David Cronenberg's 1996 Crash, based on the 1973 J. G. Ballard cult novel, brings new meaning to the word “auto-erotic.” Winner of a Special Jury Prize at Cannes, this controversial, NC-17 rated, fetish-driven, soft-core porn fable stars James Spader and Deborah Unger as James and Catherine Ballard, a sexually dysfunctional couple who sleep with strangers and then discuss their experiences (while having sex, of course).
Barely soap-opera worthy, I know, but after Ballard (Spader) crashes into Dr. Helen Remington's (Holly Hunter) car, killing her husband in the process, Cronenberg turns up the kink factor considerably. What we would consider a tragedy is apparently an aphrodisiac for these crash test dummies, and Dr. Helen introduces James to a whole group of People Who Are Sexually Stimulated By Car Crashes.
From that point on, Spader, Unger, Hunter, Elias Koteas, and Rosanna Arquette cruise in and out of the film, grabbing each other by the crotch as a way of formal greeting, going into heat near cars (especially fender benders), and talking in lobotomized voices that sound like the robot on Lost in Space (only with less emotion). Crash isn't so much a movie as it is a cast group-grope that goes on way too long. Bowing on Blu-ray with a new 4K digital restoration, extras include a
1997 audio commentary featuring Cronenberg, a cast and crew press conference from the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, a 1996 Q&A with Cronenberg and Ballard at the National Film Theatre in London, behind-the-scenes footage, and press interviews from 1996, and a booklet with an essay by film critic Jessica Kiang. An optional purchase, at best. (R. Pitman)