As promised here’s a wrap up of the movies I screened at Fantastic Fest 2013.
Borgman
Borgman, the subversive film by Alex van Warmerdam (The Last Days of Emma Blank), opens oddly as a priest and two men armed with guns hunts for the dirty, unshaven, and frail Camiel Borgman who lives underground. He and two other similar men narrowly escape the attackers.
From there things get weirder and more inexplicable as he befriends Marina and Richard, eventually living in their house as the gardener. Borgman wields psychological and sexual power over Marina. Others of similar temperament join with him as the dead bodies start to pile up.
The bloodless movie relies on subtlety and dark pervasive humor in a story riddled with fascinating ideas and concepts but little explanation. All characters save Borgman are very passive in their actions and reactions. Matter of fact, the moment characters begin to exhibit proactive traits, they are killed.
Though Borgman suffers from vagueness and lack of clear motivation, van Warmerdam crafted an intriguing and compelling movie, fueled largely by the mysterious lead.
Cheap Thrills
Alongside the coverage here, I also wrote reviews about several of the movies for The Horn including Cheap Thrills.
The directorial debut from director E.L. Katz, Cheap Thrills delivers a nasty addition to the thriller genre in a fast paced, all-in-one night story.
Married with a toddler, frustrated writer Craig’s (Pat Healy) life fractures after receiving an eviction notice and getting fired from his auto mechanic job. Rather than going home to face his wife, Craig decides to hang out in a bar with his old high school friend and ex-con Vince (Ethan Embry). While there, they meet a rich couple, Colin and Violet (David Koechner and Sara Paxton), celebrating her birthday. The quartet share drinks and shortly after Colin begins giving Craig and Vince money for completing certain tasks. At first simple things like who can finish their drink first or get a woman to slap them, but things quickly spiral out of control in escalating horrific and violent acts.
The excellent acting buoys the tense thriller especially from Koechner, who perfectly underplays the sociopathic, Mephistophelesian Colin. The screenplay from David Chirchirillo and Trent Haaga presents a surprising nuanced and disturbing view of misanthropy.
Read the rest of my review at The Horn.
Detective Downs
Surprising clever take on hardboiled detective genre that relies on the a most unusual detective. Robert Bogerud (Svein André Hofsø Myhre) wears a fedora and a trenchcoat, smokes constantly, surrounds himself with a bevy of femme fatales, and most surprisingly has Down Syndrome.
Thanks largely to the magnificent Myhre, who has Down Syndrome, and the complex, intelligent screenplay, which refuses to condescend, Detective Downs delivered one of the Festival’s most pleasant surprises and a must see for fans of detective film.
The Dirties
I similarly reviewed The Dirties for The Horn.
First time filmmaker Matthew Johnson’s entertaining DIY film The Dirties explores the dark realities of the victims of school yard bullying.
As a school project, best friends Matt (Johnson) and Owen (Owen Williams) create The Dirties, a cathartic revenge tale about getting back at the bullies who routinely torment the duo. Except Matt starts to take it far too seriously and begins to plot an actual retribution.
Matt experiences life almost entirely through the movies he’s seen and the camera lens for the films he makes or imagines. He often speaks in different movie character’s voices and adopts their demeanor while quote their lines All performed poorly.
Read the rest of my review at The Horn.
I reviewed this for The Horn.
The magnificent lifelike animation adds a stirring and explicit air of realism to many of the seemingly surreal moments. Combined that with great voice work, nuanced plot, and intelligent and varied dialogue, this sensational work achieves a level of social relevance reserved for documentaries and Oscar-winning films. The unique characters lend further credence to the story.
Despite its clichéd theme, the well-crafted story expertly supplies ample genuine surprises. As events unfurl it becomes obvious that almost no one is exactly what or as they seem.
Read the rest of my review at The Horn.
Goldberg & Eisenberg
Another one for The Horn.
For his first feature Goldberg & Eisenberg, Israeli director Oren Carmi combines deadpan humor and absurdism in a disturbing tale of obsession.
While waiting for a blind date in a Tel Aviv park, lonely computer programmer Jonathan Goldberg (Yitzhak Laor), whose only friend is his dog Audrey, meets Eisenberg (Yahav Gal), who recites awful, obscene poetry. After their initial encounter, Eisenberg decides they should hang out and begins appearing in Goldberg’s life. He shows up at the movies, at his home, on his dates, and even in Goldberg’s nightmares. Goldberg tries everything to avoid Eisenberg including contacting the police and making threats, but nothing works.
Carmi, who also wrote the screenplay, expertly plays the stereotypes against each other. The fat slob who disrespects everyone and everything. The Jewish schlub looking for a woman to love. Both men, who fail to fit neatly into societal norms, live sad, lonely existences despite their differences: Goldberg, no family, friendless and scared, and Eisenberg, family, friends, and seemingly fearless. Goldberg lives in a world of law and order. The thug Eisenberg lives in a lawless, chaotic reality.
Read the rest of my review at The Horn.
More to come in Part II.