Crash (1996)

Crash (1996) Movie Reviews
Watch Trailer

Cast: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger, Rosanna Arquette

Director: David Cronenberg

Rating: NC17

Running Time: 98 min.

Synopsis: After surviving a brutal car wreck, commercial director James Ballard finds himself slowly drawn to a mysterious subculture of people who have transformed automobile accidents into erotic events. Like the J.G. Ballard novel that inspired it, David Cronenberg's study of the sexual dimension of man's relationship to technology was a magnet for controversy, drawing a NC-17 rating and criticism from several sources, including studio owner Ted Turner, who attempted to prevent the film's American release. But though some have leveled charges of pornography, James' descent into this fetishistic underworld is approached with cold, scientific detachment. Characters like Vaughn, the charismatic group leader who stages recreations of celebrity car crashes, seem more like driven researchers than sexual renegades, which is undoubtedly part of the film's point. This impression is reinforced by the pristine cinematography by Peter Suschitzsky, which proves particularly haunting during a crucial accident scene, and Howard Shore's superb score. Far from exploitative, Crash in fact proves less transgressive than the original novel, but is still undoubtedly not for all tastes.

User Rating

User Reviews

Rate it!
Critic Rating

Critic Reviews

About the Graph & Metric

Reviews

Sort by:

News & Blogs

Sort by:

User Reviews

  • May 31, 2011 05:47 pm

    Amanda said: B

    I was actually quite disappointed by this film. As infamous as it is, I full expected it to be considerably more disturbing than it was. That being said, like all Cronenberg films, it's defiantly interesting.

Rate This Movie!

Please sign in or sign up to rate this movie.