5/30/2013
Canadian director Vincenzo Natali gave us the 1997 low
budget horror/thriller "Cube" a Rockport Review favorite. Years later and a few straight to video projects,
his 2009 film "Splice" actually made it to theatres even it was for a
short time. "Splice" is a sci-fi thriller in the vein of David
Cronenberg's early work.
Clive and Elsa, played by Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody, are
two hipster geneticists working on splicing the genes of several animal species
together to make medicinal proteins for livestock with one day hoping to cure
human diseases. Their two star creations
are Fred and Ginger, big red slug looking creatures who turn out to be more
than they bargained for. After a
complete disaster at a medical conference showing off their creations, they are
reprimanded by their big evil company and forced back to the drawing board. But Elsa now wants to push the boundaries and
splice in some human genes into their concoctions. Although illegal and unethical they do it
just to see what happens with the agreement that they will terminate the
experiment before it gets out of hand.
The sample grows at an exponential rate and Clive wants to stop it but
Elsa, the motherly figure, hijacks the project and a cute little creature bursts
out of the lab tank its was being incubated in.
The baby creature scurries around the lab until Elsa captures
it. It look like a kangaroo with tiny
arms, a tail, and big head. Once caught
Elsa cares for it while Clive only wants it gone. Its quite the ethical dilemma and shows the
cracks in their relationship. She wants
kids he doesn't. Elsa names the creature
Dren, which is Nerd spelled backwards.
Nerd is the name of some bio tech company that is written on Clive's
shirt. Dren still grows at an amazing
fast rate and starts to take on more and more human characteristics. Elsa puts a dress on her and treats her like
her own secret little daughter. It
starts to get harder and harder to hide Dren from the other at the lab so they
move her out to Elsa old abandoned family farm.
Dren is unable to speak but can understand when talked too, like a
really smart dog.
Things really start to get interesting an a little creepy
when Dren grows up into a sort of teenager.
Since Clive seems to be kind of a douchey guy to begin with he can't
help but wonder what it would be like to hit that after initially wanting it
dead. Elsa is pretty insecure about herself
and starts to feel some serious jealousy over Clive and Dren's relationship. Fearing the worst Elsa straps Dren's naked
body down to a table and cuts off the stinger at the end of her tail. Feeling hurt and betrayed Dren is driven even
closer to Clive. Inevitably Clive and Dren
do get down to business and Elsa of course walks in on them. Ouch!
Needless to say she is a little freaked out. The third act goes a little off course, but
it is still worth a watch.
Sarah Polley is the best part of this movie along with
Delphine Chaneac who plays the grown up Dren.
Sarah's Elsa looks to have dealt with a lot in her past and has issues
connecting with other people. She is
pretty cold and closed off until she creates Dren who is more apart of her than
Clive realizes. Natali filmed the movie
with strong blues and greys giving it a very cold and clinical feel. The effects used are also well done with a
unique and interesting opening title/credit sequence. Make a double feature of it and see
"Cube" and "Splice".
