IU Cinema celebrated the 30th anniversary of “Crash,” directed by David Cronenberg, on Tuesday night. The 1996 film is based on J.G. Ballard’s 1973 novel of the same name.
“Crash” is a graphic and confusing film, offering an erotic exploration of people’s fascination with car crashes as an extreme allegory for human connection. The film stars James Spader, Holly Hunter and Deborah Kara Unger.
I found the film bizarre, confusing and somehow incredibly captivating, especially with its car crash scenes. The film is very sexually explicit, which is not my preference, so I looked away during some of those moments.
Still, despite the many explicit scenes, it never felt too raunchy. The movie is undeniably strange and does not follow one clear plot. Instead, it feels more like a journey of discovery the audience goes on alongside Spader’s character, James Ballard.
I may not fully understand why the characters are so fascinated by car crashes and the extreme actions they take as a result, but I do understand the idea Cronenberg seems to be exploring about people’s fascination with them. It made me think about how many people slow down when they see a crash just to get a glimpse of the aftermath, and how the movie may function as an exaggerated symbol of that.
IU Cinema chose to screen “Crash” because Cronenberg’s work, and “Crash” in particular, explores themes that remain timely.
Alicia Kozma, director of IU Cinema, said the film examines human relationships in an increasingly technological society and asks what it means to integrate technology into people’s understanding of themselves and others. Though the film centers on cars, Kozma noted it is ultimately about isolation, intimacy and the human need for connection.
Kozma said those themes were relevant when the film was released 30 years ago and remain relevant now, in a time still shaped by uncertainty and constant technological change. She said while the film portrays those ideas in an extreme way, that extremity helps highlight how isolation can push people to seek connection in destructive ways.
Kozma said the decision to screen the film was made months in advance through an extensive scheduling process in which IU Cinema works with distributors including A24, Neon, Fox and Criterion.
“Once we come to that agreement, we book the film, start marketing and promoting it, and then our in-house technical team receives the film from the same distributor and makes sure it looks perfect and sounds perfect,” Kozma said. “Then everyone buys tickets, comes in and watches a really amazing movie.”
About 50 attendees came to see the film, each drawn in by different aspects of it. Bloomington residents Michaela Cox and Brooke Harter said Spader was what drew them to the screening, noting they are both big fans of his.
Harter said IU Cinema feels more intimate than other theaters.
“The art is always nice, and it’s always nice to be able to support the students,” Harter said.
Both attendees said they would recommend the film, though Cox noted “Crash” is different from the kinds of movies most people usually watch.
“Sometimes it’s fun to watch something new. Whenever I told people about this, they said, ‘I’ve never heard of that,’ and I was like, ‘You will,’” Cox said. “So it’s just fun to go watch something different, even if it’s older.”
Unlike Cox and Harter, who had seen the film before, I went into “Crash” without knowing what to expect. I watched it with an open mind and with Kozma’s and the attendees’ advice in mind. When the movie was introduced, the speaker even gave a somewhat ominous warning that new viewers might have weird dreams that night.
Thankfully, I did not have weird dreams, but the film did leave a lasting impression because of the intensity of the car crashes portrayed and the characters’ strange reactions and obsession with them. I would recommend it to viewers interested in an unsettling film that pulls them into a completely different world.
