A pointer toward FLY ME TO THE SAITAMA: FROM BIWA LAKE WITH LOVE (2024) Fantasia 2024

This is just a pointer toward FLY ME TO THE SAITAMA: FROM BIWA LAKE WITH LOVE. This is only a pointer because the film really requires that you have seen the first film. There is no set up, no introduction to the characters, it just goes.

The film is set up in an alternate time line where one of the province of the country  has broken off and won its independence. It now wants to set up a beach resort.

Wildly crazy and off kilter the film requires you click in with its sense of humor and reality. 

Yin Yang Master Zero (2024) NYAFF 2024 Fantasia 2024

Abe no Seimei was an actual Yin Yang master. By the time he died he had become do famous all sorts of legends were written about him.  Those legends formed the source for a series of novels by Baku Yumemakura’s. Those novels were then turned into a couple of earlier films.

This time out we are going back to Seimei‘s days in the academy. He is learning to perform the rituals needed, as well as the psychological tricks that help him be the great wizard like master. He is of course much more advanced (even more than his teachers), the craft running in his family. Hooking up with a fellow student with whom he forms a Holmes and Watson like partnership, he gets involved with a princess in trouble and a series of murders taking out teachers in his school.

The film is a weird mix of magic and mystery, this feels like the set up for a period detective series. More focused on the characters then magical set pieces  the film makes us care about what happens and worry about what is going to happen next. While  there are some cool “magical” sequences they aren’t the film exists. There aren’t huge set pieces like in Hollywood film but something else, which actual makes the magic more magical. One I realized that I fell under the spell of the film and enjoyed myself that I am hoping for a series.

Recommended

FAQ (2024) NYAFF 2024 Fantasia 2024

Dong-chun is a feisty grade school kid who wants nothing to do with school or growing up, largely because she doesn't understand why she has to do all these things. While on a trip she ends up with a bottle of rice wine which begins to send her signals via Morse code.

This is a one of a kind film you must see. It's a look at growing up and life that goes into some really unexpected places. I'm serious about that, the denouncement was completely from out of left field. It works, I have no idea why, but it does.

I suspect that there are going to be a number of people who are going to wonder what is going on. I am intentionally not being specific about what happens because I haven't been able to make some of this sound less crazy.   I don't want to put you off the film, because this is something truly special. Its a film that has a story to tell and it does so wonderfully.

Trust me, this is a film that is just wonderfully it's own thing.

Highly recommended.

A pointer toward Reversi (2024) NYAFF 2024

A man who can jump back in time, uses his ability to keep his wife and son safe.

I'm not going to  review REVERSI. It's not that it's a bad film, rather it isn't my type of film. The film is basically a thriller remake or riff of the 2013 film ABOUT TIME which was made as a kind of romantic film from Richard Curtis, except that each time our hero jumps he shortens his life.

My issue with the basic story is that the constant jumping back in time raises all sorts of questions that distract me.  Additionally it results in a narrative that cheats it's audience by making it so it can undo what has been  done. Sometimes it works like in TIME CRIMES or the films of Junta Yamaguchi, but mostly the trope collapses at a certain point because it becomes a story in search of an ending. I had issues.

On the other hand, some people are not as picky as me so it you like constant time travel films give it a shot.

KINGDOM:RETURN OF THE GENERAL (2024) NYAFF 2024

Before we start you don't need to have seen the first three films. The brief piece to get you up to speed at the start is enough. I say this because I haven't seen parts 2 and 3 and I have no memory of the first part. 

Set during the wars that unified China, this manga based film is the story of a young man named Shin who is working to be the greatest general ever. As this film begins Shin and his men are waiting to battle the enemy. One of the enemy generals, known as the God of War, appears and decimates the band. Shin is wounded and is carried off by his friends. They are fleeing into the night because Shin lead is small force to victory and the enemy fear them. Re joining the main force the Shin and his men end up in a huge battle.

Trust me it's infinitely better than it sounds. This is a film of grand spectacle and perfect performances. For all the war this is a film about the characters. Seriously this is a film where we fall into the characters and are brought to tears by their trials. Unlike Hollywood and the Marvel films no one gets lost and everyone shines.

This is a staggering achievement. It's a film that moves our hearts. Details are filled in in such away that give new details to those  who know what went before and enough detail that new comers like me can follow along.

No film series with a continuing story ever has had a fourth film this readily accessible- nor has a fourth film been this good.

I need to go back and watch the earlier films.

This film is one of the best of 2024.

Highly recommended

Brave Citizen (2024) Fantasia 2024

Web comic based film has a new teacher, and former fighter with anger issues, taking on the bully of the school and his minions by wearing a cat mask and kicking ass. 

This exploration of school violence in Korea is a compelling thriller with doses of humor. The fights are brutal and bone crushing with the outcome of it all very likely to make you cheer.

What is troubling about the film is that the film seems to be a brutal take down of the violence that, at least according to Korean cinema, is rampant in the country. The school where this all goes down is the leading one in the nation for anti-bullying. At the start of the film we are told how great it is, something we then instantly learn is a lie as we see how rampant the violence is. It's a deeply troubling film in its way because it very clearly shows that under the shiny veneer  there is extreme ugliness. Considering what we see in other Korean action films it makes you wonder why anyone would want to go there.

...I'm probably over reading things...

Taken on it's own terms and as a stand alone action film BRAVE CITIZEN is a solid little thriller. The bad guys are bad. The good guys aren't perfect but the sort of people we want to root for. The film has danger in that all of the violence leaves marks and bruises so you don't know what is going to happen to anyone. It's a solid film where you'll want to curl up with a bowl of popcorn and see how it comes out.

Recommended.

Liz Whittemore on Darkest Miriam (2024) which is playing Fantasia

This originally appeared at Liz's regular home REEL NEWS DAILY

Someone seems to be leaving Miriam cryptic notes and clues connected to her life. A kind-hearted and observant Toronto librarian at a quiet branch filled with an eclectic group of patrons, Miriam’s mundane existence gets upended by increasingly weird incidents and a new love affair with a young foreign cab driver. 

Britt Lower’s narration moves this enigmatic story forward. The entire narrative flows as a reminder that this is a splendid adaptation of Matha Baillie’s novel The Incident Report.

The notes are poetic in their veiled threats, filled with delicious language choices. It is a pensive tug-of-war between love and grief. 

Britt Lower commands the screen with not much more than a stare. Miriam is mired quietly in grief. Lower is effortlessly magnetic, capturing every bit of nuance inside of Miriam.

The film delves into the fact that libraries are often a public refuge for the misunderstood. More importantly, the love story is a haven of intimacy and honest expression. As the plot shifts, her unresolved trauma, tinged with the macabre, becomes a worry for the audience. You are rooting for Miriam, full stop. Tribeca 2024 should settle into the pros of the script and allow themselves to live with Miriam, if only for a short time. 

THE GUEST (2023) NYAFF 2024 Asian Film Fest of Dallas 2024

A hot sheet hotel with the rooms bugged is  looked after by two young guys in hock to the mob. They need to pay off their debt or else they will harvest their organs and toss them into the ocean. If they can get a drive full of sick stuff from the guests they will be able to pay off their debt in one go.  On a rainy night a strange guy comes in carrying a woman on his back. The guys realize this guy maybe their savior...until they realize that the guy is even more dangerous then they could imagine.

A long slow set up (the whole first third) gives way to  a tense run to the end as the psycho begins to hunt his prey. It's a well made film that doesn't do anything new, it simply follows the well worn path you expect. While I enjoyed myself once it got going, I was disappointed that it was a bit too by the numbers.  I could live with it not being the next new thing, except that it' good enough that it could have and should have been more memorable than it is. Sadly I'm going to remember the film because I don't remember it.

If you like films that are a nameless psycho hunting people (ala the recent IN A VIOLENT NATURE) you will love this. If you want a bit more you can skip it. 

Kryptic (2024) Fantasia 2024

Young woman wanders off during a group trip to a mountain with a dark past. She has a weird encounter with the beast that lives on the mountain and when she returns  to the party nothing is the same for her.

I'm going to be honest and say that this film didn't work much for me. Very much a member of a horror sub-genre involving weird encounters in the woods that change people, it echoes other similar films a bit too much.  

While there is nothing really wrong with what we see here, and despite my grumbling, I do like the film, the problem is that the lead character isn't interesting enough to make this work.  Simply put we don't get enough of how she was before for us to really understand the change that has happened to her. Because we don't really get any sense of her as a character before, the fact that she is wandering through things that seem familiar from other films are more noticeable. We lean into what we know from outside the film because the script doesn't give us enough to go on.

I enjoyed this but honestly this should have been stronger.

Quibbles aside, its worth a look for cosmic horror fans

BREAKING AND REENTERING (2024) NYAFF 2024

After a band of thieves break into a bank and clean out the vault, they find that they have to put the money back because the leader's  girlfriend is blamed.

It's much more complicated than that but that is enough to get you started with this delightful caper film that riffs on all the recent Hollywood caper films while turning them all on their ear. This is just great fun.

To be honest you have to stay through the set up. I had a hard time warming to the film for the first few minutes because it was spinning out in such a rote method. It was so obviously riffing on films like OCEAN'S 8, 11,12 and 13 that I was bracing for a ride I could plan from start to finish. Thankfully there was a point where the film just flopped and shook off the copying and then began to really knock my socks off.

What an absolutely delightful film.

Ultimately it doesn't entirely chart a new path, but it manages to be so damn entertaining you really won't care.

Highly recommended.

It hits Netflix August 1

Tiki Tiki (1971) Fantasia 2024

Restoration of a 1971 animated film that mixed animated sequences about the executives in an ape run world (remember Planet of the Apes was huge when this was made) and mixed it with a Soviet children's film Aybolit-66, that was a Doctor Doolittle rip off to tell the story of a filmmaker making a film about humans sailing to Tiki Tiki to rescue apes and fight pirates. It's all dubbed to play like a WHAT'S UP TIGERLILY film.

This is a painful viewing experience to thanks to the really awful Soviet footage. It's so bad I can't imagine Rifftrax, The Mads or MST3K ever touching this. Yes, well over an hour of Aybolbit-66 was removed but what remains is so WTF as to be near unwatchable. It appears to have been inserted randomly.

This might have worked but the studio messed it up. In reading on the film, it was clear the studio didn't know what they wanted and waffled as to whether to make this for kids or make it for the midnight films crowd, or as one person said the kindergarten set or stoned high schoolers. The lack of knowing who the audience was going to be made it a film for no audience.

Avoid this turd at all costs.

ASTRONOTS (2024) Fantasia 2024

As two astronauts prepare to be launched to mars one of them has a panic attack.  This is an amusing little twi hander that is going to make you laugh. It’s a perfectly done comedy that nails it in so many different ways.

The fact that it had me laughing out loud says so much

This is definitely one to track down.

(There is a post credits scene)

Brief thoughts on SNOW IN MIDSUMMER (2023) NYAFF 2024

This is a look at the vents of May 13, 1969 in Kuala Lumpur​ when the Chinese minority was attacked and massacre. Using a dual structure where events of the past are inter-cut with events today, the film looks to plumb the depths of tragedy and how we remember it. 

In all honesty I can't really provide an objective review. This is very much an art house film that is deliberately staged to look like a theatrical performance- much of the film is shot to look the Cantonese Opera performance that begins the film.  It's a mannered presentation that is not going to work for everyone. 

That said if you want to see an extremely well done, if mannered art film.

A pointer to Mash Ville (2024) Fantasia 2024

This is more a pointer than a review. I say this because the off kilter nature of the film didn’t quite connect with me, I suspect because I saw it after a long day watching films.

The film has three brothers selling bootleg hooch. When a batch of their alcohol kills someone they have to go out and get it back. They then run into a bunch of cultists who are going around killing people and then praying over their bodies.  It’s a crazy battle for survival.

Well done with it’s own sense of reality, this is a nifty little comedic thriller that will grab your attention.  The problem for me was that while I was watching the film I found I wasn’t in the mood for a film that wasn’t straight forward.  Its wasn’t that I wasn’t liking it but more along the lines of not finding the thing you want to eat.Sure you have good food in the house but you don’t want that.

That said- I know MASH VILLE is very good and worth a look.

In brief: The Missing (2023) NYAFF 2024 Fantasia 2024

Mute young man begins to lose himself  when after he finds his uncle dead.

The first film from the Philippines submitted to the Oscars for Best Animated Feature is either going to thrill you or bore you to tears. A long convoluted tale concerning our hero's quest to heal himself walks a path you'll see charted almost instantly. The aliens and the dressings aren't real, though the molestation is.

I applaud the film trying to do more than just tell a story of abuse in the typical way, but at the same time I don't think it works at all.

Hell is a Teenage Girl (2024) Fantasia 2024

A young girl who is ostracized b y her high school, because her father is the undying killer that strikes every Halloween, decides to put a stop to his rampage.

This is a sweet smart little film that is really enjoyable. Sure we kind of figure where this is going, but it is still a delight.

I enjoyed the hell out of it. 

Recommended

The Old Man and the Demon Sword (2024) Fantasia 2024

THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD is a just over an hour long joy,  It’s not deep and meaningful. It’s a bit clunky, but at the same time it’s entertaining as all hell.

The film has an old guy, who some call delusional getting a demon infused word from a neo templar who is tasked with using the blade to rid the world of demons. The pair become friends.

Not operating on the biggest financial budget OLDMAN… has a over abundance of heart. Filled with actors who sell the craziness on the screen, its film that over comes any and all questions about quality with force of will and charm. I was simply delighted to be watching the film and when it was done I watched it again.

This is not high art, this is get a bucket of popcorn and beverage of choice and enjoy sort of a film.

Recommended

MANTRA WARRIOR: THE LEGEND OF THE EIGHT MOONS (2023) Fantasia 2024

Giant robots and reincarnated gods mix in a retelling of the Ramayana.

The plot has group of rebels trying to rescued a captured princess before her powers can be used for evil and gaining the powers of gods who are to protect her.

Good looking film didn’t work for me. The problem is that in trying to be too many things the film is kind of a bit of nothing. The mythological orgins get lost in the crashing robots. The drive to be family friendly resulted in the film not having any bite.

Yes the film is a visual ballet but nothing stands out and when it’s done you really won’t remember a thing.

A disappointment. 

Escape Attempt (2023) Fantasia 2024

Set in the future the film is the story of a couple heading off on a romantic trip who agree to drop a man they meet on a quiet planet along their way. Things go side ways when the uninhabited planet isn't, and has a concentration camp on it.

Great looking film with a large chip on its shoulder. This is a film that is very much about something. It's a film that wants us to think and consider. Its also a film that is going to play very differently than when it was conceived thanks to the march of world events.

It's a gorgeous film, echoing the work of many Eastern European genre filmmakers of the past. I can only imagine how great this film is going to look on the big screen.

If there is anything that bothers me about the film is that it has an insistence that it must tell us this story or else. Perhaps its the need to make sure we get it because of the shortness of the run time, or because there is a real desire in the filmmakers to make a change, but either way the film  goes a little bit over in pushing the fact that the film means something, beyond the obvious parallels in the tale.

Quibble aside, this film is a kick in the ass and recommended.

One For the Road (2024) LA Shorts

Two guys help a waitress with a creepy guy who wanders into the diner at 2am.

Stephen King based short is a creepy little film. Sure, after a certain point you'll be able to figure out where this is going, but at the same time it's so well done you really won't care. (I'm not saying more because I don't want  to spoil it.)

What a scary little delight.

Recommended.