Sundance 2023 Film Festival  – Writer Director Brandon Cronenberg continues to impress with his third feature, Infinity Pool. A commentary on decadence and privilege, not to mention exploitation tourism, the film follows failed writer James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård) and his benefactor wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) during a brush with reckless abandon and where they choose to follow it. This is aggressive, thought-provoking cinema made with little regard for weaker constitutions. In short, prudes will be chased off in the first 20 minutes of the movie which includes a wider array of bodily fluids than an STI clinic. Yet with Cronenberg’s profoundly accomplished talent, these atrocities play out in the context of a phenomenal story that shocks in order to explore the darkest recesses of human existence.

Slogging through their sun-drenched vacation James and Em go through the motions. James is desperately attempting to find inspiration for his next book and his wife is there to support and finance him. Gabi (Mia Goth) runs into James on the beach, explaining that she is a huge fan of his singular published novel before inviting him and his wife to dinner. The next day the four rent a car from one of the staff at the resort and decide to go off-property to explore. Later that night, while James is at the wheel he strikes a local farmer, killing him dead. The next morning he is hauled into the local police station and this is where things get reeeeeeaaaaly f*cked up.

The police explain that, under local law, James must be executed. However, the island’s government has even put a price on its own laws. They offer James the chance to use their cloning service in order to create a clone as a stand-in for his execution. A painful process indeed but one with a dollar amount that will, ultimately equate to the suffrage an entitled tourist enjoys. While Em is shaken to the core, James embraces his newly discovered freedom. Cronenberg begs the question, “Without consequence, what is right and wrong?” Aggravating the festering impulses within James, Gabi seems to turn up at every chance to entice James out for another escapade and things come to a head.

Skarsgård gamely jumps into the character of James. A complacent talent, the good-looking, entitled man has everything and yet it’s not enough. Goth however is the one that dominates the film with her predatory innocence. Manipulating any situation to her sadistic whims, Goth‘s Gabi is terrifying. considering Susperia, X, Pearl, and now Infinity Pool, Goth is establishing herself as a horror icon and we are here for it.

This is a thriller and, hence, the glorious lens of horror allows us to follow the ideas to an absurd extreme in order to mine for Truth. Cronenberg explores the uncomfortable ideas of financial privilege, identity, and exploitation tourism with shocking cinematic tools to great effect. We venture into the dark recesses of carnal pleasures and corrupt privilege to question who we really are.

Infinity Pool can already take its spot as one of the year’s best horror films. This is provocative, visceral cinema that dares you to look away, knowing that you won’t. Mr. Cronenberg, you did it again.

8 Out of 10