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I admit, this update thing got away from me. I went from Day 2 to 2 days after the Fest ended. So without further ado, my slightly belated rundown of all the rest of the movies I watched at Fantastic Fest, in tiny caplet form. Several of these will get full write-ups at some point, but for now, a taste is all you get.
Movie 9: JUNK HEAD
I cannot go on enough about this epic stop-motion sci-fi masterpiece. A seven year labor of love by
writer/director/everything Takahide Hori, the movie wanders free of the plot at
times, but I was captivated by every single frame.
Movie 10: WORLD OF TOMORROW, PART 1 AND 2
My second dose of awesome animated sci-fi of the
morning. Don Hertzfeldt’s stick figure
style is the polar opposite of Hori’s obsessive detail, but the two 30 minute
shorts manage to be both ridiculously funny and poignant in its own way.
Movie 11: SUPER DARK TIMES
Eighties high school movies about weirdos is not really my
thing. Being a high school weirdo from the
‘80s, I don’t wax nostalgic for that shit.
Still, there were plenty of great performances in this one by Kevin
Phillips, and a suitably grim ending.
Movie 12: BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99
Holy shit, Vince Vaughn is an absolute badass. Yes, the dude from SWINGERS and WEDDING
CRASHERS. I know, I didn’t see that
coming either. 100% crazy carnage from S.
Craig Zahler, the director of the brilliant BONE TOMAHAWK.
Movie 13: REVENGE
I was a little leery of this one since rape/revenge movies
specialize in being unpleasant, but it turned out to be a great surprise. The sexual assault portion was devastating
without being exploitative and was over pretty quickly, leaving a lot of room
for some wonderfully brutal comeuppance.
Director Coralie Fargeat doesn’t even try to be realistic about how much
damage a body can take, but star Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz’s transformation from
trophy girlfriend to instrument of wrath is stunning.
Movie 14: BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL
Takashi Miike’s unkillable samurai epic was the sweetest
candy. This matter will be revisited,
rest assured.
Movie 15: THE NUDE VAMPIRE
Repertory screening of Jean Rollin’s mondo tale of death
cults, shady science, and a kidnapped (and yes, frequently nude) vampire. A lovely slice of ‘70s French nuttiness.
Movie 16: GERALD’S GAME
It’s hard to express how much I love Carla Gugino, so Carla
Gugino playing opposite herself(s), and Bruce Greenwood, is a delight. As a bonus, this contains possibly the
grossest gore gag I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot.
Movie 17: JUPITER’S MOON
Disclaimer – This movie has nothing to do with Jupiter or
moons, so adjust your expectations. More
of a thriller set in the Hungarian refugee crisis, tinged with sci-fi
elements. I still really dug it, thanks
to some great performances and some amazing, CHILDREN OF MEN style one-take
camera work.
Movie 18: MOM AND DAD
Full-on Nicolas Cage at his Cage-iest. This one will be used heavily in all future
Nic Cage montage memes. Believe it or
not, Brian Taylor, the director of CRANK 2, shows commendable restraint in a
comedy about murdering your children.
Movie 19: ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE
What could top the blood drenched brutality of CELL BLOCK 99
to win my heart? A Christmas musical
about zombies. I was shocked by how much
I loved this spiritual successor to SHAUN OF THE DEAD. And I got a hug from the director, John
McPhail. Fantastic Fest is a magical
place.
Movie 20: WHEELMAN
Simple but extremely well executed Frank Grillo crime
movie. Taking place mostly in a single
car, it’s like LOCKE with more machine guns.
Possibly. I didn’t see LOCKE, so
I can’t confirm the level of machine guns, but I’m hazarding a guess that this
one had more.
Movie 21: THE CURED
Interesting concept on how we would treat those
transitioning from zombie gut muncher back to non-munching human after finding
a cure to the global outbreak. The
answer is pretty shittily. JUPITER’S
MOON was a better allegory on immigrants, and it doesn’t capitalize enough on
the premise, but it still managed to entertain me.
Movie 22: THE DEATH OF STALIN
This was the secret screening, so no one knew what they were
getting before the title came up. Since
I had never heard of it, the movie continued to be a surprise afterwards. From the title, I was not expecting such an
outrageous black comedy, but once I found out the director Armando Iannucci was
the creator of Veep, it made more sense.
Strange choice for a secret screening, but funny as hell.
Movie 23: PIN CUSHION
Near Lars Von Trier level depression awaits in this British
tale of a mother and daughter whose lives are destroyed by bullies. Not sure about the soundness of director
Deborah Heywood’s ending message, but she knew how to put me through the
wringer.
Movie 24: THE
MERCILESS
This Korean cop and gangster thriller was just the jolt I
needed coming out of PIN CUSHION. Sung-hyun
Byun doesn’t break any new ground, but the tight, twisty story of loyalty and
corruption is well executed enough to stand on its own.
Movie 25: Everything is Terrible
Well, not everything, but a lot. The listing actually refers to the group who
put this crazy, Satan themed mix-up collage of thousands of quick clips from
movies, specials, commercials, and weirdo Christian programming. It would have been great if it was fifteen
minutes long, it’s basically torture when stretched out to feature length. Plus, it was a rough cut and we were the test
audience. I think we should have been
paid for that one.
Movie 26: THE GATE
This was supposed to be the 100 Greatest Kills, Kid Deaths
edition, but FF was getting heat for the already heavy amount of baby killing
in the other movies, so it was switched to a 35mm print of a classic ‘80s
monsters in a pit movie. No, not that one, I'm talking about THE GATE, starring Lil Stephen Dorff and a dozen stop motion imps. It may not have a hundred dead kids, but it was a damn entertaining substitute.
Movie 27: SALYUT 7
This seems like a blockbuster level movie in Russia. Not making a joke, this thing looked
beautiful and expensive. I didn’t
recognize any actors, but I bet they are big deals in the motherland. Essentially the Russian version of APOLLO 13
with a bit of GRAVITY thrown in. It’s
exactly the kind of inspired by real events movie with a slight ra-ra
nationalistic tilt. The kind we make all
the time, except it’s the Americans who are giving the respectful—if slightly
begrudging—salute to the heroes at the end.
Movie 28: MON MON MON MONSTERS
This is the type of bullying movie I was in the mood for
after PIN CUSHION, though honestly, this one is pretty rough as well. It had significantly more bullies being torn
apart by monsters or being immolated, and the ending is far more satisfying, so
extra marks in my book.
Movie 29: GOOD
MANNERS
Oh my god, werewolf babies are so fucking adorable! Absolutely stellar Spanish film about the
trials of raising a little monster family.
Movie 30: BAD GENIUS
A Thai heist film about standardized test cheating! I know, it didn’t sound great on paper, but
it is a nail biter.
Movie 31: THE ENDLESS
The new one from the dream team of Justin Benson and Aaron
Moorhead, whose previous film, SPRING, is one of my favorite discoveries ever. I was told to watch their first movie,
RESOLUTION beforehand, which turned out to be very good advice. At its heart, the movie is a relationship
drama about brothers, but with a boatload of trippy shit to spice things
up. One of my fest favs.
Movie 32: DOWNSIZING
Going from a highlight to rock bottom. I normally dig quirky, but Alexander Payne’s
satire about a tiny Matt Damon left me cold.
Not even Hong Chau’s wonderfully nontraditional leading woman
performance could save this meandering, random mess. I might look on it more fondly later,
but it was not what I was hoping for as the closer to Fantastic Fest. Oh well, at least the closing party was more
lively.
And that was the divine madness of Fantastic Fest 2017. The atmosphere was much heavier than usual (so
my veteran fest friends say), thanks to the very sour controversy leaving a bad
taste in everyone’s mouth. I’ll
elaborate in my next back-to-normal post, but it did spark a lot of discussion
and examination, which is always helpful.
Overall, I’m extremely happy I went, social anxiety be damned. I don’t think there is another experience in
the world quite like Fantastic Fest, and you know me, I’m all about the
oddballs. ‘Til next time.
C Chaka
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