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.
DAY SEVEN
O’Apostolo
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)
Robert lives a solitary and lonely life. His sneering wife and disdainful son drive him into his own head and the secure comforts of his basement lair where he pursues his private experiments with audio frequencies. It’s all harmless curiosity until one day he has an unexpected success, stumbling across a frequency that appears to open the human mind wide to hypnotic suggestions. Play the sound, say what you want, and watch it happen. And what Robert wants is to be friends – and perhaps more – with his new neighbours.
A clever, totally lo-fi science fiction dramedy from award-winning director Antonio Tublen (ORIGINAL), LFO is a film that delights in a good idea executed well. What would happen if a quiet, lonely man were suddenly granted complete control over others? Probably something a lot like what happens here, with Robert’s ambitions scarcely extending beyond the walls of his own home as his initial excitement over scientific discovery quickly gives way to more base instincts. We quickly learn that while Robert may be able to control others, he is not so good at controlling himself.
Tublen’s script showcases the same dry wit that made his debut a hit on the international festival circuit while his gifted ensemble delivers quality performances across the board. LFO is a sterling entry into the ongoing new wave of indie science fiction, films that prove you don’t necessarily need big budgets to bring big ideas to life, provided you have a sure voice and a good dose of talent. (Todd Brown)
Our Heroes Died Tonight
Victor is, in many ways, a broken man. You can argue about whether it was the French Foreign Legion that broke him, or the Algerian occupation, or some combination of the two, but the end result is that—now freshly returned home to the Paris of the 1960s—Victor is just not comfortable in his own skin. He’s no longer himself. And so work as a masked wrestler carries obvious appeal. His old friend Simon, who makes a living as a minor hero on a low level wrestling circuit, is just the man to get him in.
But while wrestling may seem a silly business from the outside, from the inside it is dead serious, a playground for serious men who control the entire shadowy operation from start to finish. And do they care that Victor’s troubled conscience cannot abide the idea of playing a villain in the ring? Not with that build, they don’t. And so begins a descent into dubious legality and existential dread with old categories of good and evil jettisoned from the nearest window.
Forget everything you think you know about David Perrault’s Cannes-selected debut film OUR HEROES DIED TONIGHT. This is no camp exercise, no feel-good underdog story either. Instead, this is a dead serious exercise in classic film noir, a world where fractured heroes struggle to navigate the murky morality of a world gone wrong. Shot in gorgeous black and white, Perrault captures the feel of a time gone by while injecting his own freshness and vigor into the noir style. Denis Menochet and Jean-Pierre Martins deliver strong, understated performances as Victor and Simon with their sincerity giving the film a resonance that will stick long after the final frame. (Todd Brown)
The Fake
A village is being evacuated to make way for a dam. The residents are being paid to move. In their time of need, the displaced people rely on the healing powers of Sung, a charismatic preacher who promises to build them a new church and housing. In exchange, the villagers give the pastor all of their money. Min-chul (voiced by Yang Ik-june of BREATHLESS and KING OF PIGS fame) is a drunken hellraiser who has just been released from jail. Immediately after returning home, he gets into a bar fight. He soon discovers that the man he fought in a bar is a con artist who works for Pastor Sung. Min-chul sets out to expose the church as a fraud. Min-chul has one major obstacle standing in his way: nobody believes him.
THE KING OF PIGS established Yeun Sang-ho as an aggressive new voice in Korean cinema. HIs latest work THE FAKE represents a significant leap forward in terms of style and storytelling. The animation is more fluid and detailed with a richer color palette. In addition to the stylistic advances, the storytelling boasts a broader array of characters and a more intricate plot. As in KING OF PIGS, Yeun Sang-ho envisions a world of liars, thieves, crooks, and deluded people. However, the vision of humanity presented in THE FAKE is even more negative and misanthropic. Everyone suffers in this cruel universe. No one escapes. (Rodney Perkins)
DAY EIGHT
Northwest
Casper (Gustav Dyekjær Gies) is a teenager who lives in one of Copenhagen’s poorest neighborhoods: Nordvest. He makes a living by fencing stolen goods for a small time hood named Jamal (Dulfi Al-Jabouri). Eventually, Casper moves on to the big leagues by dealing drugs and joins a crime ring run by Bjørn (Roland Møller). As the money starts rolling in, Casper drags his younger brother (Oscar Dyekjær Giese) into the business. Old grudges resurface, putting Casper and his family into mortal danger.
Michael Noer is best known as co-director (with Tobias Lindholm) of the award-winning 2010 prison drama R. With his latest film, Noer shifts his brand of tough realism from a prison environment to the streets of Copenhagen. NORTHWEST is a powerful character-driven work about family bonds, class conflict and ethnic tension. The film boasts a stripped-down approach (e.g., fluid handheld camerawork, actual locations) that squeezes every bit of realism of out the scenario. Excellent naturalistic performances—Gustav and Oscar Dyekjær Gies are real-life brothers whose bond is evident onscreen—heighten the authenticity. NORTHWEST is an exceptional example of a uniquely Danish strain of crime cinema. (Rodney Perkins)
Escape from Tomorrow
Jim (Roy Abramsohn) and Emily (Elena Schuber) are on the final day of a family theme park vacation. Jim gets an early morning phone call from work—he has been fired. Instead of cutting the vacation short, he doesn’t say a word and goes about his day. While hanging out at a pool with his family, Jim becomes obsessed with two teenaged French girls (Danielle Safady and Annet Mahendru). Later, he starts following these girls through the park. This ill-advised decision sets off a grand adventure that exposes Jim to the dark underbelly of the corporate entertainment complex.
ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW was, in part, clandestinely filmed at some of America’s most popular theme parks (guess which ones). Through a mix of clever staging and meticulous planning, director Randy Moore transforms a guerrilla shoot into a gorgeous black-and-white film full of haunting imagery and biting social commentary. The locations are tightly integrated into the story, turning the sterile theme park environs into a surreal world full of danger and menace. Much of the public attention surrounding ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW has focused on the methods by which it was made. This controversy misses the larger point: ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW is a truly daring and original work that transcends the techniques used to create it. (Rodney Perkins)
Kid’s Police
In the annals of crime, there have been few organizations quite so evil, quite so pernicious as the dastardly Red Venus. Always plotting on a grand scale, always performing acts of evil and violence to build their own power, Red Venus operates in the shadows – seemingly able to strike anywhere without notice before disappearing with only their signature business card left behind as a demeaning taunt to law and order.
To counter the threat of Red Venus, the Tokyo Police have formed their own special task force – a team of the best and brightest. The only team with the skills and fortitude to bring the evil syndicate to its knees. Unfortunately, this force has been rendered very, very young by a gas that has reverted them all back to a childhood state. No matter. They’re still on the job. They may be back in primary school but the Kid’s Police will get the job done.
A feature film extension of the cult hit television series he also wrote and directed, Yuichi Fukuda’s KID’S POLICE is a hysterical oddity – a film that oozes vintage 1970s hard boiled crime style… but for the fact that the tough-as-nails cop with big hair wielding a shotgun in a natty, tailored suit is a ten-year-old kid. Fukuda’s commitment to his very silly concept is absolute, the style completely deadpan, and the result is a hysterically funny spoof of every hard-ass cop movie ever made, and also a remarkably well made movie in its own right. Following many very prolific years working as a television writer and director, Fukuda here makes a major move on to the world stage as a truly unique feature talent. (Todd Brown)
Zero Theorem
Set in a future London, THE ZERO THEOREM stars double Academy Award® winner Christoph Waltz as Qohen Leth, an eccentric and reclusive computer genius plagued with existential angst.
He lives in isolation in a burnt-out chapel, waiting for a phone call which he is convinced will provide him with answers he has long sought..
Qohen works on a mysterious project, delegated to him by Management (Matt Damon), aimed at discovering the purpose of existence – or the lack thereof – once and for all.
But his solitary existence is disturbed by visits from the flirtatious Bainsley (Mélanie Thierry), and Bob (Lucas Hedges), Management’s wunderkind son.
Yet it is only once he experiences the power of love and desire that he is able to understand his very reason for being