2) A History Of Violence
David Cronmenberg’s bizarre and twisted filmography contains some of the most warped and imaginative works of cinema ever beamed up to the big screen, yet his 2005 flick A History Of Violence turned heads for a different reason. Not only did this movie represent a departure from a filmography that largely teetered on the fringes of the avant-garde into more conventional territory, but it also saw the director draw on source material that existed originally in the form of a graphic novel penned by Judge Dredd writer John Wagner.
Whilst A History Of Violence can be considered a less hallucinatory-like experience than the director’s previous works (aesthetically speaking), the psychologically damaged characters and themes that haunt Cronenbergian cinema remain unmistakably apparent.
Viggo Mortenson plays the owner of small town diner named Tom in Indiana, and is lauded as a local hero after swiftly gunning down two men who attempt to rob his restaurant. This act of violence sees Tom’s life begin to slowly unravel, as men claiming to be from his past approach his home and demand that he returns to the life that he left behind.
Whilst certain scenes do bear a close resemblance to Wagner’s comic book from, Cronenberg’s film unsurprisingly veers off into more desolate, thornier territory than its source material. In print form, A History Of Violence can be recognized as a noir crime thriller, whereas in live-action film clothing it asks many more questions about the nature of the act of violence itself. Both media forms of A History Of Violence are worth investigating, albeit for very different experiences.
