ballard character is just as much Cronenberg situated in his own narrative, as Ballard was, naming him after himself. James Ballard comes to signify Cronenberg’s own exploration of techno-mutilated bodies in search of a profound eroticism, that his films were working towards.
would say that Crash was definitely his most personal film, until the release of Crimes of the Future.
May 9, 2013
A rare film of remarkable disturbing power, the bare bones of the script as stark and revealing as the subject matter.
Crash isn't for everyone. It should come with a boldly underlined cautionary warning. It does disturb me. I do wonder why someone would want to write about this, let alone make a film about it, but the power, quality and sheer class of the art speaks for itself.
One of my absolute favorites.
(And did I mention my copy is hand signed by David Cronenberg himself? No? I'll have to remember that....)
Crash isn't for everyone. It should come with a boldly underlined cautionary warning. It does disturb me. I do wonder why someone would want to write about this, let alone make a film about it, but the power, quality and sheer class of the art speaks for itself.
One of my absolute favorites.
(And did I mention my copy is hand signed by David Cronenberg himself? No? I'll have to remember that....)
February 6, 2022
An incredible meditation on the vapidity of sexual worship via car crashes and airplane hangars.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews