This year Fantasia is knocking us dead with a sensational, voluminous heart-pounding line-up of International premiers, Quebec ones and North American ones too. All genres are covered, and new ones have been invented. Nothing can slam dunk automatic screen success and audience eagerness as much as Fantasia can. Now into its 21st year. the country's most infamous off-the predictable charts festival is is saturated with over 150 features and 300 shorts, and let's include those eight documentaries too.
In fact, the closing film is one of the most important in its time. "A Taxi Driver", receives its international premiere here, and the director, Jang Hoon will be hosting this important screening. On May 18th, 1980 South Korea started its protracted protest against Chun Doo-hwan's diabolical dictatorhsip. Beaten, evne tortured hundreds of students endured the nation's mayhem and misery. The film pairs a struggling single father who drives a taxi with a German journalist intent on documenting the goings-on. They travel from Seoul to Gwangji, the the journey is a harrowing one. No stranger to Hoon, star actor, Song kang-ho who drives the taxi into terror land is once again acting
Lots of award-winning Korean films are begin served up this year, including "Rough Cut" and "The Front Line".
Themes on animal rights, vengeance, hauntings, heartwarming oddballs, community chaos, futuristic sci-fis and more are only some of the gut-wrenching and side splitting areas Fantasia will be presenting. There are animation masterpieces, underground gross-outs and, super fun comedies too that explore unconventional relationships and weird contexts of living.
This year Larry Cohen is the honoured recipient of a Fantasia Lifetime Achievement Award. His cult films have garnered admiration from Martin Scorsese, J.J. Abrams, John Landis and the list goes on. The collage of films from this brilliant director is sure to sharpen your admiration for him too along with your own imagination. A fabulous assortment of free events cover films from the past, a live multi-media events, a book launch event (Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin) that basks in Vampires and more. A rare 35mm screening at the Cinemateque quebecoise on July 27th of Rollin's own "Le Viol Du Vampire" will be playing in its original two-part form.
Names such as "Charlize Theron who is in "Atomic Blond", and Arnold Schwarzenegger will come to the screen in Terminator 2" Judgment Day" but this time - 26 years later, director, James Cameron presents a restored 3D version. Now, that'S a must-see!
The festival starts July 13th and runs to August 2nd.
For all info, visit the website: www.fantasiafestival.com
Reviews follow:
TOKYO IDOLS ***
In Japan, young girls become pop singers
who live for pleasing their fans – men of all ages. In fact, most of these old
guys idolize these girls - 10,000 young females that devote themselves to
becoming an “idol”. They’ll sign their autographs in a line-up post concert for
these guys.
In fact, they will do just about anything above board and strict
rules to keep their fan base – including Rio.
She’s 19 years old and travels on a bike to build her fans that live far away
from her town. In fact, Rio spends most of her
time using her webcam to delight her audience. But Rio
is losing her looks or so she thinks and wants to join the ranks of true
artists. Far beyond entertainment, this documentary offers a disturbing look
into old men, young girls and the fantasy both have. An otaku is the world for
a man whose whole life is wrapped up in these concerts given by the idols. It’s
sad but very human. Pedophiles come to mind. It’s a UK-Quebec co- -production
that garnered “Official selection at this year’s Sundance Festival. See it if
you want to witness an aspect of Japan that worships young girls on stage.
This film will be aired at Fantasia, on July 26th.
Consult the program via the website.
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KILLING GROUND (Directed by Damien Power) ****
When Ian, a doctor and Sam, his
girl friend retreat to Gungillee
Falls, an Australian
camping area of seclusion, this tranquil outback truly becomes a place where
the woodsy would-be beauty turns into a place of cruelty and survival skills.
Two local outlaws with a thirst for blood have been in these woods before and
met up with a family whom they dispose of in a vile way.
Ian and Sam are about to find out
why a wandering baby is suddenly on the scene, and can they save it and find
his parents?
Basically, the little one is the only member left of the family
whose gruesome fate was sealed the moment they arrived at the same area two
days earlier. Ian and Sam test their relationship and their own courage. Sam
ends up being the heroine and Ian is not the man she thought he was. This is a finally made horror
film that weaves past events with the present though the outcome seems to
become one and the same. The film received official selection at Sundance this
year, overlook Film festivals and Scary Movies X (Film Society of Lincoln
Center). I will never camp go into the woods again after seeing this film.
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SHIN GODZILLA (Directed by
Hideaki Anno) **
A huge creature is destroying Tokyo, and the Japanese government
departments begin to unravel that this creature is radioactive. It has fed off
the radioactive waste during in the sea from the atomic bomb released in the
country during WWII. No matter how they try to destroy this beast, nothing
works, until they hatch an ingenious plan. Thermonuclear bombs may return to Japan and the
world through the resurrection of Godzilla. There have been 29 Godzilla films,
but this one just gets too boring. I
liked the special effects silliness of the older films – the last one being in
2005. The creature morphs bigger and bigger but no amount of size can rescue
this
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THE FINAL
MASTER (Directed by Xu Haofeng) ***
Tiajin has
19 martial arts schools, but when Master Chen, an old man arrives in town wanting
to start his own school, but rules demand he trains his own apprentice who
comes from Tiajin He’s a street punk named Geng. It would seem that a trio of
establishment chiefs of the martial arts schools thwart Chen’s ambitions, and the
cost is mighty. The fighting scenes are second to none and the crispness of
timing that plays throughout this Chinese-made film is a joy to watch, however,
the plots is confusing, and in the end, we long to see the fighting scenes,
even if it means the heroes are in grave jeopardy. Swords of all shapes, styles
and lengths prove amusing to behold which contrasts with the scene seriousness
when they are used; the result is ironic comic impact. How these men do it is
beyond belief.
It is one of the best and most realistic martial arts films to come
out of Asia, and was in this year’s Official
Selection in the Udine Far East Film Festival, Night Vision.
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CONFIDENTIAL ASSIGNMENT (Directed by Kim Sung-hoon) ****
North Korean detective, Cheol-ryung (Hyun Bin) is guarding a Pyongyang laboratory, Cha, his superior and
his gang of thugs steal plates for printing counterfeit US dollars. They invade
and kill workers there, including Cheol-ryung’s wife. Cheol-rung must go to
South Korea
to get the plates back. He’s totally dedicated to his country, but is paired
with Kang, (Kim Joo-hyuk) a policeman who certainly does not feel the same way. While
Cheol-ryung is tight lipped about the operation, and Kang is passionately
curious and caring, the latter is left in the dark as to why his North Korean
partner is really here. Is it really to find a murderer, or is it for something
else? The action is super, the comic scenes fetchingly touching, and the plot
is brilliant. I loved the fact that North Korea has its hero in the
film, and that in the end both men are able to embrace one another and soften
their own hard-lined thoughts about each other. This is a must-see entertaining
winner with some soft political themes embedded in the story. The chemistry
between the two characters I great, mainly because their contrasting
personalities in wonderfully exploited . There’s never a lull in this original script. It was in this
year’s official Selection in Hawaii’s
International Film Festival.
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VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A
THOUSAND PLANETS (Directed by Luc Besson)
***
The 28th century
still has its battles and one evil man has destroyed a perfect planet of peaceful
beings. Through lots of different dimensions Valerian and Laureline recapture a
transistor that will bring rebirth to this planet. Incredible special effects
are the highlight of this movie and the scene with Rihanna morphing into
different creatures is eye-popping. But the plot is confusing, silly and
totally predictable. On assignment from the Minister of Defense, these two hero
get more than they bargained for, and all kinds of secrets come to the fore as
each enters struggles to save Alpha, another planet that they are assigned to
save but everyone else. The move was dubbed in French at the press screening.
No idea why?
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SHOCK WAVE (Directed by Chaak Dean Juan Ga) *****
Unbelievably excellent! This Hong Kong
film pits an undercover agent who is a superb bomb detonator into a ring of
thugs, but when he’s found out and called a traitor by Peng, who heads the
ring, he’s in deep trouble. The leader plants bombs in the Cross-Harbor Tunnel
and about 100 cars with passengers inside are held hostage in this tunnel. Peng
will shoot at them all one by one if his brother is not released form prison
and he specifically wants Cheung to arrange this. It was Cheung who put him in
prison in the first place. Horrid things
happen in that tunnel and the ending is not a Disneyland happy one. I cried in
this film shoes suspense, action and events melded together to create a top
rate film with a story of several twists that leave us all on the edge of our
seats. A blockbuster best earning Official Selection of the Udine Far East
Festival.
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COLD HELL (Directed by Stefan Ruzowitsky) *****
Ozge (Violetta Schurawlow), a Turkish independent woman. drives a taxi
in Vienna, but her
job takes on more energy when she goes for her boxing work-outs. She’s a woman
with a chip on her shoulder and as we find out, it is merited. One night she
comes home and finds a woman’s body on the ground outside her window. It has
been burned, and soon her cousin faces the same fate when she retreats to Ozge’s
apartment with her young daughter. But no one is safe. There’s a torturer
killer on the loose and its takes a series of brutal encounters before she and
her detective pal track him down. Ozge is a tough strong woman who knows how to
defend herself and protect those she loves, but she ahs met her match in this
serial killer villain who is out to skin alive Muslim woman. What a suspenseful
film that has some humorous touches amidst the horrific scenes that play out.
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SPOOR (Directed by Agnieszka Holland & kasia Adamik) *****
Janina
Duszejko, remarkably played by Agnieszka Mandat) lives alone near the Czech-Polish border. Highly
independent, her senior age does not deter her from her energy and passion. She
has two beloved dogs who one day go missing. As an ardent protector of animals,
she devotes herself to them in between her unkosher methods of connecting to
children as a part-time school teacher. But everything in her village repulses
her: the priest who teaches that animals are subservient to men and also must
be hunted down. She hates the police chief who does not thing to help her
protect animals or find her two missing dogs, and she hates one vile man who
keeps dogs in his slum kennel where they are at death’s door. She eventually
makes friends who truly rescue her after she blows her top in a manner that
leaves not only animal tracks in her wake but human ones too.
This is such a great story that turns a woman
into a heroine and an older woman at that. It also addresses the topic of
murderous hunting and the total disregard for animal rights. Hunting fans may
not agree with the message in this marvelous film that won the Alfred Bauer
prize in the Berlin International Festival. Two female writers adapted the novel
with a different name to make this movie that resonates with an acute sensitivity
typically embedded in women, and it has been put to excellent use by these two
creative beings. Beautifully shot with inventive camera work as well.
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HOUSE OF THE DISAPPEARED (Directed by Lim Dae-Woong) ****
Mi-Hee wakes up in her house to discover that one of her sons is
missing, her husband has a knife in his stomach. She is arrested and let out 25
years later, only to discover why she keeps having visions and house haunting.
This powerful film based on time lines and flashbacks unravels a touching story
about family and mother/son love. The end is a twist that no one could ever
imagine. A remake of Alejandro Hidalgo’s Venezuelan film,” House at the End of
Time”, the director has beautifully crafted together (using astounding editing)
an atmospheric mood piece that has us all intrigued. The star, Kim Yunjin was
mesmerizing; her intensity was remarkable.
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BAD BLACK
(Directed by IGG Nabwana) ****
BAD BLACK (Directed by IGG Nabwana) ***
This is Ugandan kitsch at its best. In Kampala, Swazz aka. Schwarzenegger and his
10-year-old partner, rob a bank. Bad Black, a tough gal, is abandoned by her family
as a girl and grows up to head a gang of thugs who she orders around to seek
revenge on all who have wronged her. There’s a doctor who turns into a commando.
Narrated by the director complete with his own sound effects and characters
whose names are those of Holly wood’s own fighting icons, such as Stallone,
Wesley Snipes (a kid in this case). This film is hilarious and breaks all
boundaries regarding film rules and using real props. In fact, the helicopters, guns and others thing are made from metal waste and carved wood, and it shows. A cult film brought to you by Ramon production Studios. The film
opens with scenes from Nabwana’s “Who Killed Captain Alex” – the first
Wakaliwood film ever shown at a film fest which happened to be Fantasia in
1015. The film gives a raw look into Uganda’s ghetto life that
ironically laughs at itself, as the scenes are so fast-paced and almost
cartoonish in exaggeration. Fun all the way!
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BAD GENIUS (Directed by Nattawat Poonpiriya) *****
Lynn is a math genius and soon she becomes the secret mentor
forseveral schoolmates. She ingeniously develops a way to use the beginning
notes of some piano pieces to fill in
multiple question answers by tapping her fingers. She shares with her pool of
cheating students her technique during exam time, so they can watch her tapping
and fill in their own answers. Things get totally out of control when she
orchestrates a trip to Sydney to fill in answers and send them to her pool also
taking the exam in Thailand just after she does, so they can copy her answers
that she sends via her cell phone. Her equally smart friend does the other half
of that exam the same way. Things don’t work out. A brilliant film full of
suspense with nerve-wracking results.
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MOST
BEAUTIFUL ISLAND (Ana Asensui) ****
The director
(named Luciana) is featured in this film that is based on a true story one that
actually happened to Ana. She has moved from Spain
to New York
in the hope of having a future and to forget a memory about a child that was
killed and which she blames herself. We never really get any details about
this. Ana can’t pay rent. Olga, one of her friends invites her to a secretive
appointment that very night, but things become horrific for Ana when she enters
the building that has the men and two women who are waiting for her and other
girls behind a closed door in another room. People arrive and each girl is
inspected by the people. The girls stand in their own little numbered circle.
Things are very tense and the grand dame who runs it all, calls each girl in.
What lies in the inner room is a game of life and death and bets are placed on
the girls. Not to give away a spoiler, but the black locked purse each girl must
carry – given by one of the operatives of this secret activity - contains the
fate of whether the girl lives or dies. A deadly spider is involved. Before Ana
enters the building she hides all her bag in a trash can. She has been
instructed to get rid of the bag. This motive seems to show ironically that the
safest bag is that which goes in the garbage New York is anything but beautiful in this
compelling film.
This film uncovers the dreadful things many immigrant women will do to make a buck in the Big Apple.
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S.U.M.I. 1
(Directed by Christian Pasquaniello) **
S.U.M.I. 1 is a soldier posted for a 100 days in a metal strange sterile
tower where he monitors and protects people left from the Nonesuch aliens who have
ravaged earth. But soon his machines to monitor movement break down, and he
begins to think the whole alien thing is a hoax. He believes that those in
charge are simply scaring everyone to hide in underground bunkers and lead
their lives that way. There is a surprise ending that is totally given too fast
and which is preceded by long moments that do not build up suspense.
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TOWN IN A LAKE (Directed by Jet Leyco)
*
In a poor lakeside town of Matangtubig,
Batangas in the Philippines,
two school teenage girls get into a car at night. One of them is found murdered.the
next day and the other never reappears. The crime rate in this village is basically
nil up until now. The only eye witness to the car scene finally comes forward, but
the film ends without ever answering our questions not the cops. Lots of shots
of the water, the jungle and the schoolhouse filter aimlessly in this weird
town. Magic is afoot here, but it is not one that works. The final scene shows
the damage of the village from the Tsunami. The film ends abruptly.
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DARKLAND (Directed by Femar
Ahmad) *****
This Danish movie gives you
everything exceptional the viewer craves. Suspense, violence, revenge and drama
that pulls you right in. Zaid is a surgeon from Iraq whose brother, Yasin is in
desperate need of money, so one night he goes to Zaid and begs him, telling him
he is in deep trouble. But Zaid turns a deaf ear on him. Yasin is found almost
dead and the plug is pulled by his own brother at the hospital where he works.
This film is about finding the culprits who killed his brother and eking out
deadly revenge, but the price he pays is non-returnable. Before the final
outcome, Zaid returns to a pal of his to retrain as a boxer. Soon however, he
begins injecting himself with steroids in order to fulfill his mission. There
are so many unforgettable scenes in this movie that also show the tender side
of Zaid with his pregnant wife. The violence is excessive and the villain
brutal beyond words. The fight scenes are needed in many ways to speak for a
man who needs to avenge his brother. Dar
Salim in the role of Zaid is a Vin Diesel look alike. He’s a fine actor that
deserves to be internationally known.
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PORK PIE
(Directed by Matt Murphy) ****
John has
left Suzie, his bride, right at the altar (back story) and his regret is
intensely deep. He wants to drive hundreds of miles to reconcile, but his car
breaks down, and so he ends up in a Mini Cooper with Luke – both fo whom are
soon joined by Kiera, a fun, fantastic girl who falls for Luke, But soon the
pair find themselves accused of shooting a maniac and they are speeding away from
a police chase that takes them through New Zealand. Will John end of with Suzie
and will Luke find Kiera after she is taken in by police? A hilarious ride that
has a message about love, loyalty and longing for a world without carnivores.
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INDIANA (Directed by Toni Comas) *
The Spirit Doctors are
brothers who are also two paranormal investigators. They help those whose
houses and beings are possessed by supernatural forces. Michael (Gabe Fazio)
actually has the gift of second sight and the ability to communicate with the
dead, while Josh (Bradford West) deeply wishes he does and has convinced
himself he can. And on one fateful summer's day, they find themselves dealing
with events that make them question the nature of what they do, and uncover
some of the real demons of this seemingly quiet part of America. A
murder and the two brothers own demons tie together in a bizarre house where a
shattered woman lies rotting away for fear of meeting the human who was truly a
demon. Builds into nothing; anti-climactic.
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ANOTHER
WOLFCOP (Directed by Lowell Dean) bomb
Last and least
is this stupid, infantile, totally bathroom humor non-plot film that is made for
aberrant adults with an I.Q. under 2. Still the wolf costumes were fabulous. The
gore was thick and endless.
Its 38
eruptions – the last one occurring in 1928 – produced highly rich sulphuric
soil that to this day accounts for the great agricultural activity in the
region. 
How he found
each creature was another feat; jungle animals shy away from human beings –
except for white-faced monkey “gangs” – commonly referred to as the “Monkey
Mafia” because they descend to the beach to steal your knapsack in the hope of
finding food. 
How he found
each creature was another feat; jungle animals shy away from human beings –
except for white-faced monkey “gangs” – commonly referred to as the “Monkey
Mafia” because they descend to the beach to steal your knapsack in the hope of
finding food. 
On the way, dolphins “danced” alongside the
catamaran, and once I was in the water – brilliantly coloured angel fish flashed
by me. Back on the boat, free drinks and a fish barbecue topped off the day.
Then the sun slowly sank behind the Pacific. What a glorious way to enjoy a
sunset! (www.planetdolphin.com)
