Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
6/9/10
Generally
speaking, we're wary about the power of science. The ability to create,
cure, destroy; it doesn't always seem like a good idea to put it in the
hands of, you know, people. After all, nobody knows better than us
how messed up we are, and even when our decisions make sense to us, they
can be seriously crazy. We call the maniacs who unleash movie monsters
upon us “Mad Scientists” for a reason, and Vincenzo Natali's Splice
provides us with one for the ages. Sarah Polley's Elsa Kast is a
perfect storm of mad science; wanting to create new life forms to prove
she can, developing an instant paternal attachment to said life forms,
and making a very bad parent. The MPAA isn't whistling Dixie when
they lead their R rating with “disturbing elements”: Splice
is a calm, quiet horror show that piles on one disquieting detail after
another before becoming a tad conventional in the final few minutes.
At its best, it's creepy, creepy stuff.
Geneticists
Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) and Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) have created two
blob-like creatures that secrete valuable livestock pharmaceuticals, and
they're primed to take the project to the next level by injecting human
DNA into their next creation to create medicines for use on people.
Their financier (Simona Maicanescu) has other ideas: it's imperative
that the genes that created those valuable drugs be isolated before her
company goes under, and she'll approve no further hybrids until they do
so. Elsa isn't interested in standing down and talks her boyfriend
Clive down a road of “seeing if they can” create a human/animal hybrid.
First, they do the calculations, then create the embryo, and then bring
it to term, vowing to quit after each step. But one there's a living
creature they've created, Elsa clings to it with a fierce maternal drive
and starts bringing the rapidly growing being she dubs Dren (Abigail Chu
as a child, Delphine Chaneac as an adult) toys and clothes. Clive's
brother Gavin (Brandon McGibson) discovers Dren hidden in the basement
of their lab, so they smuggle her to the abandoned farm where Elsa was
raised. It doesn't take long to realize that her late mother was
quite mad, and as she applies makeup and jewelry to the humanoid creature
with gills, retractable wings and a stinger on her tail, Elsa, Clive and
Dren become a family of sorts. Elsa needs Dren to love her, but the
creature shows feelings for Clive, who in turn finds himself attracted
to her. This can't end well: Dren has genetic drives that have
nothing to do with playing with dolls and learning to dance.
Like
one of those pictures that's either a vase or two profiles depending on
how you look at it, Splice will strike different viewers as a movie
about the dark sides of science, parenting, animal rights or all of the
above. Only fair, because it is above all else about the way our
perspective on what's right and wrong is twisted by our issues. The
film does a quick, splendid job of sketching Elsa an utterly horrifying
childhood by simply showing her bedroom at her mother's farmhouse, a spartan
space that looks more like a prison cell than a child's sanctuary.
“I thought you said she left it just the way it was,” Clive comments, and
she tersely responds, “She did.” The origin of Clive's feelings for
Dren is a little harder to pin down (no matter whose DNA she has, the creature
is still awfully freaky, although maybe that's the point), but either way
the movie gets all sorts of mileage out of watching these two alleged professionals
get lost playing house with this animal they've created while we look on
in amazement.
Dren
is a great creation, wonderfully played by Chaneac with an eye toward moment-to-moment
unpredictability. Will she pet that cat that wanders into the barn,
snap its neck or eat it? As a half-human, half-everything, creature
designer Dan Ouelette has given her an oddly round yet ridgy face that's
still vaguely attractive, a cute tail with a not-so-cute retractable stinger,
and those creepy wings that look either like ragged old sails or lovely
butterfly wings depending upon how they're lit. Dren is very bright
and quickly learns to spell out words with Scrabble pieces, a talent neither
Elsa nor Clive shows much interest in developing, perhaps because it gets
in the way of them projecting their own thoughts on her.
While
most of the human characters simply serve their plot purpose and are played
accordingly, Polley is sensational as Elsa. Before it becomes clear
that she's crazy, her relentless forward motion is a lot of fun, and it's
easy to get sucked in just like Clive does by how much she makes their
mad experiments seem like a game. Then, at first, she's the picture
of motherly love as she embraces Dren and forgives her every fault (what's
a little bunny eating among friends?). But she does seem to embrace
tough love awfully happily, and by the time their nuclear family starts
to explode, the enthusiasm with which she punishes her “child” is chilling.
All the while, she sticks to a really horrible motto for a scientist:
“What's the worst thing that could happen?” It's a real tour de force.
While
it contains almost no gore, Splice had my face twisted in some sort
of revulsion at least half the time: this movie is one sick puppy
*****SPOILER WARNING: PLOT SURPRISES TO BE DISCUSSED*****
By the time we're done, all three of the major characters have had sex
in every possible combination, and the last of those can be called rape,
incest and bestiality all at once. Natali recalls David Cronenberg
both in his interest in human-creature sex and the skill with which he
uses sex scenes to illuminate his characters. You know you're in
strange territory when I'd be remiss not to mention how well he uses Dren's
wings in the sex scenes, and how much opportunity we're given to ponder
what part sex might play in what proves to be a very strange life cycle
for the creature. It's a bit of a letdown that the movie expects
a fairly obvious development to be a big surprise in the final moments,
but that's consistent with final scenes that unfortunately switch to autopilot.
*****END OF SPOILERS*****
Natali
stages the suspense scenes with a fair amount of skill, although Tetsuo
Nagata's moody cinematography generates at least as much suspense as where
the camera's actually pointing. Those expecting a standard horror
movie will be disappointed until the final ten minutes or so, when Sci-Fi
Channel-style creature action takes over in a vaguely incongruous wrap-up.
But if you're looking for a movie that mixes weird science and twisted
character study, Splice is the flick for you. If nothing else,
it makes an excellent case for peer oversight in the creation of medicine-secreting
blob creatures. |
