Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #47. Possessor – Brandon Cronenberg

Published on January 2, 2020

Possessor

Eight years after his 2012 debut Antiviral, Brandon Cronenberg returns with Possessor, a sci-fi thriller with a stellar cast, featuring Jennifer Jason Leigh (who starred in David Cronenberg’s 1999 film eXistenZ), Andrea Riseborough, Sean Bean, Christopher Abbott and Tuppence Middleton. Lensed by Karim Hussein (Hobo with a Shotgun, 201), the Canadian-UK co-production is produced by Andrew Starke, Kevin Krikst, Niv Fichman and Fraser Ash. Cronenberg’s debut premiered in Un Certain Regard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

Gist: From Cronenberg’s own script, Possessor follows an agent who works for a secret organization using brain-implant tech which allows people to inhabit the body of another and commit assassinations.

Release Date/Prediction: While we were thinking he’d be ready for Cannes (he finally was, but with the short Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You), Cronenberg filmed Possessor last April to July of 2019, this is headed to the World Dramatic Comp at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.