Brandon Crongren is genuinely ambitious in his way of writing and filmmaking in ways he seamlessly exploits his message through his craft. Unfortunately, this was not the case when it came to Infinity Pool. Through ambition comes blatant jarring sequences made for shock value; not much else should be stated.
James (Alexander Skarsgård) and his wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman), travel to a fictitious island called Latoka to inspire James with his writing. Em is the breadwinner of the two, and James lives off her shamelessly. While venturing on the island, James bumps into a woman named Gabi (Mia Goth), who is a massive fan of his only book that he managed to publish six years before. She and her husband invite him to dinner. The next day they leave the island for some vacationing, but as they return to the resort, James hits a man.
This is where things take a turn for the worse. On this island, if someone commits a crime that involves murder, they must be executed. Their process (or should I say loophole) is creating a clone of said criminal and killing the clone in place of the person. After going through this process, James begins acting strangely, enjoying watching his clone self die. As a result, he gets closer to Gabi and her friends. Unfortunately, they all have committed similar crimes. This is the life they like to live seasonally, and they commit murderous crimes because they know they can get cloned and no real consequences come their way.
This all can be a reflection of what consumerism is as a tourist. We choose exotic places, beaches, and islands, as a way to escape our reality and the problems we have back home. As a local, you are inclined to use these tourists as a source of income. Each time these foreigners are arrested and sentenced to death, they must pay a fine. It’s a never-ending cycle of causing havoc, getting caught, and paying the price. It’s infinite.
Unlike Gabi and her friends, James doesn’t come from money. He’s a writer living off his wife, so he perceives the initial heinous crimes through a different lens than the group. However, he still partakes in the mayhem and cruelty because it doesn’t matter what your background is– if you can cause harm and receive an endless supply of getting away scot-free, why not do as you wish? It’s this endless cycle that all tourists go through. Go somewhere, brutalize the culture, and spend money.
What I mean by brutalizing the culture is that Latoka is a country of great suffering, yet somehow it’s a place where the rich can lay waste and have fun. And the workers– the police– don’t care what these Americans do so long as they pay the price for either executing themselves or delivering for the clone. This level of abstraction in a film is, of course, open to interpretation, but what we can gather is people, if given the option– will do heinous things, no matter the social class– you can get pushed to the edge of insanity given a chance.
So what exactly went wrong?
There are too many unanswered questions that could keep this story round. What was the point of the masks? Creepy and unsettling, yes. But these masks could have represented something more prominent instead of reaching for meaning. What does the sex scene do to the audience except for causing discomfort? The convoluted sex scenes did nothing but show a wild orgy caused by drugs.
More questions could have been answered. Why is there a change in James’ behavior? Why exactly are James and Em a couple? Why is the country poor? Is James a clone of himself? Why did Lakota start the cloning process? Some of these questions do not need to be answered. But considering the lack of story building, it doesn’t leave a lasting impression. Infinity Pool spent more time provoking a reaction rather than for a reason to give a response. It was one step away from showing what the movie could all mean, but instead, it decided to leave out the questions that should be addressed.
Rank
2/5
It isn’t good when you leave the movie theater unsatisfied and have to force yourself to think about a movie. Unfortunately, there was not a delicate balance between surrealism and horror, where it did a bunch of things that I didn’t care to divulge much care into thinking about it after leaving the theater.
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