Existenzialism

Just finished watching eXistenZ. I enjoyed it, and am still trying to figure it out.

The plot is far too convoluted to explain--you really have to watch it to see what it's about. The film centers around a virtual-reality game (called--you guessed it--eXistenZ) which, from inside the game, cannot be easily distinguished from the "real" world. Not surprisingly, a good portion of the plot revolves around the question of "what is reality," a familiar sci-fi theme that is somewhat cliched at this point, but eXistenZ handles the subject differently than other movies of its ilk. I went into it expecting an underwhelming faux-intellectual sci-fi flick, and for the first hour that is exactly what I got--but the final third of the film put some interesting spins on the plot and really made me reconsider my initial impressions.

So yeah--definitely a good rental, if you're looking for a Twilight Zone-esque mindbender along the lines of Dark City. Not a timeless classic for the ages, but a well-done B-movie nonetheless.

Oh, and fair warning: it's also quite disgusting. As in "don't watch it while eating dinner." And don't watch it with your parents (sorry, Mom and Dad--you guys wouldn't like it very much anyway). While most movies have, at most, only one Scene That I Could've Lived a Full and Satisfying Life Without Having Seen, eXistenZ has two or three.