| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Jennifer Jason Leigh | ... | ||
| Jude Law | ... | ||
| Ian Holm | ... |
Kiri Vinokur
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| Willem Dafoe | ... | ||
| Don McKellar | ... | ||
| Callum Keith Rennie | ... |
Hugo Carlaw
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| Christopher Eccleston | ... |
Seminar Leader
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| Sarah Polley | ... |
Merle
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| Robert A. Silverman | ... |
D'Arcy Nader
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| Oscar Hsu | ... | ||
| Kris Lemche | ... |
Noel Dichter
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| Vik Sahay | ... |
Male Assistant
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Kirsten Johnson | ... |
Female Assistant
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James Kirchner | ... |
Landry
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Balázs Koós | ... |
Male Volunteer
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Allegra Geller, the leading game designer in the world, is testing her new virtual reality game, eXistenZ with a focus group. As they begin, she is attacked by a fanatic assassin employing a bizarre organic gun. She flees with a young marketing trainee, Ted Pikul, who is suddenly assigned as her bodyguard. Unfortunately, her pod, an organic gaming device that contains the only copy of the eXistenZ game program, is damaged. To inspect it, she talks Ted into accepting a gameport in his own body so he can play the game with her. The events leading up to this, and the resulting game lead the pair on a strange adventure where reality and their actions are impossible to determine from either their own or the game's perspective. Written by Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com>
Who should watch this film? Anyone who has ever taken acid, read Philip K. Dick, thought the premise of the Matrix was better then the special effects, has an interest in Philosophy, or likes having their sense of reality messed with. I laughed out loud at this film, just because it was so outrageous and so spot-on. This film is great. This film is cool. It is better than the Matrix, by a long shot (I didn't fall asleep in Existenz, for a kick off: action/special effects films bore me stupid, and despite a plausible philosophical gloss, that is exactly what the Matrix is). Existenz is gross, it is disturbing, and it is funny. David Cronenberg has done some shonky stuff (Rabid) and some works of genius too (Videodrome is another one worth checking out, as is Stephen King adaptation The Dead Zone). But this is one of my all-time favourites. I can't remember the ending- which is a good thing, cos it means I can watch it again. Or perhaps I never watched this film at all. Maybe it's an implanted memory. Or maybe it 'really' happened to me. I don't know. At any rate, it is now seamlessly stitched into my overall illusion of reality, and I'm glad.