Color, 1997, 111m. / Directed by David Cronenberg / Starring James Spader, Holly Hunter / New Line (US R1 NTSC), Columbia (UK R2 PAL) / WS (1.78:1) (16:9) / DD2.0
Maligned by Ted Turner, ignored by American audiences, and a general offense to many of the attendees at Cannes, David Cronenberg's Crash has been so overshadowed by the political and critical turmoil surrounding it that the actual film's voice has been drowned out in the process. If you like Cronenberg, you'll love the film, which is a quantum leap in maturity and quality over the flat M. Butterfly. While the sight of James Spader sexually assailing a gash in Rosanna Arquette's leg may not appeal to every sensibility, this is a challenging and often rewarding ride if you're willing to go along with the filmmaker's own unique, marvelously depraved point of view. Based on J.G. Ballard's scandalous counterculture novel, Crash revolves around James Ballard (Spader), a director who suffers a near-fatal car crash when he collides with doctor Holly Hunter. The two find themselves aroused by the experience, and she introduces Ballard to a bizarre subculture dedicated to reenactments of famous celebrity car crashes (Jayne Mansfield, James Dean, etc.). The group's leader, Vaughn (the always fascinating Elias Koteas), orchestrates a series of fleshy auto escapades involving his protegee, Rosanna Arquette, and Ballard's spacey, erotically insatiable wife (Debroah Kara Unger, The Game). One of the film's most notorious scenes, a mild sex scene between Spader and Koteas, was primarily responsible for driving audience members away, but there's much stronger stuff on display. The eerie, unresolved finale ("Maybe the next one") amazingly manages to wrap up the dreamlike proceedings on a satisfying note that will leave a strange mood hovering in your mind long after the film is over.
While no video presentation can really replicate experiencing Crash in the theatre (after which audience members had to drive home), DVD is about as close as you can get. Though supervised by Cronenberg, the Criterion Collection laserdisc was a visual mess, smeary and dull, with poor detail. The anamorphically enhanced DVD is a feast for the eyes, filled with glittering planes of glass and metal and suffused with unearthly shades of blue and silver. There's simply no comparison. The US DVD also has the option of playing the film's R-rated cut, which causes momentary pauses in the film's playback as it skips over the most graphic bits. Aside from basic curiosity, however, it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to see this watered-down Blockbusterized edition. Likewise, the Dolby Digital soundtrack is expansive and chilling, with Howard Shore's unnerving experimental score swelling from each speaker and drowning the ears in uneasiness and lust. Unfortunately, aside from the US trailer, the DVD features none of the Criterion bonuses (feature length commentary by Cronenberg, the original and superior Canadian trailer, and a making-of featurette), so completists will unfortunately want to get both. If you just care about the movie, though, the DVD is definitely the best (and most affordable) way to go.