“The logical extension of business is murder,” might be the key piece of dialogue in David Cronenberg’s latest film, Cosmopolis. Indeed, we see how the mega-rich and powerful young businessman Eric Packer – an interesting role for Twilight’s Robert Pattinson – goes from being a hedonistic pseudo-philosopher brat to seeking ultimate pleasure and redemption in violence.
Much of the film happens inside Packer’s limousine, in which a digression on capitalism is relentlessly delivered by the main character and his guests – something that works in Don DeLillo’s novel, but gets a bit tiring onscreen. However, the glimpses we get of New York show us a city as we haven’t seen it before.
On one hand, it has all the cliché scenarios that you’d expect from NYC: traffic jams with yellow taxies, greasy-spoon cafes of the When Harry meets Sally type and basketball courts behind metallic fences. But, on the other, the photography makes everything look like it’s coming out of a dream – the same applies to the sound: a constant muffled background, even in the midst of chaos, that somehow highlights the urban landscape.
Among the few places Packer visits during his limo journey is an antiquarian bookshop, one of those spaces still anchored in the past within the ever evolving metropolis. There are many independent bookshops worth visiting when on holiday to New York: Argosy in midtown Manhattan, Strand on Forth Av., Book Thug Nation in trendy Williamsburg or Word in Brooklyn.
There is a barber shop in the film too – similar to the one Cronenberg used in Easter Promises. The barber’s is full of charisma, but maybe you don’t want the grittiness. In that case we recommend some old-fashioned men’s barber shops with a contemporary twist: F.S.C. Barber in the West Village and Persons of Interest in Williamsburg.
Now that you have the clues, is time to visit the big city. At Kenwood Travel we offer you great deals when you book your holiday to New York.
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