Dead Ringers

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🎙️ EPISODE 475: 05.26.22 For whatever reason, this one didn't connect with me. I guess part of the job of being a semi-professionally is explaining those reasons, but sometimes you simply don't vibe with a film. This is by no means a 'bad movie'; in some ways, it's Cronenberg's most polished to date (it's definitely his most 'grown up' film, insomuch as there are hardly any supernatural or sci-fi or traditional horror elements). At nearly two hours, its his longest movie to date and I believe one of the longest in his entire filmography. And, as such, it does commit the cardinal sin of being boring at times. Outside of Stephen Lack (Cameron Vale from Scanners) in a brief but noteworthy role, this insular story consists of just three characters, and two of those are twins played by the same actor (Jeremy Irons).

I've mentioned many times that the earlier films lacked restraint in terms of character bloat and run-on storytelling, but the flip-side of that coin can be worse.

This feels like a crossroads for both the D.C. oeuvre and this project. I don't really have it in me to do the whole video recap thing with this film. I thought it was fine (a very low 7), but I'm just not that interested in rehashing it in this space. I am hoping that the move into the 1990s is a good one, and we'll get back on track.

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 11th 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚗𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚐 – 𝚖𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑/𝚛𝚎𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚗𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚐'𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢. 𝙲𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎...

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 474 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 476 ⫸

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Dead Ringers is a 1988 psychological thriller film starring Jeremy Irons in a dual role as identical twin gynecologists. David Cronenberg directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Norman Snider. Their script was based on the lives of Stewart and Cyril Marcus and on the novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, a "highly fictionalized" version of the Marcuses' story. It was released on September 8, 1988.