Review: Infinity Pool

Image courtesy of Neon.

It's probably unfair to compare the films of Brandon Cronenberg against those of his father, acclaimed director David Cronenberg, as those are large shoes to fill and the younger director has been carving out a disturbing niche all of his own. However, his films still feel inspired by the work of his father - icky, cerebral body horror movies that are frequently about amoral people behaving badly.

Cronenberg's "Antiviral" was a straight up body horror movie, whereas "Possessor" - easily Brandon Cronenberg's best film to date - was a trippy thriller with disturbing, horror-like elements that was also centered around unsettling concepts relating to one losing control of one's body.

The director's latest, "Infinity Pool," feels like a more disturbed version of "The White Lotus," only with a sci-fi subplot and some characters that make those on the aforementioned TV show feel like saints in comparison.

In the film, a novelist with writer's block, James Foster (Alexander Skarsgard), and his rich wife (Cleopatra Coleman) are visiting a fictional South American country, where they meet another traveling couple - the forward Gabi (Mia Goth) and her partner (Jalil Lespert). Shortly after this introduction - and one awkward handjob later - the two venture away from the resort where they're staying for a day at the beach.

On the way back from their trip, a drive down a dark road leads to James - who's behind the wheel - accidentally striking and killing a man on foot. Gabi says that the four of them will be thrown in jail in the so-called "barbaric" country they're visiting before being raped and then murdered by the police. Needless to say, they flee the scene.

Shortly thereafter, the four of them are arrested, James is told that he will face the death penalty for the incident, and is then informed of a deal the country has with its rich guests. For those who can afford it, the guilty can have clones made of them that will face the consequences of their bad behavior. James is cloned and he and his wife watch the execution. She's mortified and he's, well, seemingly turned on by it.

James comes to find out that Gabi and her husband are part of a group of tourists who visit this country every year and, as it turns out, they've gone through the same scenario. And they all seem to get off on it. Their behavior turns more and more egregious, leading to more arrests and more executions of their clones. But when James finally begins to tire of the mayhem, Gabi and company turn on him.

"Infinity Pool" looks great and Cronenberg's visuals often provide for a visually stunning sense of unease that permeates the film's first half. It's unfortunate then that the picture starts to come undone the more outlandish it becomes. Filled with psychedelic imagery - that's great to look at, although it serves little purpose - and near nonstop sex and violence, "Infinity Pool" ultimately comes up short. 

The film feels as if it's building toward something - and has a vibe similar to "The White Lotus" and "Triangle of Sadness" in its view of the grotesquely wealthy - but then becomes repetitive. Goth, who was so good in last year's "X," at first makes her character intriguing, but later more irritating. And despite the film's obvious critique of its amoral characters, the film still has the feel of a movie about Americans going to a scary foreign country and being terrorized by the natives.

The film seemingly aims to upset and unsettle - but it has less on its mind than I would have expected, considering the director's previous film was the eerie and thought provoking "Possessor." Ultimately, "Infinity Pool" may go off the deep end, but it's a shallow provocation.