A pointer toward The Witch Part 2: The Other One (2022) Fantasia 2022

Full disclosure, I never saw the previous film THE WITCH THE SUBVERSION. I mention this because I went into THE WITCH PART 2 thinking it was a sequel to a different film. Twenty minutes in, feeling hopelessly lost I stopped the film and rechecked the films description and when I realized I was in the wrong place, I read on the first film.  Sadly I was still still a bit lost watching this film.

The plot of the film has a young woman escaping from a super secret facility and going on the run. She's a young woman with special powers that everyone wants to control.  As she takes up with some people who don't know who she is, various people hunt her.

This is a great looking film with style to burn. It has some great action film and...it left me feeling like I should have seen the first film. Yes the plot isn't anything we haven't seen before and yes it hits a lot of expected notes so I could follow it. But at the same time I never stopped feeling that I was missing something. 

Because I felt lost and I don't think I could give this film a fair shake I'm simply going to point you toward the film and say if you saw the first one give this one a shot. If you haven't seen the first one see that one first before you try this.

SEIRE (2022) Fantasia 2022

 

SEIRE is a horror film that is doing too much. Yes it’s a good film but the film is hurt by juggling too many balls in the air at the same time.

The film has a man going to the funeral of an ex-girlfriend despite the protests of his wife that it will put him into danger from a spiritual curse. At the funeral he meets the twin sister of the dead woman. Returning from the funeral weird things begin to happen.

While the film is horror film and ponders folk beliefs the film is also trying to deal with the memory and the past and how they effect how we see the present, not to mention a few other things. Its all well and good but in looking to do more than scare they put some dings in the shine of a solid horror film. You get a sense that the director is trying to push this to be more than a ghost story with the result it’s less scary than it should have been.

Don’t get me wrong I really like this film a great deal I just wanted to be head over heels about it…

…on the other hand I may have been expecting something more since the Fantasia write up mentioned the truly frightening THE WAILING in connection to this film and I was looking for that level of fear.

Reservations this film is recommended for anyone who likes ghost stories- especially with a Korean flavor

Compulsus (2022) Fantasia 2022

After Wally takes out her anger and frustrations on the chef who was sexually harassing her friend, she begins to hunt men who are taking advantage of women.

This is a much too mannered film of female empowerment by way of a Death Wish/MS 45 like vigilante. While the idea behind the film is really good, execution is not. 

Designed to make a point over and a above it all this heartfelt scream about the #metoo movement never engages. The film is constantly trying to argue it's point at the expense of the story.  For example the dialog is much to measured and full of meaning, the male objects of rage are largely ciphers that we barely see (is this supposed to mean all men are evil?), and the performances are much too mannered to be real much of the time. The result is that the parts that are polemical seem to be a different film with characters disappearing during the "speeches".

I also have some quibbles with how some sequences , particularly the ones involving Wally assaulting men were filmed. The shot choices seem less than idea and rather static with the result there is no tension. It doesn't help that the music used in the attack sequences seems meant for another film with shots seeming not to match up to the beats of the images. 

While the film isn't bad, it isn't what it should be. 

Marq Evans talks CLAYDREAM which opens Friday

I discovered Marq Evan when I saw his film THE GLAMOUR AND THE SQUALOR about DJ Marco Collins who was the guy who broke Nirvana, Beck Garbage and Weezer. It appeared to be a typical bio but Evans turned in such a way that it was something special. It was a film I showed/recommended to friends who grew up living and dying by the radio. Everyone fell in love with it.

Then his next film CLAYDREAM about animator was announced for this last year's Tribeca and I saw his name attached and I knew I not only had to see it but I also I had to talk to him. An interview during Tribeca didn't work but we still manages to connect. The result is one of my favorite interviews I've ever Done. Mr Evans was just a great person to talk to and if I didn't have to go back to the day job I could have spoken to him all day.

I want to thank  Marq Evans for taking the time to do this.  I can't wait until your next film.

CLAYDREAM opens Friday at the Quad Cinemas in New York and theaters around the country.

Marq: Hey, Steve. How you doing?

Steve: I'm all right. You, you able to talk now?

Marq: Yeah, sure.

Steve: If you don't mind, I'm going to not just ask you questions about, CLAYDREAM but also THE GLAMOUR AND THE SQUALOR because I loved that. When I found out that you had done the Will Vinton film, it became even more of a priority to see it and to talk to you.

Marq: Oh, that's very cool. I appreciate that.

Steve: One of the things I loved about THE GLMOUR AND THE SQUALOR was the way you did it  came across differently than every other documentary I've seen. Actually both of your films are unique.  The two films are are their own animals, but there's a definite voice. There's a definite reason for everything, and I absolutely love that.

Marq: I really appreciate you saying that. I mean, there's so many decisions with every little second of a film. That's true for all filmmakers, but it's nice to hear you say that the decisions are paying off.

I think there are similarities, certainly, between the two films, although they're made quite differently. With CLAYDREAM other than the interviews, we didn't shoot a ton. We didn't have to because we had so much of Will's work and so much behind-the-scenes works. With THE GLAMOUR AND THE SQUALOR, there wasn't a lot of footage that existed. So, not just the interviews, the recreation, the B roll, we shot most of that movie. As far as structurally and how we went about the edit, there's definitely a lot of similarities.

Steve: I'm curious about the origins of both films. How did you come to make THE GLAMOUR AND THE SQUALOR? How did you come to make the Will Vinton film? They are completely different. One's a DJ most people never have heard of. The other one is somebody, everybody has seen his work.

Marq: Yeah, what's interesting about Will, though, and I've certainly come to realize this even more since the movie premiered and reading what some people have said about it, most people I don't think are familiar with Wills name. Certainly, they've seen something of his -- whether it's the Raisin's, the M&M's, or the Mark Twain MYSTERIOUS STRANGER -- when they were kids. But I was a little bit surprised to realize how unknown he is as a name.

As far as how they both came together, THE GLAMOUR AND THE SQUALOR started when I was listening to the radio station that he used to be on, which was 107.7 The End in Seattle. And this is back in like 2011, 13 years ago, I guess now,  for the idea. I don't normally listen to radio much, but I happened to be somewhere out of range of serious ... or anything. I had the radio on, and that was the one station that was coming through in a thick snowstorm. And I had to go to the grocery store to get the groceries to stock up before the storm, and this radio show was on. They were celebrating their 20-year anniversary of the radio station The End, and they were counting down the 107 songs of all time. In between the songs they would have these, but the radio DJs come back and tell their best stories from their time, you know, in Seattle working with The End. Every time Marko came on, I was really wanting his voice to kind of wrap through the radio. The stories that he told, and the access that he had with all these rock stars was really just fascinating to me. At the time I think I had just seen -- or it had just come out – MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, the Woody Allen movie where Owen Wilson is in Paris. At the time, we get sucked into the 1920s, and it reminded me a bit about that of like going back in time, in this case just to the 1990s, about all these rock stars there in Seattle at the exact same time, and there's Marko in the radio station kind of being right in the middle of it. It started with that radio show that I heard, and then I thought this could be a good idea for a film.

Originally, I started thinking I might write it as a script, but as I started doing research I came across a great article in the Seattle Weekly by a guy called Chris Cornell, who turned out to be a good friend of my next-door neighbor --but I didn't know him at the time. He had just written this feature article about Marko's rise and fall and re-invention. That was a big piece. When I read that, I thought, "Maybe I should do this as a documentary." Anyway, that's how that all started. I reached out to Marco, and, you know, he was interested. But it probably took months before he finally came on board and decided that he would do it.

And it was a little bit similar with Will Vinton for CLAYDREAM.  In this case I'd read an article. I can't remember what the publication was, but it was a blog-type thing. And then I did the same thing. It outlined his rise and fall. And I was familiar with Will's work. I did know the name, I knew the mustache, but I didn't know much about the story. When I read this article, it felt like a movie the way that this article was written.

I had just put out GLAMOUR or maybe it wasn't even done yet. I was finishing GLAMOUR, so I was looking for the next project. When I came across this article, I thought this could be it.

I see the two similarities there are the nostalgia for me. I grew up listening to the music that Marco helped break, the grunge scene in the '90s. Right about that same time, you've got the California Raisins and all those characters. Both of those stories hit me at this coming-of-age time in my life, so that meant something.

Did the same thing with Will, reached out to him. [laughs] We got together right away, but it was the same thing where he wasn't really that interested or didn't know if he wanted to do it. It probably took another five, six months with him as well before he came around and decided to go for it. For Will, as soon as he decided he was in, he was all in, access whenever. I would spend hours and hours and hours in his basement. He would help a lot of the time, going through old archives. A lot of that had to be digitized. It was all analog in boxes, whether it was photos, things on old data tapes, or whatever it may be. That's the origin of both of those films.

Steve: I like your truthfulness in the films, one of the things I like about both GLAMOUR and CLAYDREAM, is that you didn't make straight happy films. You show the bad side, the good side. Did, did, did either Marco or Will want you not to deal with some of the failures?

Marq: I would say they differed in whereas Marco, from day one, was like, "We've got to show the darkness." He understood that. He was a big movie buff himself. He knew that in order to make an interesting movie, there has to be drama. There has to be conflict, and he had plenty of that in his life. He was totally game. That said, it took a while for us to get there with him. I think he was and felt like he was being really open and vulnerable. Then when the editor and I were looking to cut, it wasn't quite there. It wasn't quite coming across, so it took a while. There was a final interview where he really let it all out, and that was important for the film. He just needed to go even deeper than maybe he thought he possibly could. He was totally understood and up for it from the beginning, but we just had to get him to go further.

For Will, that was a gradual thing. I think he would have loved for the film to just be this celebration, not just him, but he wanted to celebrate all the work that was done by the studio and all of the animators, and the hundreds of people that worked on these projects. He would have loved probably if that were it. He also knows what good stories are, so that was a little bit more gradual. Just as time went on, for instance, even that footage with him and with Phil Knight, I didn't even know about that. It was about two years into the project before told me that he had that. That came from Will. I think it was part of this gradual process of trusting me and knowing, "OK, you know, we can have some of this, more of this conflict, and it's going OK. And it's going to make for the best film." If you don't have the conflict, if I just made this puff piece about Will and the work, nobody would watch this, just maybe the most diehard animation fans.

I definitely wanted to tell a true story, but as we were making it, we were thinking we wanted to do it in a cross between THE SOCAIL NETWORK, the David Fincher Facebook movie, and the Mr. Rogers documentary, WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR combining those two moods.

It's like Will, at first I don't think he would have wanted it to be like that. As time went on, especially as he realized that he was getting more and more sick too. I didn't think at the beginning of this process that he ever would have thought that he would have allowed me to shoot while he's getting treatment, sitting in that chair getting cancer treatment, you know, sitting in, sitting in that chair getting cancer treatment. But I just think as the project evolved and just more and more conversations, he understood more what I was trying to do. He just became much more open to all of that.

Steve: Did he see the film before he, die-, a cut of the film before he died?

Marq: No. There was about a 15-minute edit that I showed him, I don't know if that changed that much. I'm sure it changed a lot as far as just like how, you know, shot selection and pacing and stuff like that, but he, he had at least seen kind of, what at the time, was the first 15 minutes of the movie and really was happy with it. I think you know, he, he had actually seen a movie about one of his animator friends that had just come out or was about to come out about a couple weeks earlier and he thought it was really not very good. He was like, "Oh crap," It really relieved him when I shared him this 15 minutes, and he saw everything that went into it, and at the end, he just smiled, and he said, "Well, I don't have to worry about there being anything lazy about this. This is, this is incredible, um, just all, all that's gone into it." I think felt that he was in good hands and, um, didn't have to worry about whether the film was going to negatively portray him. I think he'd be really happy with it. I wish he would have gotten to see it. I wish he would   have been a part of the Tribeca premiere and then, you know, we went out to Annecy, France. I got back just last week, and that's a place that he would always premiere his films. So, it was pretty special being out there, that hopefully, you know, take his spirit along with us.

Steve: What do his friends and family think of the film?

Marq: Uh, you know, we haven't actually spoke about it. I'm giving them a little bit more time. I guess at some point I'll have to follow up 'cause I'm sure it's just super heavy for them. You know? I've heard from some of his close friends that just how much they loved it and how much they think he would've loved it. So, that's, that's like given me comfort. I have not had the, uh, the conversation yet with the family, but definitely looking forward. Hoping that they feel that it represents him.

Steve: What is your favorite Will Vinton film?

Marq: My favorite Will Vinton film? I mean, the favorite of the shorts would probably be THE COGNITO  just because it's the standup comic with things coming out of his head. I just think it's so brilliant and creative and funny. But I also just have to go back to the Mark Twain film. You know, being the only feature film ever made out of a hundred percent clay. You know? It's all, it's all clay. The entire thing. Not a frame...Not an object or a frame. The bulk of it is. I just think from like a creative standpoint...I mean, the, the film's got its flaws, you know, mostly story related 'cause it's kind of like a bunch of different stories, and they try to tie it all together into one story, but, to me, that doesn't really matter. It's just, it's just an amazing piece of art  that I think should have had a better audience than it did and, you know. It got marketed towards kids, and it wasn't really a kid movie, but hopefully if our film has enough to, to get out there maybe that film will kind of have a bit of a new life.

Steve: Well, it's interesting you mentioned that film because  it has been starting to pop up again in on line animation discussions because a lot of people saw it as a very little kid but didn't know what it was. The images, and a lot of it just stuck with everybody. It's like everybody seems to be rediscovering it because now as older people they are rediscovering it.

Marq: There's a narrative that’s going through a lot of the darker stories that people didn't know that Twain wrote, like The Mysterious Stranger. It has a cult following, but it's not super known. And the Stranger scene kind of terrified a lot of kids when they watched it. That scene out of context has, you know, like a YouTube page, and it's got like millions of views and comments of people saying, "Oh, I remember this when a kid. When I was a kid." It scared a lot of them. Even for some of my crew members that's like the scene that they remember. They'd seen Mark Twain. They remembered The Mysterious Stranger scene that just terrified them [laughs] .And I can understand taken out the context, though when you watch the movie as a whole it definitely has a rhyme and a reason to it.

Steve:  I'm going to bounce back to GLAMOUR because something stayed with me from the film. There's a point in the film where  Marcos discussing talking to the kids sitting alone with the radio, the kids whose best friend growing up was that radio. The scene feels like it comes from some one who could be that kid who felt like the only person talking to him was the radio. Were you that sort of a kid who is alone with the best friend as the radio growing up?

Marq: Not as much with the radio 'cause I grew up in a small town in Washington, a smaller town and I didn't have  a radio stations or the DJ that I felt like were talking to me. But I know people that did. Many like my wife, who listened to Marcos show when she was growing up, and  got super excited when they found out that I was making this film. The DJ could be like almost like a best friend to people, you know. Especially that are growing up with maybe kids that, you know, feel like outsiders, or just feel, you know, lonely, don't feel like they've got, um, you know, the best friend. They've been expecting the support from their family members that they feel like they've been forgot. You know, like a stranger doesn't feel like a stranger, it literally feels like a friend talking to just them. I know Marco took that really, really seriously and I think...I've heard that from other some other DJs.

Pat O'Day, you know, was a legendary Seattle DJ in, like, '50s, '60s, '70s. He actually just recently passed away, but he had talked about that as well too. So, I think it's...it's not a trick but just something that great DJs have that ability to really make a connection, and it's. So, you just think about all the lives that they've been able to improve because of that ability to do that. It's pretty special and...But unfortunately, you know, I think mostly lost...

There's still some great voices that are out there, but it's never going to be this because, you know, radio was just such a unique thing, and radio will never be the same. It was like the one main thing that everyone was turning into.

Steve: I had to ask you about that because some of my friends mentioned that the radio was their friend. And then I had showed them THE GLAMOUR AND THE SQUALOR, and they were like, "That's it!" When they saw that scene, it was like, they were, they, it was like, "That's it. That's what it was like." That was, I mean, because it  just brought everything home for them. 

Marq: Cool.

Steve: Next question what is Cow by Bear?

Marq: I was friends with this Chef Bear. He's a bear that, that learned how to walk and talk and cook. He's a good friend of mine. So I kind of just help him out with his media. But he's got like a dining experience out in San Diego, in Seattle, and for a while in Savannah, Georgia.He asked me to not talk too much about that, but people should definitely check out cowbybear.com. If they're ever in San Diego, they can go get a really, really good five-course meal cooked by a Bear.

We did a couple episodes of a show that could have kept going, but it fizzled out a little bit. It was a web series.

Steve: Where are you going with CLAYDREAM next?

Marq: It's kind of interesting because, as of right this moment, it's not available anywhere in America. We had the Tribeca 10-day or whatever virtual run, so people could see it then. Then the Annecy, it was available in France, but once those things are done we're working on a sale right now. We're working on distribution. Hopefully, at some point this year it'll be available to a wide audience wherever that may be. As of, I think, yesterday, it's playing in Australia as part of the Melbourne Documentary Festival. We've got couple other festivals winding up, and we'll continue to do some festivals, but the focus is getting the distribution and figuring out a wider release for it.

Steve: That's cool. What are you doing next?

Marq: I've got a handful that are in different spots in development right now. There's a documentary that I've been making in Haiti with my brother for about 11 years now, ever since the 2010 earthquake. That's something we would like to finish. It's like a boyhood documentary where it's following this brilliant young Haitian kid. We met him when he was 12 years old. Now he's 23, living in Brooklyn. He's got this fascinating story, super interesting kid. We'd like to finish that.

Probably the two projects that are most far along that I've been working on for a while and developing and pitching, there's a true crime, murder mystery story in the '80s in Kodiak, Alaska that I got quite a bit into so far and we're pitching. And then also a series about stoicism, the Ancient Greek and Roman Empire philosophy from 2000 years ago that is really relevant today, just how, how this group of modern stoics, a lot of celebrities and a lot of athletes and business people are taking these methods from 2,000 years ago and using them to apply it to their situations today. Those are the two that are probably the furthest along, then there's a handful of other ones I've been poking around on too, but we'll just [laughs] see what goes.

Steve: Sounds good. Thank you for taking the time.

CLAYDREAM (2021) Opens Friday

CLAYDREAM is a great film. A portrait of the late great animator Will Vinton from his birth through his battle with the founder of Nike over his studio on to his death. It is a glorious celebration of the man and his work.

I am a huge Will Vinton fan. His version of the THE LITTLE PRINCE is one of my favorite films of all time. His CLOSED MONDAYS changed how I see animation. His feature films were unlike anything out there. When I saw that this film was playing Tribeca I instantly reached out to get a copy of the film. Having seen it I want to go back through all of Vinton’s films.

While the film is very much a celebration of the man the film doesn’t shy away from some the missteps that he made. Getting hooked up with Nike, a move that would ultimate result in his being thrown out of his own studio being chief among them. While the mistakes are softened by the words of friends and family we see that Vinton sometimes reached too far.

There is much to love in this film. I suspect that the abundance of clips will make this a film that is a revelation for even long time Vinton fans. I kept seeing bits and realizing that there are still a good number of films I know nothing about. I also love the way that director Marq Evans weaves together new and old interviews in such a way that I completely forgot that Vinton had past. This is a film that put all of Vinton’s films firmly in the present.

In all honesty I was so sure that Vinton was alive  that the films final image, that of the aviator carrying a sleeping Prince crushed me with in the context of Vinton’s life. It  hit me so unexpectedly that I had to back up the film and watch it a second time, only to have it reduce me to a sobbing mess with the perfection of the image and context.

I love this film a great deal

It, along with the earlier The GLAMOUR AND THE SQUALOR makes director Marq Evans one to put on your must follow list. Evans has a unique vision that is unlike anyone else and I am hoping he makes films for many decades to come.

CLAYDREAM is playing at the Quad Cinema in New York and other theaters and should be high on your must see list

Forced Change (2022)

 

This is a pointer toward FORCED CHANGE which is being release today.

The film is the story of three families dealing with the changes brought by Hurricane Katrina. Though the storm was almost two decades ago the effects are still being felt today.

Filmed over 14 years the film is a document of what the families faced right after the storm and how they have fared over the years since. Not only do we see how they faced losing pretty much everything but also how they tried to put it all back together and how they cope living in a place that isn’t New Orleans, which they still consider their home.

This is a really good film that really shows the effects of one event hangs over everything that follows. It’s a wonderful portrait of the families involved and their stories really hit home.

And I can’t say more than that. Its not for any reason than I have recently seen several similar films  and I don’t have anything beyond THIS IS REALLY GOOD AND WORTH YOUR TIME to say about it. To that end if the subject interests you give FORCED CHANGE a shot.

Missing (2022) Fantasia 2022

Shinzo Katayama's MISSING is a hard film to discuss. It's one of those films that starts off seeming to be on thing and then turns and turns and turns and ends up not being what you thought it was going in. Yes it is most definitely a thriller, however there are other things going on. I mean at it's heart its the story of a father and his daughter...and there are some other things going on which you really need to just see.

The set up of the film is about Kaeda. She is desperately trying to deal with her father who has completely broken after the death of his wife/her mother. He simply doesn't want to do anything. Then suddenly he announces that he knows who the serial killer No Name is. He's seen him on a train when he briefly took off his mask. He's going to find the killer and bring him to justice. Not long after he begins his quest he disappears and Kaeda is left to try and figure out what happened to him.

I won't say more 

Actually I dare not say more because there is enough going on here to make you sit up and take notice. It's the sort of a film that signals early on it's not going to do what you expect so you lean way in and are in for the whole ride. As a result it kicks you in the gut in the best sort of way.

High recommended.

Incredible But True (2022) Fantasia 2022

Quentin Dupieux returns with more off kilter insanity about a couple that buys a house with a tunnel in the basement that leads to the upstairs in their house and a  twlve hours away. There is more afoot here, including a plot line concerning male enhancement, all of which is going to make you sit up and take notice.

After two films that worked in fits and starts (MANDIBLES and  DEERSKIN) Dupieux returns to form with an obtuse tale that walks on the weirdside. Refusing to give answers he mines  his material for maximum effect opening our eyes with the unexpected turns and make us think with connections we never previously considered.  For me this was the type of film that keeps me going back to Dupieux’s films, a point of view unlike anyone else.

As with all of Dupieux’s films this is not for everyone. It’s skewed sense of reality will not sit well with people who want their stories closer to reality. On the other hand this is probably his most mainstream film so there is a good chance that even if you haven’t like Dupieux’s other films you’ll like this one

Recommended.

QUE LE FAN SOIT AVEC TOI (aka May The Fan Be With You) (2022) Fantasia 2022

I'm not a Star Wars Fan.  There was a time around the original films when I really loved them but the stories drifted and things fell off with the prequels and I stopped caring- though I did go to all the new films as they came out. And because I'm not a big fan of the series I was hesitant to see QUE LE FAN SOIT AVEC TOI but it filled a slot....and it ended up making me tear up as I connected to it in all sorts of unexpected ways.

The film is a look at Star Wars fandom through the lives of three guys. Malgus, ais the leader of the cosplay group La Forteresse impériale. Steeve Gros-Louis, owner of a restaurant and an collector and dealer of merchandise. Jef is a figure in the fan community with a podcast on the whole Star Wars Universe. Through them we see not just how Star Wars affects people’s lives, but also how fandom creates community and bring meaning to peoples lives.

This is a great film. Yea it’s about three guys who love Star Wars but the truth is the film speaks volumes beyond that. This is a film about fandom and people following their passions. As some one involved in various forms of fandom (film in particular) I could relate to what I was seeing. I completely understood the passion.  While I didn’t care about the visit to the filming locations of the first Star Wars film, I completely understood the passion in the eyes and the in the voice. If I was going to a place that was part of my waking dreams I too would hug the furniture.

While I have seen multiple films on fandom this maybe the best. It’s the best because it transcends just on the specific fandom.

A must see.

CULT HERO (2022) Fantasia 2022

 

When a cult busting TV star Dale Domazar’s latest bust ends in a mass suicide he has to figure out what’s next. When he’s approached by a woman who thinks she’s joined a cult he jumps in to help her.

This is an amusing comedy about cults and TV fame. The humor is broad and low brow but it produces laughs. While there is a hard edge to the violence, the film pretty much plays everything for laughs.

If there is anything really wrong with the film it’s that hero Domazar is played much too over the top and can be the wrong sort of annoying.  Its not fatal but it makes things less perfect.

Worth a look.

HEAVEN TO THE LAND OF HAPPINESS (2021) Fantasia 2022

Choi Min-sik gives a performance for the ages in HEAVEN TO THE LAND OF HAPPINESS . In all seriousness this is one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen.  I should add he is matched by Park Hae-il who is just as good in a less showy role.  The pair give performances that should be studied as how to play realistic buddies on screen.

The Plot of the film has  inmate 203 (Choi Min-sik) collapsing in prison only to discover he has at most two weeks left to live. Park Hae-il plays  Nam Sik, a worker in the prison who is stealing an expensive medicine he needs to stay alive. When an opportunity presents itself the pair escape from the prison, in a hearse with a coffin full of mob money in the back. The film then becomes a road film as the pair try to stay ahead of the mob, the police and get to 203’s daughter before time literally runs out.

One of the greatest buddy films ever made this films all of the characters dead nuts right. This is not the witty repartee of things like BAD BOYS or 48 HOURS or any typical Hollywood buddy film, but something deeper. We feel every emotion the pair feels and we understand how they come to love and trust each other. We understand why they yell at each other and why, when the chips are down they take care of each other.  It’s a relationship that produces tears…every damn one of which is earned ten times over.

While frequently funny the film is not a comedy. The humor comes from the situations and not joke writers. These are, mostly, situations we could find ourselves in.

I absolutely loved this film.  Sitting watching it I was completely riveted. I just stared at the screen never looking away except to try and find a tissue to wipe away one of the well earned tears.

I need to mention the performances of Choi Min-sik again. This should get him every award under the sun. It’s unlikely to happen but I can dream. Watch his whole being become 203. Watch how joy at seeing something again for the “first” time fills him, as it replaced by sadness as knowing it’s the last time for him.  Listen to the concern in his voice as he screams at his friend at leaving the medicine he needs to stay alive behind. You  can hear the tone of man about to die angry that a stupid mistake might mean his friend  would go before him. This is as perfect a performance as I’ve ever seen. When you see the film enjoy the film, but watch Min-sik’s seeming non-performance take it all to another level.

This is a magnificent movie. One of the very best films of 2022 and an absolute must see.

Island of Lost Girls (2022) Fantasia 2022

 Three little girls drift off to a deserted island and have encounters with seals and sea elephants.

A beautiful nature documentary is interrupted by a home movie of a non-thrilling family thriller. This is one of the few Fantasia films I've ever seen where I can’t understand why it was programmed at the festival. While not a “bad” film it is completely uninvolving. Yes the cinematography and nature images are stunning. They are the sort  of images you want to see huge. They are impressive and if this was a documentary they would make this a must see.

The problem with the film is the sections of the films focusing on the little girls. Shot as a sort of cinema verité, the little girl stuff is so artificial that we never fall into it. Yes it feels like its based on real life, but its shot in a way that lets us instantly know this is a “movie”.  It feels contrived. Worse once the film gets going and the trouble starts,  and the film tries  to make us  feel like the girls were in some sort of danger, but you never feet it. There was no suspense, you always felt like they were going to be okay because at no point did we see there was any real danger. Nothing “bad” happens anywhere and the girls skate by, such as when one sister catches her sibling when she falls off the counter. The film simply signals all along that everything will be alright.

 I never cared.

Worse I felt like I was being forced to watch the directors children be cute.

For my money this is a very expensive home movie.

Next Door (2022) Fantasia 2022 NYAFF 2022

 

A young man cramming to get into the police is unable to raise the fee for the application. A friend offers the money if he comes out drinking. All is good until he ends up locked into the apartment next to his with dead body on the floor of a pool of blood. Desperate to get out he suddenly realizes that he has to clean up the crime scene of any trace of his presence, however things become complicated by various people.

This is a mix of suspense and humor as sweet but nebbishy guy lives out one of our worst fears- in the firing line for a murder we didn’t commit. The film works because the film maintains the right tone from start to finish.  While some of the turns seem to be there just to keep things ratcheted up (I mean so much happens), we really don’t mind because we are invested.

This is a good thriller that’s worth your time.

The Protector (2022) Fantasia 2022

A young woman with a troubled past is sent to a remote town with no crime by the court. Crime stopped a decade earlier when there was some kind of massacre that put the town on the map. As the girl is settling into her new home she is gifted with a strange book called The Protector. The book concerns a god that brings peace to where ever he goes. As the young woman becomes obsessed with the book she also begins to look into the history of her new town.

This is an kind of obtuse horror mystery film  about the weird things going on in a small town.  Its one of those films were everything is off slightly and everyone is clearly hiding something. It’s a film where we lean in for much of the running time waiting for all, or at least most of the secrets to be revealed.

While the film has lots of mood and  generates genuine curiosity about what is going on, too much remains unexplained or is a bit too odd.  Some plot turns don’t seem to make sense (the alleged and debated bigfoot massacre for example). The film seems to either have been made in such away as to be a disturbing mystery to the end or too much was removed in editing, in either case, the result is a film that holds our attention until almost the very end when we suddenly realizes that this isn’t going to stick the landing and we are going to we leaving with too many questions.

Personally I was invested until almost the end when the lack of sense disconnected me. While I like what the film does with it’s mood and a bunch of not wholly likable characters, I dislike that it doesn’t pull it together in the end.

THE MOLE SONG -UNDERCOVER AGENT REIJI- FINAL(2022) Fantasia 2022

 

Takashi Miike concludes his MOLE SONG trilogy with more insanity as only he can inflict upon the world.

As the story winds down Reiji Kikukawa, the mole of the title, is in Italy with his gang. They are working to bring  tons of drugs disguised as  pasta into Japan. However Reiji has been told he needs to wrap things up. How is he going to arrest the boss and what of the inevitable betrayal of his "brother"?

This is a good ending to the series. Having been an early adopter of the series, I fell madly in love with the first film and I was equally thrilled with the second, I'm glad we get to have it all more or less resolved. I'm also thrilled that the insanity level remains  high. There are lots of laughs here, almost all will make even people walking in off the street laugh, though  jokes will be funnier many if you've been riding along.  They are almost all low brow but really really clever low brow. 

I roared from start to finish.

As good as the film is it isn't quite up to the first two films. It's not that there is anything wrong with the film, rather it's because the film is saddled with FINAL in the title.  Because the film is a final chapter everything must come to an end so things are forced to bend toward an ending.  The film doesn't have the pure joy of the first two where anything could and did happen. (That said some truly unexpected things happen here). 

The film also suffers slightly with a number of flashbacks to the first film. There is a bit too much refering back.

Quibbles aside, this film is a joy. It's a wonderful send off to good friends.

Running on Karma NYAFF 2022

When I saw this film the first time I was left sitting slack jawed and wondering what in the hell these people were smoking or ingesting when they made this off kilter little film. To say that this film is unique is an understatement. In all honesty there is no really way to full explain or discuss this film, you really have to see it.

 With that in mind I'm going to make a stab at trying to give you an idea of the plot, but even so I know I'm leaving out a few twists: A body building ex-monk who dances as a male stripper and who can see the future gets mixed up with a police woman going after a killer. Mix in some laughs, comic book villains, some very bloody deaths, some serious action, discussions of the nature of the universe and predestination; shake well and perhaps, just perhaps you may get an idea of what this film by Ka-Fai Wai and Johnnie To is like. 

Then again you may not since this film operates in its own orbit, going from pillar to post on its own crazy course. I don't think I had any moment where I really knew what was coming next. Say what you will about the plot elements but on its own terms it's a great deal of fun. In its way its a more sedate version of the "crazy" films people think are the norm in Asia cinemas. 

 The nice thing here is that while problem with the film is thats so incredibly quirky that it never really seems to pull it all together, it doesn't matter. Under normal circumstances not pulling it all together will kill a film, but here you don't really mind simply because its not only being different from pretty much any other film ever made, it's also being very entertaining. Just don't watch this when you're looking for a movie that makes perfect sense. 

 I would love to say more about this film, but I really can't. This is one of those movies that you just have to take it on faith that is worth your time. If you want to see a movie thats certainly unlike any other film out there, this film is for you. But be warned its bumpy and imperfect and you may hate yourself for liking it in the morning.

Fight Machine (2022) Fantasia 2022

Paul is a spoiled rich kid turns to body building and boxing after getting his ass kicked. Rob is a working class kid being pushed toward fighting by his father and uncle. Both are being set on a collision course in a bare knuckle ring where the winner is the man who can walk away.

This film looks good, has a great cast (including the always wonderful Michael Ironside) and some bone crushing fights. On paper the the film should be top rank. Unfortunately the film never nails down the right tone and as a result the film doesn't quite work.

This should have been played very straight and very serious. This is a compelling tale about families and friends and the things we do to find a place in the world. The trouble is that director Andrew T Hunt fudges things. Some sequences are played for laughs, Paul getting beaten up is more comedic then frightening. Its made worse by his running away like a small child. Some of the crowd reactions to the fights are silly. Some scenes are played much too lighthearted. This frequent dips into lightness runs counter to the blood and broken bones of the fight scenes. As a result we are never fully invested with the result the tragic ending leaves us nonplussed. I should have been rocked and instead I was trying to deduce what went wrong.

While the film is good on it's own terms, the truth of the matter is that what should have been a four star film is in stead a two and a half one.

Broken Commandment (2022) NYAFF 2022

 Based on Hakai (Outcast) by Toson Shimazaki a classic novel seeking for tolerance the burakumin minority, the film follows the fortune of a young man who leaves his home town at the age of 16 and is told by his father go make a life for himself, not return and under no circumstances  reveal that he is burakumin. He goes off and finds success at school, becoming a teacher in a small village. However when  racism rears it’s head he must decide whether to go a long or make a stand.

Okay film version of an oft filmed story never quite generates the sparks it should.  Looking more like a TV drama then a big screen film the film would have worked had the performances not been all over the place. While the adults are mostly good, the problem is the kids that make up the students are pretty much poor across the board. We never believe them and as a result we end up never emotionally invested. Watching the ending, which should have been a teary ending, al I could think was I was watching the end of Dead Poets Society with non actors as the kids. I should have been tearing but instead I was looking at a list of films trying to deduce what to watch next

Angry Son (2022) NYAFF 2022

Gay biracial teen comes of age.

Low Budget drama is hard for me to fairly review. The problem is that other than coming from Asia this film is very much like a whole subgenre of films here in the United States.  While the film is okay on it's own terms, the film suffers in my eyes because I am unfairly comparing it to the films I see here in the US.

Worth a look if it interests you.

A pointer toward A Balance (2021) which hits Film Movement Friday

A documentary filmmaker working on a film about the relationship between teachers and students and the damage it causes is rocked to her core when she discovers her father, a professor has been having a relationship with a student.

Very good drama is worth a look. I originally saw this film last year when it played the New York Asian Film Festival and it hung with me. It was so front and center that when I saw it was getting released on Friday that I instantly said- “I’ll rerun my review”. The trick is it was one of the few films I’ve ever seen at a NYAFF that I somehow never wrote up.   However since the film is good enough that 1000 plus film since I last saw it that I remember it I have to do a brief piece to say give the film a shot.