eXistenZ

Hard to believe now that there was a time, just a decade or so ago, when David Cronenberg provoked career-high performances from actors like Jeff Goldblum (The Fly) and Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers)--that his various creepy obsessions (techno-organic mutation, deviant sexuality, etc.) were once explored within a context of recognizable human emotions. Here, inexplicably, he's assembled an amazing cast--Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Eccleston, and Atom Egoyan vets Ian Holm, Don McKellar and Sarah Polley--for a movie sans characters. If you're the kind of person who likes to stand around at an arcade and watch other people play video games, this is the picture you've been impatiently waiting for since birth. The story, set in the near future, involves a virtual-reality game called "eXistenZ" (note pretentious spelling), and there's plenty of predictable, tired speculation about where the game ends and real life begins; trouble is, Cronenberg's movies never seem to be taking place on this planet anyway, so it all looks equally (and laboriously, in this case) bizarre. It may sometimes be difficult to tell what's real vs. what's "virtual" in this arid, meticulously crafted landscape, but it's also utterly impossible to care. Not recommended. (M. D'Angelo)