Transfer (David Cronenberg, 1966, USA)

Transfer is the first film directed by famous auteur David Cronenberg. It begins outdoors, with a man pouring a glass of Grape Crush soda into a glass cup. He then starts brushing his teeth using the Grape Crush, all the while the wind is howling outdoors on a cold Canadian plane. A man identified as Ralph, seated in a chair near the first man, begins communicating with "the doctor" (the other man). Ralph says he thought he would be safe in the place where they are. As we learn, the doctor was an "analyst" of Ralph.

The doctor then outbursts - "I was a prince in my native land!" Ralph and the doctor are seated at a kitchen table in the middle of the field. Ralph claims that he had a destructive love for the doctor. The two men walk along in the field. "Your kind are only after one thing, Ralph! Communication!" Ralph tells the doctor to stop talking about things that way after all he's been through. The doctor tells the student to stop sniveling. The doctor is going insane due to his experience working with "the sick mind". The doctor claims he "had to get away!".


Ralph then flashes a knife at the doctor... The relationship between doctor and patient seems to be a recurring fascination for Cronenberg, who later examined it is much more elaborate detail in the film A Dangerous MethodTransfer, as someone wrote, feels much more akin to the early works of John Waters, than the films of David Cronenberg. It is inspired by the Theater of Absurd, especially Beckett, which also influenced the other early works of Cronenberg. Unfortunately, the film is marred by a very bad technical quality, although this can be overlooked as it was - after all - a student film.


5/10

Comments

Popular Posts