Before I continue, let me apologize for my blog coverage of the 2013 Fantastic Fest. In years past, the Festival has dominated this blog, but not so much this year. Sure, I delivered a massive eight day preview, but I’ve only made one day report since and that was only day one.
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Slow start to my Fantastic Fest as I only saw two films today (well three if you count the one I stopped after 10 minutes). Tomorrow should be a lot busier.
Alongside the coverage here, I am also writing reviews about several of the movies for The Horn. The Japanese feature Greatful Dead, which enjoyed it’s world premiere at the Festival, fell in that category.
Greatful Dead (Gureitofuru deddo), the newest film from Japanese director Eiji Uchida (Last Days of the World), paints a darkly comic portrait of a disturbed young woman. The unsettling, but flawed, picture follows a descent into madness.
Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) grew up in a fractured household. Her mother (who cares more for poor foreign children than her own) abandons Nami and her older sister; her father spirals into depression and starts dating a beautiful younger woman; Nami’s older sister runs off with her boyfriend so she can have a “normal” life; and then her father commits suicide. All before she turns eighteen.
When she turns twenty, Nami inherits a sizable fortune, which enables her to engage fully in her secret life as voyeur. She prefers watching elderly men, who live alone with minimal contact with others. Nami calls these people “solitarians.”
Read the rest of my review at The Horn. Continue reading
Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world, starts here in Austin TOMORROW! Over the past several days, I’ve previewed the movies I plan on seeing and blogging about over the course of the week long festival.
After escaping from prison, Ramón heads for a mysterious village where a fellow inmate claims to have hidden a stash of stolen jewels years earlier. Nestled deep within the twisted and foreboding woods of Galicia, Spain and positioned along a well-worn pilgrimage route, the village is a secluded and traditions-obsessed relic of ancient times. Its inhabitants take a peculiar interest in travelers passing through and the local church cleric Don Cesareo is quick to integrate Ramón into his flock, annoyingly preventing him from paying a visit to the house where his treasure awaits. When night falls and Ramón witnesses the entire village disappearing into the confines of the church, his curiosity is piqued. But Ramón will quickly discover that he has stumbled upon a place where archaic legends are reality and he may never be able to leave.
O’APOSTOLO is a gothic mystery and a dark adult fairy tale wonderfully realized through stop-motion animation. The world created is meticulously detailed and characters are brought to life by a cast of talented voice actors. Director Fernando Cortizo builds a palpably chilling atmosphere and injects the story with real myths and a dry, dark wit. Also featuring a memorable performance by the late and legendary Paul Naschy and an alluring theme song by Philip Glass, O’APOSTOLO is an animated film for adult genre fans with childlike imaginations. (Brian Kelley)
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Edited by Kazu Kibuishi
Cover by Kibuishi
Promo copy:
The highly anticipated second volume to the critically acclaimed Explorer series, The Lost Islands is a collection of seven all-new stories written and illustrated by an award-winning roster of comics artists, with each story centered around the theme of hidden places. Edited by the New York Times bestselling comics creator Kazu Kibuishi, this graphic anthology includes well-written, beautifully illustrated stories by Kazu (the Amulet series), Jason Caffoe (the Flight series), Raina Telgemeier (Drama and Smile), Dave Roman (the Astronaut Academy series), Jake Parker (the Missile Mouse series), Michel Gagné (The Saga of Rex), Katie and Steven Shanahan (the Flight series), and up-and-coming new artist Chrystin Garland.
The previous volume Explorer: The Mystery Boxes ranked among my top ten graphic novels of 2012.
Explorer: The Mystery Boxes edited by Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet)
Kazu Kibuishi’s follow-up anthology to the award-winning Flight series, Explorer: The Mystery Boxes continues in much the same vein with an eclectic mix of beautiful stories geared toward readers of all ages. While the seven shorts, all centered around mysterious boxes, feature excellent art and superior storytelling, several of the tales excel. The creepy opening contribution “Under the Floorboards” by Emily Carroll, the clever “The Keeper’s Treasure” by Jason Caffoe, Rad Sechrist’s charming “The Butter Thief,” and Kibuishi’s foreboding “The Escape Option” showcase some of the best of the form.
Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world, starts here in Austin in just two days! Over the next several days, I’m previewing the movies I plan on seeing and blogging about over the course of the week long festival.
Beto has his fair share of problems. He has oozing lesions all over his body, maggots infest his wounds and he must inject himself with embalming fluid just to keep moving. It’s no wonder he watches longingly as people exercise their able, undiseased bodies at the gym where he works a security guard. While they strive to improve their physical selves, it’s all Beto can do to maintain some sort of presence in his increasingly isolated world. When he quits his job because he’s unable to hide his accelerating sickness, his boss Luly takes a sudden interest in him. Though he’s embarrassed to do so, he allows her to penetrate his loneliness and grants himself one last glimpse of a life where his body hasn’t completely fallen apart.
Director Sebastian Hofmann’s feature film debut is a stunning mixture of grotesque banality and beautiful meditation on the disturbing loss of self that comes with death. Tropes tried and true are subverted in ways that repurpose the impact of familiar horror conventions so that they are both negated and intensified. Alluringly lethargic and containing scant dialogue, HALLEY traps viewers inside Beto’s grisly life (or afterlife, as it were), a challenging yet consistently compelling experience.
The power of the film lies as much in the impressive performance of Alberto Trujillo as it does with Hoffman’s unflinching camera. Without Trujillo, Beto wouldn’t draw the strong and sometimes confusing audience sympathies needed for the film to avoid becoming simply gross body horror. Fortunately for us, the elements combine to make HALLEY a truly unique, dramatic and downright disturbing entry in the Fantastic Fest lineup. (Brian Kelley)
Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world, starts here in Austin in just three days! Over the next several days, I’m previewing the movies I plan on seeing and blogging about over the course of the week long festival.
Ronnie is a bastard. And not just any bastard. Ronnie is an EXCEPTIONAL bastard. The hardest of the hard men, a gleefully heartless collector of debts and dispenser of violence whose world comes crashing down around him when a taste of his own violence splashes back upon himself. The near-death experience leaves Ronnie questioning the meaning and value of his life up until that point. But not so much that he doesn’t want revenge on the person who left him near-dead.
A richly complex, beautifully executed character piece adapted from his own graphic novel by first time writer-director Guido van Driel, RESURRECTION OF A BASTARD showcases a sly sense of gallows humor, attention to detail, and an easy way with characters that puts many better established, more widely known filmmakers to shame. Like last year’s Fantastic Fest award-winning PLAN C, RESURRECTION OF A BASTARD fleshes out its truly remarkable writing with such fabulous performances and an understatedly slick sense of style that it leaves you wondering what exactly is going on in Holland to produce such unique, strong voices. Fans of the Coen Brothers and recent Scandinavian fare such as A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN should take note: You’re about to discover a new favorite. (Todd Brown)
Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world, starts here in Austin in just four days! Over the next several days, I’m previewing the movies I plan on seeing and blogging about over the course of the week long festival.
In the 1980s, a scientist and entrepreneur named Paul Bennewitz made what was—at least to him—a shocking discovery. Using powerful testing equipment, he learned that the U.S. government was conducting secret UFO research at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After reaching out to the Air Force, Bennewitz was contacted by special agent Richard C. Doty. The Air Force determined that Bennewitz uncovered classified—and purely terrestrial—projects. Doty’s job was to put an end to the snooping. He convinced Bennewitz that his discoveries were related to secret government UFO research. Doty’s disinfo campaign literally drove Bennewitz crazy and planted the seeds of several UFO myths that still persist in popular culture.
MIRAGE MEN, which is based on a book of the same name by Mark Pilkington, explores the government’s UFO disinformation. Numerous people are interviewed, including Bennewitz’s associates, former government officials like Doty, various figures in the UFO movement (e.g. William Moore, Linda Moulton Howe), UFO enthusiasts, and eyewitnesses. MIRAGE MEN isn’t a standard talking heads documentary. All voices are given equal weight. Seemingly reasonable assertions are presented side-by-side with bizarre statements that defy credulity. The interviews are expertly woven together with a judicious smattering of public domain footage to create a mind-bending narrative that seems designed to both confound and provoke. Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? Who knows? Interviewee Linda Moulton Howe calls the quest to unravel the truth behind government involvement in UFOs is like a “fractured hall of mirrors with a quicksand floor.” The same can be said of MIRAGE MEN. (Rodney Perkins)
Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world, starts here in Austin in just five days! Over the next several days, I’m previewing the movies I plan on seeing and blogging about over the course of the week long festival.
Vic (Pierrette Robitaille) is a parolee who retreats to her ailing uncle’s sugar shack in Quebec. She is joined by current love interest and fellow ex-con Flo (Romane Bohringer). Vic and Flo’s attempts to live a peaceful life in the woods are constantly interrupted by various people, including a parole officer named Guillaume (Marc-André Grondin) and an intrusive neighbor (Marie Brassard). Eventually, these pesky people create major problems for the couple.
VIC + FLO SAW A BEAR, which played in competition at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, is Denis Côté’s follow-up to the documentary BESTIAIRE. The film’s mix of drama, noir, and dark humor defies easy categorization. VIC + FLO SAW A BEAR takes place in a small town inhabited by weird quirky characters that weave in and out of the story. At first, everyone’s motives are obscure. As the plot unfolds, a nasty underlying truth emerges. Robitaille’s and Bohringer’s excellent performances as the titular characters are at the core of the film’s power. Viewers will root for these flawed yet sympathetic characters. When the pair meets their fate, the impact is simply devastating. (Rodney Perkins)
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Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world, starts here in Austin in just six days! Over the next several days, I’m previewing the movies I plan on seeing and blogging about over the course of the week long festival.
Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) is a young woman with numerous hangups sprouting from a dysfunctional childhood. She inherits a small fortune that allows her to pursue various interests, many of which are highly abnormal. For example, Nami loves to spy on people who, not unlike herself, have gone crazy from loneliness. She calls these people “solitarians.” Perhaps due to a father fixation, her favorite spying targets are old men with stiff boners. One fateful day, Nami spies on an elderly gentleman (Takashi Sasano) watching porn DVDs at home. She soon transitions from a peeping tom into a full-fledged stalker.
GREATFUL DEAD—the latest film from director Eiji Uchida (LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD)—is a character-driven black comedy that uses dark humor to explore otherwise serious themes such as religious zealotry, aging, and mental illness. The plot takes numerous twists and turns, always leading the viewer to unexpected places. The result is a film that’s alternately touching and disturbing. (Rodney Perkins)
Beginning in December 2005 with my history of apes in film essay “Gorilla of Your Dreams” (the substantially update and revised version appears in The Apes of Wrath), I regularly contributed to Moving Pictures Magazine. First in the print incarnation and then for primarily the website. I contributed reviews and essays for the last three years of the publications existence. Following the June 2011 demise of both the print and website editions, all of the digital work for MPM disappeared into the ether. In the coming months (years?), I plan on reposting many of my reviews and articles.
With the impending Fantastic Fest 2013, complete with Jim Mickle’s remake of Jorge Michel Grau’s We Are What We Are (Somos Lo Que Hay), I’m offering up my take on the original film.
