eXistenZ

cronenberg gets video games. specifically, he gets your favorite late 90s fmv game. he gets night trap. he gets phantasmagoria. he FULLY understands harvester. this is the only movie that can capture a hyperspecific niche that's difficult to put a name to: chintzy, stilted, filled with weird contrivances on top of barely-stylized-enough visuals. it's too ugly to be a y2k revival aesthetic. it's not outlandishly cartoon-bad enough to laugh at ironically. if you love it, it's at some level earnest going to need to stew on this movie a little bit more because my first instinct is to give this a perfect score. im just so incredibly on this movie's wavelength. other movies with similar concepts and even other similar cronenberg movies are probably technically better, but existenz has a laser-focused vision that could only be achieved in one fleeting moment of time. it's total recall for people with a dosbox virtual machine. it's the town with no name for people with taste. im just naming shit now but come on. it's everything to me!!!