There's a Zombie Outside (2024) Popcorn Frights 2024

Small scale thriller concerns a young man on an outing with friends who begins to annoy his buddies by insiting that he is seeing a zombie just outside the window. They don’t see it of course.

What is going on is not what it appears or is it going to go how you think it will. What is happening is something else and as a result this is a nice little palette cleanse of film from your typical horror stuff.  When I saw this it was after literally three festivals of heavy genre choices. I didn’t want a film that followed the well worn paths of horror and suspense, so when I started this gem of a film and found it taking it’s own path I was delighted. I knew I was going to see something where I wasn’t going to have figured it all out ten minutes in.

Watching this at home I paused the film went to get some popcorn and then came back and curled up on the couch,.

Is THERE A ZOMBIE OUTSIDE going to shake the pillars of heaven? No. But it will entertain, which having slogged through too many weak horror/thrillers of the last few weeks is more than enough to make me recommend this.

His Mother (2024) Hollyshorts

Mother races to stop her son from doing something terrible.

This is a moment in time following a mother's frantic drive to try and stop her son. We watch as she tries to reach him by phone and also speak to a doctor. It's a film fraught with emotion as we see how the act of one person effects those who love them.

While the film is very well done and captures the moment beautifully, the film is oddly satisfying. Blame the fact that we are genuinely only in a few frantic minutes. There is nothing on either end with the result being that we don't get a great deal of catharsis because we aren't as connected as we should be.

This is definitely worth seeing but it isn't fully satisfying.

Strange Darling (2023) Popcorn Frights 2024

 

There are very few things that are a certainty, death, taxes and JT Mollner‘s STRANGE DARLING is going to be a film with a huge following. The story of a serial killer chasing after his latest victim who is trying fleeing is murderous intentions. It is told with enough style that Mollner is going to be dining out on it for decades to come.

Shot on 35mm this film is a technical marvel. A flash back to the driving films of the late 70’s and early 80’s, this is a film that recalls the technical virtuosity of films like VANISHING POINT, the first two MAD MAX films, RACE WITH THE DEVIL and drive in horror. MOLLNER knows his film history and he mines it for ore to use here. What he’s doing is not lifting bits or sequences, but instead using the past a template for his work. His film was built on those earlier films but not a copy of them. He is using film history the way it should be used – raising up the art form by standing on the past, not making an exact copy.

As a physical film this is one of the best films of the year and probably of the last five years. The skill with which this film has been assembled is absolutely beyond compare. If Mollner can make more films with this sort “oh wow” factor he will be hailed as one of the greatest ever.

However as much as I absolutely love the craft of the film I’m not really a fan of the storytelling. Told in six out of order chapters the story doesn’t really work. It’s a standard issue bad guy stalks a woman tale with a few twists.  The characters are not really real people, but are constructs that exist because the cast is so good. Additionally if the story wasn’t told out of order there wouldn’t be suspense. While allegedly based on a true story some late in the game turns feel added on just to keep the story going. Mollner may be a wizard in making the film, his scripting could use a little help.

But the script is not what you are going to remember when you come out of the film. What you are going to remember is the driving nature of this thrill ride of the film. It’s such a cinematic blast that you are going to want to go again not long after you get to the end credits- I know I did.

Recommended

SPACEMAN Hollyshorts 2024

One of the opening night films at Hollyshorts is the inner battle of a mime struggling to find the strength to continue doing what he loves. 

This is a beautifully made film, that has several moments that make you go WOW. But for me there wasn't much beyond the moments.  Sure it's a technical tour de force, but the film feels way to srtifiical. You can feel the hand of the director all over it as if he is desperately trying to get us to connect and like the film.

I need to connect to what I'm seeing for the teachable moment to really hit home, and sadly out side of the odd moment I never connected

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Wade is retired and celebrating his birthday when the time travel authority shows up ans whisks him away. They want him to a job for them. If he does he will survive the collapse of his time line...a collapse that Paradox the man in charge of his time line, is planning on bringing about as fast as possible. Having been told the reason that collapse is due to the death of Wolverine, Wade makes B-line to find one to replace the one who is dead. Chaos follows as Deadpool, with the worst Wolverine in tow, travels the multiverse

I liked the film way more than I had hoped. 

Unexpectedly, there is a real story, something many recent big budget sequels seem to have forgotten to include (Mission Impossible anyone?).  While there is a looseness to some of the plotting, in part because the film is messing up with the notion of the multiverse and the, surprisingly few, cameos, the spine of the film- the drive for Deadpool to save his friends at any cost is incredibly strong. Actually the story is so strong that you actually feel real danger. We don’t know if everyone is going to be alright- yes it is a comic book movie which means no one stays dead- but it isn’t a certainty. I say this because we don’t know if there will be a sequel. We don’t know if there will be other appearances. Sure Disney will probably cart Wade and Logan out again, but it isn’t set in stone. Most importantly because the Logan in this film isn’t the Logan from LOGAN (that one is most assuredly dead) we know that some characters can die and at least some variation of them can stay dead.

What sold me on the film were two things I suspect most people over looked.

The first is Hugh Jackman’s performance. 

As good as everyone thought he was in LOGAN, he’s better here. This is a Wolverine who is broken. He messed up and cost the lives of all the other X Men. His speeches about what happened and about being a failure, being the worst Wolverine in the multiverse, about needing to be an X Man, but not being able to let anyone know, and feeling he wasn't a hero, are crushing. These moments were the first time in any of the MCU films where someone truly understood the heart and soul of what a hero is all about. The speeches, thanks to Jackman’s delivery, cut through the bullshit and got to what it is like being a superhero. The only thing I can compare it to is the Iron Giant’s declaration of choosing to be Superman.   Yes, really. This is the first MCU that really opens the soul of being a superhero or someone trying to be. They are moments of raw emotion in Jackman's delivery that are magic and that connect unreal to heartbreakingly real.

The other moment is when the heroes decide to attack the compound in the Void. It’s not what happens but it’s the attitude of the team that Wolverine and Deadpool assemble. They are very aware that their stories are not what they should have been. They are aware in a meta- way that their last appearances were in films of lesser quality, and they want a better “ending”, a better memory for them. They want to do something truly heroic. It’s a moment any lost characters in literature or culture would wish for themselves. However, and where the emotion comes from is that it is also very much like a team of samurai on a suicide mission- we will give ourselves the ending that we all aspire to (again like Iron Giant). Of course, the filmmakers give them a great ending (for now).  I was deeply and genuinely moved by their resignation going into the fight of “F it, at least we go down heroically”. 

The thing I love most about the film is that because we don’t know if Deadpool and Wolverine will definitely show up in another film  (no sequel or appearances have been announced after all and Jackman is being cagey about more) the ending, and the possibility of them dying resonates more than in any other Marvel movie (Don't even suggest you really thought that any of the other characters in any other film was going to stay dead-The fact Marvel announces 19 films ahead is why I hate the films now). The question of who will/may die has weight in this film- and even the ultimate outcome not only works but makes perfect (comic book) sense.

I also need to say that when we finally saw Jackman in full Wolverine suit, with the mask I suddenly realized, bright yellow or no- his look is genuinely frightening.

It’s a stunning  achievement, that is intellectually (and in many moments emotionally) one of the finest superhero films ever made

Beautiful Summer (2023) hits VOD 8/9

THE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER is a gorgeous and dense coming of age/romance set a year before the world exploded into the Second World War. It’s a film that feels more like watching a novel then seeing a movie. It’s a film of the sort that we don’t get much anymore.

In 1938 Ginia has just moved to the city. She is working at a dress shop and making friends. Along the way she makes the acquaintance of a woman named Amelia. Amelia is a free spirit who opens Ginia’s eyes to all sorts of differing possibilities.

Watching THE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER I found myself getting lost in the film I drifted off from my here and now and found I was in Italy.  This is film where the visual have a tactile quality to them. We not only see and hear events but we can almost feel and smell them. Cinema transcends its limitations to put us into a specific place and time.

The cast is wonderful. Yile Yara Vianello as Ginia is haunting. It’s a magnificent performance that has put her on my list of one’s to watch. Deva Cassell as Amelia is equally good.

And I don’t know what to say beyond that other than I want to see the film again, preferably on a big screen. That is a rave. I say that because twenty minutes into the film I stopped taking notes, I stopped watching the clock and I just watch events unfold before me. The film stopped being a film and just was life. I was, as I said above, in Italy in 1938. For one of the few times this year I stopped being aware I was watching a film and just was experiencing a story. This is glorious filmmaking of the sort we get from great filmmaker. That this is Laura Lucentini’s time out of the gate makes me wonder what she is going to next.

Recommended

ELECTRIC LADY STUDIOS: A JIMI HENDRIX VISION (2024)

This film is a look at the creation of the Electric Lady Studios and the work that was done there by Jimi Hendrix and the people who followed him.

I'm not sure what I think of this film. One part bio of Jimi Hendrix and one part look at the history of the studio the film is full of a wonderful stories and music. If you are a fan of Hendrix and interested in the history of popular music you are going to love this. There is some great stuff here.

I can hear you asking, if there are great stories here why am I uncertain about the film. Well, it's because how the story doesn't completely jell. They don't jell because there doesn't seem to be a smooth connection of the tales. We bounce from focus to focus and there doesn't always seem to be a thru line. Also the telling is often low key with many people telling their stories as if they were well rehearsed.

I wanted to be more excited.

My reservations aside there is some great stuff here and if you love Hendrix this film is a must.

Wendy Feinberg on SUGARCANE Which opens Friday at the FIlm Forum

 

Of the many documentary films I watched at this year’s Sundance Film Festival,  the world premiere of SUGARCANE, in my estimation, ranks among the best and  most important at the festival. I am not sure if I will be able to do this film the  justice that it deserves, but I will try.  

The film, co-directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, won the well deserved Directing Award in U.S. Documentary category at the festival and tells  the very powerful and emotional story of the indigenous children who lived on the  Sugarcane Indian Reservation in Canada and attended the St. Joseph’s Mission  Residential School.  

Beginning in 1894 indigenous Canadian children were forced to attend Canadian  government schools, most run by the Catholic Church. There were rumors of  abuse at these schools and unmarked graves were found of children who died  while living at the St. Joseph’s Mission School. In the film, many members of the  Sugarcane reservation are interviewed. A young Chief Willie Sellars speaks about  what has been done in the recent past to heal and honor the survivors, including  the celebration of Orange Shirt Day, honoring children taken from families and  sent to the mission. We meet Charlene Belleau, who is investigating the abuses at  the school, including the mysterious unmarked graves. Now deceased, I was  moved by Rick Gilbert, a survivor of the mission school, who traveled with a  group to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis to discuss the cruelties  experienced at the school. We hear from many other survivors of the abuses that  occurred at St. Joseph’s, including Ed Archie Noisecat, who is co-director Julian  Brave NoiseCat’s father, as well as his father’s mother (Julian’s grandmother), two  of the many that experienced multi-generational abuse at the school.  

It was heartbreaking to hear about the horrific physical and sexual abuse that  occurred at the school which led to the school being closed down in 1981.  Unfortunately, this abuse led to many unwanted pregnancies and deaths at the  school, as well as alcoholism, abandonment issues and a number of suicides by  survivors after leaving the school.  

Although sometimes disturbing to listen to the stories told by the survivors, I feel  that SUGARCANE is a gripping film that needs to be seen by all as a reminder of  the injustices that have been wrought upon native people, not only in Canada, but  around the world. In the film it is mentioned that this is also an American story  where more than twice as many children were taken from their families.  Highly recommended!

Trust in Love (2023) Plays Cinema Village East August 7 as Part of 16-city Roadshow

 

A record producer's life goes in the toilet as his focus on the job drives his family away. Will he be able to get them back? Does star Jimi Petulla have possibly the worst wig/hairstyle of the last five decades? 

Oh hell yea.

Inoffensive and wildly uneven comedy entertains and keeps us watching despite mixing wonderful moments with hopelessly cliched ones and containing acting that truly runs the gamut from god awful to really good. This film is so all over the place that you won't believe it works. Yet some how it does.

I suspect that it works because it is so earnest that you can't get too upset that it's taking us on a trip we've been on before.

I honestly wasn't expecting to write this film up. I thought I'd try it, hate it and then turn it off and forget it since I wasn't obligated to write it up. Some how the film clicked with me and it acted as a palette cleanse for all the genre films I've been watching.

While far from the best film ever made, it does entertain with enough smiles and chuckles to make it worth seeing.

Happy Campers (2023) opens Wednesday

This is a respost of my capsule review from DOC NYC

Chincoteague in Virginia was a place that campers went to every year to hang out with friends. The friends became family and the the time down by the sea was the place everyone one felt best. However time and tide happen and the land was sold and the campers of the title have one last summer to enjoy the place they felt most at home.

Bittersweet tale of great people spending the last days with their de facto family. It’s a good time with good people.

Popcorn Frights starts Thursday

 

Starting this week is Popcorn Frights. It’s a super horror fest that I have been covering the last few years and as such it helped me discover all sorts of great films.

The fest runs from August 9 until the 18th. It's both in person and virtual- so if you are at home you can still see some of the films. 

I’ll have  reviews of 21 films- 3 reposts and 18 new films. While I liked some more than others I know why every one was programmed. More importantly I can honestly say that if something looks good to you, buy a ticket. Buy lots of tickets because there are lots of great films.

Details can be found here. (And remember there is a virtual component)

Nghtcap 8/4/24: Final NYAFF thoughts

Final night- final line up

A few quick notes and questions about New York Asian before I truly put it to bed.

First a question- if you went to multiple screenings what were your audiences like? I ask this because I was stopped on the train home after the closing night ceremony by an Asian gentleman who wanted to know if the audiences I attended the films of were largely Asian or mixed. All of the Chinese films he went to were mostly filled with Chinese.  I told him that the two Hong Kong films I attended were largely Chinese, The Kingdom screening seemed to be largely Japanese but the other two were mixed.

I’m not sure if it means anything or was a fluke. I do know that in my five in person screenings they were not as diverse in past years.  Additionally it seemed most people were only there for that one movie- or they were going to another event right after.

Another  question for you was if you want to multiple screenings, did the people introducing the film mention other films unconnected to the film that was screening? At the films I went to it was a general "go see something else" not an effort yo get us to be aware of specific titles.   Back in the day there was always a discussion of all the films not just the one in front of us. When it was the Subway guys there was always an effort to get people to go to other films at the fest- you like this? Try that?  They would do it in the lobby and they would do it in the screenings. They worked the audience.

I didn't see that much interaction with most of the audience beyond the volunteers directing people to their seats. The founders always engaged when they weren't running around doing. 

This brings up one thing I really dislike, which is the seeming distance between the NYAFF organizers (not the volunteers) and the audience. They seem to be watchers not participants. Honestly I had more conversations with the staff of Lincoln Center than I did with the festival.

The festival seems to be becoming aloof.

If you want to know how NYAFF sees itself, consider that the festival’s awards went to art house fare. This isn’t a knock at the films themselves, rather I say it more to illustrate the film is heading toward New York Film Festival art house territory as opposed to something more main middle of the road and all encompassing- basically they are playing to a specific audience and not seeming to bring Asian films to a truly wider audience (which was what it felt like in the early days). The short CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE is the most art house of the shorts (and possibly feature wise as well) I saw. It’s a film that would play at the most artistic festivals where it was all about prestige and not about quality.  I was mixed on it because the artifice wiped the emotion.

The juried feature awards went to WOMEN OF ROTE ISLAND (Honorable mention) and SNOW IN MIDSUMMER. Both are films about difficult subjects (crimes against women and genocide) that are not one’s the local authorities want explored. Both are very mannered, very deliberate screams in the night. I suspect they won less for their quality (personally I liked other films better)  and more because their winning would make a statement.

Honestly I had the feeling last weekend that the  organizers would rather not program the big action films except that they put butts in seats (they tend to sell out) and attract attention to the festival because of the guests. (It reminds me of the small New York Chinese Film Festival that seemed to exist just so the rich programmers could bring people like Donnie Yen and Jet Li to New York.  The festival folded after 3 or 4 years) That’s their prerogative but it makes the fest seem to be split  with the majority of films being small gems and a few blockbusters that are there just to attract sellouts and press. The festival now seems less exciting and more run of the mill.

More troubling this doesn't feel like a fest people are going to to be with friends, socialize and make discoveries as a group as it was until a year or so ago.   This year it seemed people just went for the films or the guests. I mention this because in the last two weeks I’ve been hearing how everyone was going to Fantasia to see friends  first and films second. With NYAFF this year almost everyone I spoke with was going, if they were going, just for the films.

While I loved discovering many of the films, I miss being social, with friends and with the festival people. I miss being sad that the festival was done. I miss feeling I should have seen more...

But now no more time to look back,  NYAFF is in the past and it's time to move on.

Mission Impossible: DEAD RECKONING Part 1 (2023)

AI program goes wrong and connects with a nihilistic nut job, who years before killed the girl that Ethan Hunt loved. Soon everyone races to get a key that will allow them to control the program.

This is a collection of fantastic set pieces barely connected by the above waffer thin plot. The film some how charms (for awhile) thanks to the great cast who make us believe that there is something here when there really isn't.

The film weirdly works until we finally get to meet the human villain, Gabriel, who not  person but the most unbeatable villain from a video game. He is godlike and unbeatable and zero fun.  More so when he just wants to kill everyone in the world just because.

The fun factor doesn't completely disappear until we get to the hand shoveled steam train and the film's plotting goes into the crapper. Gabriel kills the train crew and makes it so the brakes (at least in the engine) won't work. He then goes back into the runaway train to conduct business. The why and how of the train continues to run when no one can feed coal into the engine is not explained, nor is how the train stays on the tracks while taking curves at speed. We also never get an explanation of how people know they are on a runaway train and are not plussed by it.

Everyone wants to know why this film under performed at the box office- because what little plot there is makes zero sense, at its best its shitty decades old scifi cliche, the human villain is a cipher, the AI villain is spray of colors and after almost 3 hours the film doesn't end it stops.

It's a great looking dessert that has lovely whip cream on the outside and rotten turds on the inside.

What a disappointment- more so that I really liked this up until the party scene when it all began to slide.

Dark Match (2024) Fantasia 2024

Lowell Dean, who made the cult hit WOLFCOP returns with a really good film about a bunch of wrestlers fighting satanists.

Set in the 1980's the film follows a bunch of independent wrestlers who get a call for a private show. They are going to be paid a great of money and get a chunk of the gate. What they don't realize is that they are going to be made to fight to the death so that their deaths will allow the devil to return.

Throw back delight is the sort of thing that would have played the drive-in circuit back in the day. Watching the film you can almost hear Sam Sherman, Samuel Arkoff, K Gordon Murray or Roger Corman  cursing that they didn't think of the plot decades ago. Expertly mimicking the style of several decades ago DARK MATCH feels like it belongs  back in the 80's. 

I love that the cast sells it. Both in the ring and outside it everyone is note perfect. I love it when everyone is invested.

If he wasn't already on the list Lowell Dean cements himself as a filmmaker to watch. He' making great films that are great fun and that leave you wanting to see what's next.

If I must quibble  I will say that the only remotely wrong thing with the film is that the pacing is a tad slow, but it is in keeping with the films it apes, so it doesn't matter. 

This film is an absolute joy. It's one of the great finds  of 2024.

Highly recommended.

Sunburnt Unicorn (2024) Fantasia 2024

 

While traveling across the desert a father is arguing with his son, Frankie. As a result they end up in a bad car crash When Frankie wakes up, having been thrown from the car he has a large piece of glass in his head making him look like a unicorn. Frankie’s father is gone, he wandered off to get help according to a turtle that was cut in half by the crash.  Deciding to help his dad Frankie heads off to find him.

Strange animated film could only work as an animated film. There is no way anyone would believe the odd turns and semi-dead characters as a live action film. At the same time this mix of survival and philosophy is so unique that I’m not sure who this film is really for, I mean the philosophical musings are going to blow over the head of the preteen set (not to mention parents being wary about a turtle character dragging itself along slowly dying with its intestines hanging out). and the  older kids are not going to go for the measured pace. Who is this film for? I don’t know.

It's not a bad film. I like it. At the same time I’m not sure what I’m supposed to make of it because it just is doing its own thing. Its so its own thing I don’t know how to explain it, I mean it’s like a normal movie, but it isn’t.

Basically it has me tongue tied as I search for words to adequately explain it.

As a one of a kind cinematic experience I love that the film exists, as will anyone who is a long time reader of Unseen Films, but I’m going to be hard pressed to see this playing any where other than festivals like Fantasia.

Highly recommended for those who want to go off the well worn cinematic paths.

House of Sayuri (2024) Fantasia 2024

After years of living in a crowded apartment a family moves into a nice spacious  house. The trouble is the house contains the spirit of a bitter young woman who was murdered and she begins to take steps to remove the family from the world of the living.

Creepy haunted house, is for most of its running time a solid haunted house thriller. It is film that tweaks the genre in interesting ways  to give us some scary moments that aren’t just the result of sudden loud noises. This is one of the few recent haunted house films that I can really recommend.

That said the you really needs to know that the film foes have some tonal problems. The grandmother of the family is supposed to have dementia and for a good part of the film she’s played for laughs. It runs counter to the mood of the rest of the film.  It’s a move that results in a WTF moment in the latter part of the film as she steps up to be the one spearheading the fight against the ghost. It, like the rest of the humor, diminishes what is an otherwise tense film. While it doesn’t kill the film it takes what should have been a truly great film and makes it just a good one.

Regardless of my quibbles this film is ultimately a lot of fun.

Recommended

Black Eyed Susan (2024) Fantasia 2024

Down on his luck guy gets sucked into testing a new AI BDSM sex doll for his friend that will ultimately be used to help people who are domestic abusers. Of course things go sideways.

I went into BLACK EYED SUSAN with a lot of expectations. There were warnings that the film was going to push buttons and other things.  I came out wondering what the fuss was about.

Yes, the opening sequence is disorienting. It's a stilted meeting between Susan, the doll, and a tester, the sequence is done like really bad stereotypical rough porn,  it leaves us not certain what we are seeing or where this is going to go. However, as the interaction ends the film shifts into something more conventional. Sure, the story travels along with something occasionally "shocking", Unfortunately the shocking revelations aren't all that shocking, and after a while the film becomes a romance between man and machine

What surprised me was that outside of the opening sequence this wasn't a particularly disturbing. Yes, some of Susan's graphic sex talk is uncomfortable but it's more due to her flat machine  like delivery than anything that's said or that we see. Story-wise we have been here before, if not in science fiction films (ARTIFICE GIRL, which covers very similar ground) then in science documentaries (SOPHIA) which show us some scary things about where we are with AI and what people want to do with it. 

For me the problem with the film is that only towards  the end the film finally really takes up the question about if we build bots to give to offenders who abuse, what does that say about society if we de facto condone the bad behavior? Are we monsters too? The ultimate goal of the project, which when revealed to the testers breaks them, was obvious from the start. That it's left dangling until the end, and barely dealt with weakens the film.  The climax isn't all that powerful. 

While far from being a bad film, I'd have given it a 7 out of 10 instead of a 6 if it wasn't so familiar and handled the themes better, the film suffers in that it doesn't really end satisfyingly. I would have taken something less artificially happy over the one we get. (Though to be fair I don't know how you would have ended this so that it worked.)

Worth a look for curious adults.

The Code (2024) Fantasia 2024

If films are supposed to shine a light on humanity, this is a world I want no part of. Full of unlikable and self-centered  people this film has me feeling that if it represents any portion of humanity I would seriously wish that a giant meteor would come and wipe us all out.

The plot has a couple who have stopped sleeping with each other and that something wrong with their relationship. She begins to make a documentary with him at the center, while he puts up closed circuit cameras to protect himself from whatever she is up to. Things become complicated when some of their friends get married.

This is a film that is very focused on how it was filmed. Images with in images, internet and apps, everything you can think of is used here. Shot to shot the framing changes. It's so frequent that it distracts from the story.

This might have worked but the couple at the center of this mess are not really people we connect to. They are the amped up characters that tend to inhabit certain types of comedies these days. While we don't have to like the people we follow we can't think they are such incredible jerks that we are instantly hate them.

The problem with them is that the film never answers the key question of why are they together? I have no clue. This is a problem with a lot of recent romance recently. Filmmakers over the last year seem to have forgotten how to create characters with chemistry. There is none here. They throw mismatched types at us and tell us it's cute. It troubled me that they are so wary of each other that they have to film things for insurance. Why stay with someone like that?

The fear of meeting horrible people like this is why I am single

On top of everything else I don't know why we seeing  certain things. I'm not a prude, but things like some of the internet/app images don't need to be there Yes some is to provoke a reaction but at the same time the film should on creating characters and situations that feel even semi-real.

I really disliked this film.

HUNTING DAZE (2024) aka Jour de chasse at Fantasia 2024

Nina is traveling through the hinterlands. She and her friends run out of gas. When one of her other friends, Kevin, arrives to rescue them, tension causes a fight to break out and Nina is left stranded by her original companions. Truly in the middle of nowhere, Kevin takes Nina back to the hunting lodge with him. She manages to bond with the macho and crazy hunters, passing an initiation test she is considered one of them. All is going along swimmingly until Kevin brings in another stray, a black man he found wandering down the road. All is well until something happens and everyone is sent skidding.

Beautifully made film is for it’s first half a tightly plotted drama. It’s a wonderful look at a bunch of people being crazy in a remote cabin. The comradery is real and you have the feeling that everyone is truly friends. You also see  how Nina becomes one of them. That first half is wonderful.

The problem is that there is a moment after the stranger joins them that the film goes sideways. The film shifts from straight reality into something else. Things become dreamlike and we aren’t really certain what is real and what isn’t. The straight narrative disappears into mystical trips. It’s creepy and unnerving for a while but there came a point where I wasn’t certain it was going anywhere. Honestly the pieces are, like every other bit of the film, fantastic, but they just don’t some together.

That doesn’t make this is a bad film, it just makes what is great film for the better part of an hour an okay one in the end.

The one thing I have to talk about is the performance of Noubi Ndiaye. Giving one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen (no really) he is a force of nature. There is a moment where he stares hurt and broken and not understanding and my soul cracked.  I had to rewatch the sequence a couple of times to see if I could figure out how in the hell he was doing what he was doing. I have no idea other than he managed to call up all the pain in the universe and bleed it out of his soul and on to the screen in a few fleeting moments. It was a moment that pretty much broke me in half. This is one of the finest piece of acting I have ever seen on screen or in person. I can not wait to see what he does next. His performance singlehandedly makes the film worth seeing.

For the bits that work and for Noubi Ndiaye‘s performance HUNTING DAZE is recommended

Faces (2024) Fantasia 2024

Creepy as all hell story about a entity trying to find an identity...

I don't know how to discuss this film without ruining. Echoing films like SILENCE OF THE LAMBS  and LIFECHANGER but taking the echoes into its very own territory FACES is one messed up film. It's a brilliant film that takes things into unexpected ways framing things so that they scare the shit out of you and even breaks your heart...seconds apart.

I don't think I've run across the work of director Blake Simon before, but I now need to track down everything he's ever done. How the hell hasn't he been given a feature?

This is a magnificent film from a director who is going to do great things- FACES is a must.