Possessor possesses you. It owns you in totality. And leaves you cringing.
Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, sired and inspired by his director/father David Cronenberg, Brandon brings us a raw foray into a carnal and violent world.
Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough) works for a company where clients hire them to put out hits. Not the music kind. The killing kind. And it is here where Possessor seems to borrow from every sci-fi/horror thriller you have seen, yet also demands you bask in its divergent originality. Jennifer Jason Leigh too appears in this film, whose prior work in Existenz could have easily inspired this story.
In it, Tasya is tapped to take out the CEO and daughter of a data-mining company called ZooThroo. However, she does so by “possessing” the fiancée (Christopher Abbott) of said daughter and willing him to kill them both.
Confused yet? Don’t worry, Possessor is pretty straight forward with its gore, sex and mind fuckery while layered with convincing performances, a brooding score, and stark imagery. Add to that the background struggles in Tasya’s personal life, and you have a multi-level movie project that rapidly travels from the basement to the penthouse and back again, leaving the viewer reeling.
Abbott as Colin Tate stands out as a character who ultimately manages to boot Tasya out of his body. And due to his sheer will, more devastating carnage ensues.
In all, viewers will find something to admire about this film, to revel in, and plenty to even repel them. Laden with sex and blood, it will hit you on a visceral level. And leave you to wonder at its catastrophic climax.
Possessor is currently available on major streaming platforms.
