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If Only David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds Weren’t So Lifeless
There’s adultery and cuckoldry and doubles and all the other good Cronenbergian ideas. But none of it really fits together.
That’s the “shroud” of the title: a nifty piece of engineered cloth outfitted with many tiny X-ray cameras that is placed in the deceased’s coffin, allowing their loved ones to watch them slowly rot away. I will admit to not being a fan of the director’s later efforts (I prefer the earlier, funnier ones), but it feels like a gift to the world that he keeps making them, pursuing his own twisted muse no matter where it takes him. Later, Karsh’s mess of a brother-in-law, Maury (a very funny Guy Pearce), who seems to be both financially and emotionally adrift in the wake of his divorce from Bekka’s sister, Terry (also Kruger), will attempt to exert his own power over the narrative.
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