A History Of Violence (2005) ***1/2
I remember thinking when I first saw A History Of Violence twenty years ago when it was released in theaters that this was a more straightforward David Cronenberg. That's intentional in the design. While it feels more like a studio film than any other Cronenberg film, it's definitely still a Cronenberg film—the bursts of violence, the beautiful Howard Shore score, the rich Peter Suschitzky cinematography, that last scene (and last shot). It's just more subdued.
AHOV is a very good film and it rewards rewatches. It's funnier than I remembered. Viggo Mortensen is good, Maria Bello is really good. I never realized before how much of John Ford's (and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) [review]) influence hangs over this one as well—violent pasts, identity, the myth of the idyllic American dream. Still, something has always felt missing. Several of the situations feel a bit too contrived. The accents are a bit too forced. I like that overall it's simple and relatively subtle, but I almost wish the film was more melodramatic—perhaps then it would feel more Cronenbergian.
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