Filmmaker reacts to A History of Violence (2005) for the FIRST TIME!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ย. 2023
- Hope you enjoy my filmmaker reaction to A History of Violence. :D
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Original Movie: A History of Violence (2005)
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An ABSOLUTE banger with Viggo Mortensen is Eastern Promises (2007), also starring Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Set in London, delivery nurse Naomi helps a young immigrant teen with the birth of her baby, and she finds the teen mother's diary. It reveals some connection to the Russian mob in the city, aaaand well, you know. Stuff happens.
Amazing movie.
Also Directed by David Cronenberg! I wish they'd done a third film together, because the two they did were amazing.
@@beerboybrews A Dangerous Method, Crimes of the Future
This film and EP are just so fantastic. Viggo is tremendous.
@@dylanmarkleyTwo very different but amazing films. Was such a huge psychology nerd in college so seeing Cronenberg work with Fassbinder and Mortensen playing Jung and Freud…Chef’s Kiss. And Crimes of the Future…was great to see Cronenberg go back to playing with body horror again.
Fun Fact: A History of Violence was the very last film to get a VHS release.
And I think Twister was the first film to be put on DVD....right?
YOOOO no way!
@@StandUpComedyFan28m Twister was one of the first 15 film to be released on DVD at the same time.
A Time to Kill
Blade Runner
Eraser
Goodfellas
Interview with the Vampire
The Road Warrior
Se7en
The Birdcage
The Bridges of Madison County
The Fugitive
The Mask
The Wizard of Oz
Twister
Unforgiven
Woodstock
That is interesting, thank you.
VHS, good times.
I remember my family renting a "video box", a VHS player in a case WITH a monitor.
Saturdays were special.
Damn, you beat me to it!
I love the bully in this
"Hey, you caught my easy pop fly that any fielder ever would have caught, I'm gonna kick your ass"
Viggo is a bad ass actor. The heart of an artist, completely versatile, totally believable. If you haven't seen Captain Fantastic, you REALLY need to.
This movie (2005) came out 22 years after Videodrome (1983), I think the subtlety of the storytelling that you're sensing comes from the confidence of experience and the maturity of the filmmaker.
Correct!
Cronenberg is all about transformation. The type of transformation has shifted emphasis from overtly physical to the mental.
The moment Viggo goes from Tom to Joey is one of the greatest acting performances ever. You are like holy hell who is this guy?
It would have been so easy for this movie to do cool, stylized violence, but I admire the fact that Cronenberg deliberating makes the bloodshed so off-putting. It really speaks volumes during that scene when his wife asks him if he enjoyed killing, and he basically says, “Joey did. Tom didn’t.”
One of my favorite films of all time for the following reason: It could have been nothing. Stories like this have been told more times than I can count. But the acting and directing and cinematography elevated it to a whole new plane.
This movie was always underrated. Like, I don’t think it should’ve won Oscars or anything, but it always deserved a lot more love than it got in general. Really solid flick
Hopefully this gets it some more eyes! I loved it.
It was nominated and won a whole bunch of awards and was pretty much a staple in critics Top 10 lists the year it came out.
@@Myst031and yet…
It gets a lot of praise, but this youtube. Everything over ten years old is sO uNdeRraTeD to somebody.
It deserve best picture best film of 2005
Look into his son Brandon. Possessor is a great film. Also, if you go for Eastern Promises, Viggo put A LOT of work into that role. The tattoo artist used in that film, has an interesting history as well. It’s worth looking into.
Yeah, Eastern Promises is a masterpiece.
“What about our last name, Stahl?”
“…it was available.”
Might be one of the most chilling lines in film history.
This film has always been in my top 10. The scene where the bully cuts off the two psychopaths and he instantly recognizes their "level" of evil without any verbal exchange was done so well. All the actors did an amazing job! Great review.
"My back already hurts" James you never fail to crack me up! Thanks for all your hard work! Pat
I never thought I'd find anything as cool and gratifying as watching great films, but watching people fall in love with great films and filmmakers in semi-real time comes close.
The reason i like James specifically is due to his background he has an eye for things us cinephiles understand but most “reactors” miss
Dead Ringers by Cronenberg is fascinating.
Edit: And visually stunning, too!
That's the Cronenberg pinnacle.
Viggo Mortensen was on fire in the naughties. LOTR goes without saying but this one and Eastern Promises really blew me away. I also thought Hidalgo was OK, and I've been meaning to watch The Road and Alatriste for the longest time. Great reaction, James.
He's great in _The Road_ , but, damn, that movie is harrowing.
@@jackal59yeah, I've never been able to rewatch the road. Well made film, but very hard to watch.
The Road destroyed me.
Hell yeah tbh I actually think this is David Cronenbergs best film and Vigos best performance. He even considers it his best and William Hurt is fantastic. got nominated for an Oscar despite being in it for less than ten minutes.
You can't top Viggo in Eastern Promises
@@mafeld5051 you make a great point. I know for a fact vigo thinks this is the best performance he ever gave
That final close-up reminds me so much of the aftermath of the elevator scene in DRIVE, after Ryan Gosling brutally kills the goon and turns to Carey Mulligan with this remorseful puppy dog look
Now Estern Promises is a must watch, its a truly great film also directed by David Cronenberg.
You should check out Cronenberg’s interviews. Dude’s ridiculously smart. When he was in college, he wasn’t sure if he’d pursue medicine or literature. Then met some film students and thought, I could combine both interests by filmmaking. Cool to see his horror beginnings in body horror evolve into more subtle explorations of the same themes.
And now his son is also a director.
That man married a true one. She trusted her man and just rolled on with it. Love that about this film. I find the wife to be absolutely superb.
This is a great film, and the fact that it's not often considered one of Cronenberg's best apeaks to how good of a director he is
I just love Vigo.The first movie I ever saw him in was a Harrison Ford movie called Witness.He played an Amish man in one of the scenes.He is also a polyglot,and that I find a remarkable ability.William Hurt did pass away in 2022.
I had no idea Cronnenberg directed this film. A mob guy who's in hiding and gets found out by his fellow mafia brothers is so different for a director like David. Great film, and i was shockingly suprised to see that he did direct it cause this feels more like a Ridley Scott film or a David Fincher type film. But the gore definitely fits his style in this film. He does violence so intensely in this movie. Props and hats off. Love seeing directors stretch their talents to different genres. Great reaction James.
RIP William Hurt
He was nominated for an Academy Award for this short role. If you're a fan of his, check out Children of a Lesser God. Very different film, but has phenomenal acting from him and Marlee Matlin.
Best be following this up with Eastern Promises, Cronenberg’s next film after A History of Violence, and continuing his work with Viggo Mortensen.
William hurt was nominated for best supporting actor for his small roll, he was such a great actor
Personally, what I love the most about this film is the fact that it is a TIGHT 90 minute long film. They don't make many of those these days.
Does seem like something that’s more rare nowadays. Feels like a ton of films are minimum 2 hours now, which is fine but not every story needs that. We even see a lot of films that stretch to 3 hours now
Cronenberg is a great filmmaker, and this is my personal favorite of his work. This is a very beautiful performance piece, with really sophisticated characterization. What Cronenberg does with the camera here is definitely something aspiring filmmakers should analyze. This is a very underrated gem!
"My back is already hurtin' just watching this"
That's how you know you're getting old. 🤣
I'm excited that you're actually watching this movie. It's always been one of my favorites but very underrated like nobody knows about it.
I remember how I felt the first time I watched this. It's so good. It's awesome with Eastern Promises.
13:49 I love that you appreciated how visceral that punch was. There has been plenty of movie punches, but for some reason, the execution, timing, and sound design of that one punch just had an effect on me
Well, I am dropping all my responsibilities to watch this right now! I can’t wait till you see Naked Lunch and Existenz (which, arguably, works even better now than on release)
History Of Violence: David Cronenberg adapts a dark comic book- I’m in!
Naked Lunch is actually on the poll!
Just ordered the 4k of eXistenZ from Vinegar Syndrome yesterday. Cannot wait for that release.
@@JamesVSCinema well, don’t eat that day.
Seriously though, excellent film, also a bit challenging.
Just remember
“exterminate all rational thoughts”
@@JamesVSCinemaIf you haven’t read the book Naked Lunch-one of my favorites from back in the day-this movie is utterly fascinating. He took an unfilmable book and…he made it filmmable by contextualizing scenes and themes into the author’s real life biographical events. It’s like a weird combo of the book and Cronenberg. Instead of Brundle-Fly stepping out of the telepod, so to speak, you get Naked Lunch.
Cronenberg is a masterful director but my personal faves are Videodrome, Dead Ringers and Crash. All of his films are incredible.
Viggo Mortensen starred in another film called - "Eastern promises" . There is also a documentary about this, I think it's still out there. Without saying too much, the fake tattoos he has in the movie almost caused him trouble on a bar, after 2 weeks spend in an actual prison in Russia. My brother told me this. Anyways, the two guys that had taken notice of his ink, and after questioning that between themselves confronted him, because the ink he had on his hands was a trait only captains have in their world. Viggo explained his situation, and that is the beginning of a story worth looking into.
Your videos are awesome. Have nice day
I think they were rather afraid of him
@@marokanetc Quite the opposite. The only reason why they checked him out was because they were both "officers". And as "captains" are pretty few, and that they did not recoqnize him - they called him over to their table. I don't want to spoil it if you happen to find the doc with the story. It's really worth it if you are into the whole theme with the criminal underworld.
Finally, someone reacts to this. Saw it in theater when it came out, great movie.
I love Cronenberg's penchant for making violence blunt and ugly, there's no glorifying what his chracters are doing
Great reaction and film The Brood and Eastern Promises are also both worth watching!
So awesome to follow your Cronenberg journey. He's always been one of my faves, and this is one of his best later films. My personal top 5: Dead Ringers, The Brood, Maps To The Stars, The Dead Zone, The Fly...oh, ok I'll add one more - The Naked lunch.
YES! Phenomenal film. Any film with Ed Harris being shady is a quality casted film.
Ed Harris was squeaky clean dudley do right in The Right Stuff. Nailed it too.
@@playedout148 Of course he's varied, but "shadowy figure" is the role he excels at most.
Unfortunately, like a lot of Viggos films that aren't LOTR, this is an underrated gem. You should also check out Captain Fantastic and The Road. Top notch Viggo Mortensen performances.
thats just movies in general that came out during that time period because if there wasnt a huge advertisement for a movie, no one knew about it. People forget lol the early 2000's wasnt like today where we can just watch trailers on youtube and shit. to find these movies, you had to go to Wal Mart or Movies and More or Blockbuster Video and browse the new movies - just like a record shop. This movie was well known back then - just like Eastern Promises was too. All of my friends have seen it. We had the DVDs. We just dont talk about it 20 years later. Doesnt make them underrated. Excuse me for the rant - Im just sick of everyone calling everything "underrated" when they were well known upon their release or caught a buzz around the time of their release. If these movies were truely underrated, they wouldnt be consistently winning polls for us telling these youtube reactors what to watch.
Eastern Promises with the same director is amazing, too. Not sure if anyone has reacted to that one yet.
The Road is absolutely top tier imo, but can only be seen once... it's so damn bleak and depressing
Also Eastern Promises and The Prophecy.
@fxzero666 I didn't know that Viggo was in The Road. Havnt seen it yet but i might give it a try just to see Viggo's performance; the book traumatised me a bit.
One of my all time favorite movies. Everyone was perfect in the parts they play. I remember thinking they still had the wrong guy up until he told him he should have killed him in Philly.
FUN FACT: In the screenplay, the last scene seems to end on a down note. Then you turn the page, and the only thing the final page says is “There’s hope.”
LOVE this movie. The conversation with William Hurt is one of my favorite movies scenes of all time.
William Hurt DID pass away somewhat recently. He actually got nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this role, even though he was in the movie for like 5 minutes
This is special film to me. It came out while I was in high school, and it was one of the first movies that I really wanted to study everything about from narrative themes to camera work. When it came out on DVD, I watched it three times in one afternoon including David Cronenberg's commentary.
I think the message is the same as American History X: violence begets violence. Joey tries to erase his past by creating a new identity, but he can't escape it, his nature.
This movie lives rent-free in the recesses of my mind for whatever reason. Shout out to one of my favourite, fellow Canadian actors Stephen McHattie. You ought to watch Pontypool for a delicious indie (Canadian) experience. Dude is a maritime legend.
Cronenberg is a madman
So many fantastic films
Eastern Promises, Cosmopolis etc
He seems to enjoy the idea of metamorphosis/evolution/camouflage
William Hurt’s Oscar nomination Was well deserved. A short but sweet performance.
The scene when he washes in the pond behind richies house is great. It’s like he’s being born again through baptism
I saw this in theaters and what a wild experience being so completely subverted on the big screen
I like David Cronenberg despite not being a big fan of body horror. This movie is his best IMO. He brings all his experience and style to a story that is very much psychological horror instead of body horror. And it's brilliant!
Edit: I forgot Eastern Promises was by Cronenberg. I guess they're tied then. Love them both.
One of the best adaptions from Art to Film, having static shots which mimic how panels work. Really special movie
There are not enough people discussing Mortnensen's Role in Hidalgo.
Fun Fact: John Hurt was so good in the last 10 mins that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, at the Oscars that year.
An underrated gem. Viggo’s acting is off the charts here 👑
I saw this in theaters. I remember it being quite obvious the plot was having to do with Viggo having a hidden past and a history of violence just as the title eludes.
Based on a graphic novel . This film and Road to perdition starring tom hanks came during a time Hollywood was looking at independent comics for movies. I think it was Sin City and 300 that started this trend
I watched this movie on TV, completely at random late one night when I couldn't sleep, back in 2009 (easily remembered because I documented it on facebook and recently saw it on my "memories" page.😁 ).
I'm so happy I did, because it's a really, really good movie that had gone completely under my radar.
Since then, I have been spreading the word to anyone who will listen. 🙂
I think the scene where Ed Harris enters the cafeteria with the mob for the first time is quite underrated. To me, it's one of the most powerful badass scenes ever because Joey showed there that he has ice in his veins.
I LOVE this movie and feel like no one ever reacts to it…I feel like no one I know has even seen it! Can’t wait to watch this reaction.
This movie is so burned into my mind, superb acting in this one.
I always will love the story of how David Cronenberg got onto making this movie.
I still think he was like “nah man, I can make a non-body horror movie.”
Cronenberg strikes again. Highly underrated, and so refreshing to see complex character portrayals. Shot in and around rural Ontario where I live, as Cronenberg likes this area, it was very cool seeing so much Canadian content here.
Love this movie. I get why it didn't land with a good portion of cinema patrons. Its a grind house movie through and through, the interaction with the two brothers at the end is borderline black comedy, the tone shifts in this movie are extreme haha. Love it. Brawl in cell block 99 is something you should definitely peep if you liked this.
Holy crap! Never thought I'd see anyone react to one of my favorite movies. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I enjoy watching your reactions on the technical aspects, but I love when I see You suddenly get entranced in the actual movie, bravo, I love this movie from the first time I saw it, Viggo is tremendous actor…
Believe it or not (you probably will 🤷♂), but this was Cronenberg's most successful film after The Fly. It is also based on a comic book. And it was the last major studio film to be released on VHS. AND... also the first (and apparently only so far) mainstream theatrical film to feature a "69," as the kids on the street like to call it, among the two main characters, which I believe Cronenberg mentioned on the commentary track that someone had pointed out to him.
A comic book by the legendary John Wagner, who is more well known for being the co-creator of Judge Dredd for 2000AD in 1977 (those 2000AD anthology comics are still ongoing by the way, released weekly, and every comic features a Judge Dredd story/ongoing storyline)
Its John Wick if there was any kind of emotion or honesty or realism with its violence. But then, John Wick was a series literally written by stuntmen.
You’ve gotta do Naked Lunch. Excellent body horror and a plot to match.
Also based on one of the most disturbingly beautiful books ever written. Would recommend the audiobook with headphones
One of my favorite movies. The acting is phenomenal!
Your reaction to the scene on the stairs was hilarious. Great choice, this is such an underrated film.
this movie was one of those hidden gems for me. I went in not knowing what to expect and it just hooked me so hard after that first violent scene in the diner. the depiction of such brutal violence in this movie is so good because it's juxtaposed against the small-town family-man story
Love that this film came AFTER his other films we've watched on the channel.
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Have a great day!
21:05
I do my impression of William Hurt in this scene frequently when I get exasperated about something on the evening news - it's always stuck with me ever since I first saw this film. :D
John wick is like Eastern promises and History of violence had a baby.
It's interesting. I read the comic this was adapted from a year before watching the film. There actually IS pretty hardcore body horror in it, so I thought it fit perfectly for Cronenberg. But then he went out of his way to NOT include that part of the story. He was way more interested in the two personalities and identities.
To the body horror: While Joey was gone for many years, the gangsters tortured and mutilated someone close to him for all this time. No legs, no arms, no teeth, only one eye. Burned and scarred all over. But still alive.
But the movie doesn't need it. It works perfectly well without it.
Such a great movie. Loved your reaction, how it reflected that the audience never knew where this was going. Richey was the late, great William Hurt - whose accent alone was a character into itself. What a great cast all around. Stephen McHattie, brilliant with his few scenes.
I'm generally a fan anyway, but if you're to point to one Mortensen performance that shows you all you need to know about how good he is, I think it's this film. His performance is almost endlessly surprising and nuanced. His ability to do so much with little is almost beyond compare; telling you just as much as you need to know, or making you think you see something else....It's stunning. Actually my favourite Cronenberg movie.
Just stumbled onto this channel and this film is criminally underrated.
I'm really shocked I don't see anyone suggesting Croenenberg's movie Existenz. I'd love to see a reaction of that one. It's a total head trip like Videodrome.
This was filmed 20 minutes from me in Millbrook Ontario. My friends wife and sister are extras in the downtown scene
Best standing up to a bully scene in the history of cinema
I’d recommend Cronenberg’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel “The Dead Zone.”
Once you ended with "...but I feel like time could heal this" ROFL
It's hard to believe that this is actually based on a COMIC BOOK.
"Eastern Promises" (2007) and "eXistenZ" (1999). Anybody else with me?
I've read theories that this movie was intended to be in part a metaphor for post-9/11 America, particularly in its portrayal of the main character. Like the U.S., Tom projects an "aw shucks", wholesome Apple Pie-type image, but underneath it is a violent history and a willingness to unleash that violence if attacked, which is exactly what happens in the movie. It's just a theory (and to my knowledge, Cronenberg has never acknowledged its accuracy), but it seems to fit pretty well.
Viggo Mortensen is so damn good in this. He plays the dual personalities so perfectly and adds so many subtleties to his performance.
I don't buy that at all. Cronenberg has much bigger, primitive fish to fry. Consider the two explicit sex scenes to contrast Tom from Joey. Like Sartre (No Exit), the "big thinkers" tend to drift towards our subversive nature as the violent hominids we are and the relationships we find ourselves in.
I think by the end, Edie accepts Tom's hidden feral side, she recognizes her own buy-in. She may not understand it, but she just knows it down deep that she wants him.
Quite the attempt by the Canadian director to prism a complicated subject like violence through many different lenses. Almost feels like a play with so few characters and sets.
That shot at 15:34 is an awesome piece of cinematography in a close up.
This is one his absolute best Films and one of the best Films ever made.
I watched this movie as a middle-schooler thinking it’d be some badass action movie and it turned out to be a great philosophical view on how violence ripples through people, starting with Tom/Joey. It’s influenced my own storytelling as I write suspense/action novels
William Hurt was a wonderful actor. Rest in peace.
when i saw "nobody" i was feeling deja vu but couldn't figure it out. eventually i realized that it reminded me of "a history of violence".
Like the movie or not (I LOVED it), this character shows just what an excellent actor Viggo Mortensen is.
The way he flips between “Tom” and “Joey” so well that you can see it in his face and eyes and hear it in his voice…it’s chilling.
And yes, he was “John Wicking” before John Wick. 😂
I remember when the DVD got released my Mom picked it up. I think i was like 16 when I watched it and was floored.
This film was shot in Millbrook, Ontario!
One of the most underrated movies of all time
One of my faves, it handles the violence well. Whilst graphic it’s serves to underline the brutality of the moment and his past.
Incidentally Viggo’s son Henry is a director he’s mostly done music videos but he’s also done a documentary about a band called Skating Polly. Oh and he had a small background part in something called Lord Of The Rings.
It's wild that the reveal at the end of this movie is that he was the Philly Phanatic
This is such an amazing film, it’s great to see you watch it. I hope you’re doing well James, have a great rest of your day and take care!