VIFF 2012 review: Antiviral

Brandon Cronenberg obviously doesn’t dread being called a chip off the old block. There are echoes of Daddy David in Antiviral from first frame to last. There are also memories of THX 1138 and 2001: A Space Odyssey (production design only), while the story about a near-future world where ravening fans purchase celebrity viruses to bring them closer to their idols sounds like the novel that J.G. Ballard never wrote. Still, even if it isn’t particularly original, there’s no denying that Antiviral looks great, a virtue for which viewers will probably forgive it a great deal.