Neon just released the teaser trailer for David Cronenberg’s wild-looking new movie, Crimes of the Future, which will premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
The film does share the title with one of Cronenberg’s previous works in 1970, but they do not share the same plot or characters, making the film perfectly unpredictable. What has been shared is that the film stars Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart as people living in the not-so-distant future in a time when humans have learned to alter their biological makeup – some natural, some surgically.
Mortensen plays Saul Tenser, a celebrity performance artist who showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances alongside his partner Caprice (Seydoux). Meanwhile, Timlin (Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, tracks their movements, revealing a mysterious group whose mission is to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.
The teaser showcases prodding robots squishing around in bodies and modifications that don’t look too comfortable to sit through, like Kristin Stewart jamming something in her eye or an unknown person gyrating alone in a cocoon. And, of course, the man getting his eyes and mouth sewn shut to the voice-over chanting, “It is time to stop seeing. It is time to stop speaking. It is time to listen.”
Cronenberg has visited body horror before in his remake of The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum, which used practical effects to portray the haunting transformation from curious scientist to horrifying monster.
Crimes of the Future will be released in June following its Cannes premiere in May.
Check out the teaser trailer below: