Customer Reviews

Crash (BFI Modern Classics)

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As a fan of Ballard I am definitely not a fan of Cronenberg, whom I find superficial, sensational and laddish in the extreme. The movie extracted the least interesting elements of the book and turned them into a kind of techno-porn which I associated with Cronenberg's preferred genre before this book. Now I have a clearer idea of what disturbs me about Cronenberg's versions of books which I have admired -- including The Naked Lunch -- and Sinclair subtly teases out the woman-hating elements which are in both Ballard and Cronenberg, attacks the specious nature of the treatment and reveals the film for the piece of faux-auterism that it is. I didn't know why I didn't like Crash until I read Sinclair and Sinclair in no way attacks the film. He just collects the evidence and presents it. A respected film maker himself (Cardinal and the Corpse, The Falconer, Asylum) Sinclair must be one of the smartest critics in the business. I always follow his essays in the London Review of Books and would recommend them. Sinclair may make films about 'illuminati' but he is himself wonderfully illuminating. I can't recommend this clever, precise essay enough.

Sinclair all but ignores David Cronenberg's adaptation of "Crash," focusing instead on Ballard's novels "Crash" and "The Atrocity Exhibition." Unfortunately, he offers little fresh insight into these seminal works.

The BFI series are supposed to be about FILMS, not the novels that inspired them.

The RE/Search volume on J. G. Ballard still remains the best introduction to his work, rendering Sinclair's book unnecessary.