(4 ½ stars out of five)--One of the best films of the year. Director David Cronenberg takes the tired genre of "psychological thriller" and turns it on its ear, creating a nicely textured, subtle drama with moments of shocking violence. Now, I must tell you, I'm not a person that usually "jumps" at a sudden shock or scare in a movie. Well, this movie caused me to do so. Twice. Cronenberg draws out his silences so long that when the violent act does occur, it comes literally out of nowhere. The violence in the film is treated almost like an ugly poetry, with very little cutting during the scenes of brutality, showing the killing in all its maliciousnesss. Cronenberg also uses a nice technique of placing the sound over the action a split second before you see it onscreen, keeping you one step behind of everything that's happening. A definite Best Director contender here: from the moment the movie starts, you truly feel as if you are in the hands of a powerful storyteller. No matter how great everything else in the movie is - and there are great things, to be sure - this movie is Cronenberg's, and you can sense it every step of the way. Finally, the fall movie season has begun...
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