Product Description

David Cronenberg's "Crash" (1996) attracted controversy when it was first screened in London, and remain banned in 1998 by at least one borough council. The film won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes, only for some members of the jury to dis-associate themselves from it. And yet it is a controlled, formal film, unsensational; more analytic than titilating. It is an expose of modern pathologies. It has almost none of the violence and explicit sexual content of the J.G. Ballard novel from which it is adapted. So, what is the relationship between Cronenberg's film and Ballard's book? And further, what is the relationship between Ballard himself and the character "James Ballard" in Crash? In this book, which includes an interview with Ballard, Iain Sinclair explores the temporal loop which connects film and novel. If Cronenberg "adapted" Crash, he also absorbed it and made it into something new. Yet, the novel controls the film, or uses the film to disguise its subversive intent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #389304 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Customer Reviews

Monograph, equal parts Ballard, Cronenberg, Sinclair
One of the longest of the BFI monographs on classic films. Readers familiar with Sinclair's oeuvre will feel thoroughly at home. However whilst it is the the rich, allusive density of his prose which gives his other books their highly distinctive character, here it tends to get in the way of the book's ostensible job: to discuss the film "Crash". If the reader is looking for a reference-packed, free associating examination of the relationship between J.G.Ballard,"James Ballard", Ballard's book and Cronenberg's film, highly mediated by Sinclair's prose style, they will not be disappointed. However, as a straightforward, well-focused discussion of the film the book is less than ideal.

Certifiably insane
Iain Sinclair's study of Crash for the BFI Modern Classics series is fascinating and insightful, both with regard to the film by David Cronenberg and especially with regard to the book it was based on. It benefits from an in-depth interview with the original author, J.G. Ballard, and from Sinclair's familiarity with a number of other films, novels and television programmes (most of which I had never heard of) based on or inspired by Crash. There comes a disturbing moment, about halfway through the book, when you realise that both Ballard and Sinclair are certifiably insane and beyond help. But only men this insane could produce such genius. Reccommended to any fan of Ballard or Cronenberg. Not reccommended for the faint of heart.