Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Riding across Manhattan in a stretch limo during a riot in order to get a haircut, a self-made 28-year-old billionaire asset manager's life begins to crumble.
Cosmopolis is a singular, deeply strange film — Cronenberg's adaptation of DeLillo's dense novel produces something genuinely unlike most cinema: a claustrophobic, almost theatrical dialogue-driven meditation on capitalism, death, and self-destruction, nearly all set inside a limousine. Its novelty is undeniable — the voice, tone, and conception are utterly distinctive. However, the heavily stylized, deliberately alienating dialogue divides audiences sharply, making the plot feel intentionally oblique rather than genuinely compelling. Pattinson's performance is intriguingly detached but not uniformly praised, and the supporting cast is variable. Cinematography is competent but not visually adventurous given the confined setting. The ending, while thematically coherent with its nihilistic arc, lands with muted impact rather than genuine power.