Review – Crash (1996)

I can’t make up my mind. Is this a brilliant exploration of sexual fetishism or just an over-arty piece of porn? With David Cronenberg at the helm, it may well be a bit of both. James Spader plays an idly-wealthy movie producer who gets into a car wreck. While recovering he gets to know a woman (Holly Hunter) who was also in the crash, and she introduces him to an underground group of people who share an art-sex fascination with cars, accidents and injuries. The whole thing is shot with a lethargic, dream-like quality, which Cronenberg has used to good effect in other production but here overdoes until it becomes tedious. Perhaps if watched in small intervals rather than all at once it might be a more pleasant experience. Mildly amusing