Rent Infinity Pool on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Brandon Cronenberg
Directed by: Brandon Cronenberg
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
James and Em Foster enjoy an all-inclusive beach vacation on the fictional island of La Tolqa when a fatal accident exposes the resort's perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism, reckless violence, and surreal horrors.
Verdict
This is such a gross, wild, and thought provoking ride. The central question revolves around morality but that extends to how less prosperous countries are treated by visitors and how the rich often avoid any consequences. This barely scratches the surface of what a life with no consequences does to your psyche. Almost all of that is overshadowed by the movie's fascination with blood and gore. As thought provoking as this is, you'll have a difficult time if your squeamish.
It depends.
Review
This starts with a couple at a resort and just a few seconds in there's dramatic music and rotating establishing shots. The upside down imagery certainly has ominous implications. Why does the resort band wears these horror masks?
James (Alexander Skarsgård) is a not so well known author on vacation with his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman). He's flattered by Gabi (Mia Goth), a fan who liked his book, and he agrees to have dinner with her. Movies have programmed us to be suspicious of fans, especially a fan of someone so obscure. James and Em agree to hang out with Gabi and her husband for the day outside of the resort. Going beyond the walls is expressly forbidden, and on their way back that night they have an accident they don't report as Gabi tells them the police are corrupt and reporting it won't end well. This is the type of country where you don't want to deal with law enforcement. This country has an intriguing eye for an eye policy involving crime. It seems to extend to all crime that involves foreigners.
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| Cleopatra Coleman, Alexander Skarsgård play Em, James |
It's easy enough to just accept the premise of this movie and the unique loophole this country has for crimes committed by visitors. This melds moral questions and science fiction into one wild vacation. For what's purported as a third world country they have quite the procedure that gets James out of his punishment. It's difficult to believe the country has the technology depicted, a disconnect between the socioeconomic status and their science, but this is an extreme metaphor for being in a foreign country and having no idea how the rules and laws work. James just does what he's told because he doesn't know any better. His punishment is crazy. This justice system is crazy. We watch it all in gory detail. Troubling still is that James isn't as disgusted as he should be and his wife notices.
Having witnessed this country's justice system at work, James is intrigued and doesn't want to leave. It turns out Gabi knew what would happen after the accident, and there are a number of people on the island that have experienced the same thing. James is now one of them, but this group seems deranged. They're sociopaths.
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| Mia Goth, Alexander Skarsgård play Gabi, James |
This is full of twists. A shifting point of view sequence drives home just how crazy this punishment is. We see another punishment, and it's so graphically gory. It's perverse and that's the point. James experienced the thrill of avoiding a punishment. He then intentionally does something heinous with little consequence to get that feeling again. It's a drug and James needs more.
This explores themes of class, consequence, and inhibitions. These grotesque masks James and his new friend group don only underscore their lack of humanity. It's a mask that reveals their true selves. This group goads James in to acting out and committing crimes. You wonder about their goal. Is everything a game without consequence to them? It's twisted. The whole movie is twisted. This group finds a way to take their thrill seeing to a new level. If you have the money you can avoid all consequences, but it's not so simple. It's just a matter of perspective as to whether you're avoiding punishment.
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