Director/Writer: Brandon Cronenberg
Cast: Caleb Jones, Sarah Gadon
106mins Fantasy Drama
Not being big on sci-fi but keen on David Cronenburg, I wanted to know out of sheer curiousity, if the apple falls near to the tree, Cronenburg-wise. And this is Brandon’s debut feature. In many ways Antiviral has an challenging premise and very much a Cronenberg family feel to it: that punters could be infected with the viruses and cultured cell-lines taken from their favourites celebrities.
It has Hannah Geist as Sarah Gadon who’s infected with a fatal virus that Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) has to demystify and dismantle in order to save his own life. And what emerges from this dystopian futuristic world of X Factor on speed is attractively packaged, visually exciting and tightly written but ultimately requires us to project our imaginations onto ideas and characters we care very little about and recognise even less. Don’t give up Brandon, better luck next time! MT
