The Zero Theorem

Closing out Fantastic Fest is the latest from Terry Gilliam, another somewhat existential tale of the odd and bizarre.  Qohen is a mathematician, tasked with calculating the meaning of existence, and yet his work is constantly interrupted by Management, who just can't seem to leave him alone.  As with many films of this genre, I'm left more scratching my head than satisfied.

The Zero Theorem
2013, 107 minutes, directed by Terry Gilliam

Blue Ruin

Revenge can be sweet.  Revenge can be cold.  Revenge can be tasty.  In the case of Blue Ruin, revenge is senseless.  Dwight is a ruined man, devastated by violence against his family, wasting away his life as a drifter.  When the killer is released from prison, Dwight embarks on a homecoming of sorts for revenge.  Things immediately go awry when he neglects to consider that even the killer, too, has a family...

This film exemplarizes the pointlessness of revenge.  I appreciated it.

Blue Ruin
2013, 92 minutes, directed by Jeremy Saulnier

L'écume des jours (Mood Indigo)

A friend just walked out of a Mood Indigo screening, here in summer 2014, which led me to discover that my reviews for the last few days of Fantastic Fest 2013 were missing.  I'm trying to piece together my reviews from memory.

The thing about Mood Indigo is that it is very pretty.  The film starts in the happy, whimsical way typical of French film.  Batchelor Colin is in love, life is good, and he lives in a magical house with a mouse and live in chef.  The world is colorful and dancing as he woos Chlöe his future bride.

But a rare illness - a water lily growing in her lungs - strikes Chlöe on their honeymoon, and things begin to go awry.  The great part of this film is how the cinematography adapts to the mood.  The colorful is replaced with the grey, the animated world starts to decay, and darkness literally grows into their home and life.  The sad part of the film is just how damned depressing it is to see things go so badly for this happy young couple.  I think this film epitomizes French cinema - sentient mouse, claymation, live in chef, and horribly depressing ending of death and decay.  No thanks.

L'écume des jours (Mood Indigo)
2013, 94 minutes, directed by Michel Gondry

Gatchaman

Like other late-FF-2013 films, I'm posting this almost a year later thanks to some lost notes and bad memory.

Suited superheros ninjas fight end-of-the-world monsters, their emotions, and regret over lost love in this over-the-top Japanese adventure film, based on a 1970s television show.  Also, apparently when half the planet is in ruins, Japanese will still go shopping and to dinner parties.

I wanted a stupid action film, not a love-triangle dialog-driven drama.  Sad.

Gatchaman
2013, 113 minutes, directed by Tôya Satô

LFO

As with several other late-FF-2013 reviews, my original notes were lost and I'm writing this almost a year later.  I keep a film blog to help me remember the movies I've seen, and unfortunately without my notes I struggle for details.

I seem to recall liking this film.  Robert escapes life in his basement, experimenting with sound.  When he finds a frequency that gives him complete control over those who hear it, hilarity ensues as he lives out his fantasies, until he realizes just how far he can go.

LFO
2013,  94 minutes, directed by Antonio Tublen

The Congress

Somehow my reviews of the last days of Fantastic Fest 2013 weren't saved here.  I even recall going through my notes, determining they had all been posted, and consciously throwing them away.  C'est la vie.  This is from memory.

Anyway, The Congress started with a solid, sci-fi-worthy human dilemma.  Faced with her own aging body and marketability as an actress, Robin Wright (as a fiction version of herself) is offered one last role of a "lifetime".  She'll be digitally scanned - physically, mentally, emotionally - and "Robin Wright" the actress would officially become a separately-owned property from Robin Wright the person.  It's a dilemma to decide if one's identity, one's external "worth", should be sold at any cost, and one I thought the film would take much of its run time to explore.

Instead, faced with a sick child, Robin makes the decision relatively quickly.  Then the film devolves into an animated world, one where everyone takes pills to see the world as cartoon.  Twenty years later, as "her" star power peaks, she's invited to The Congress, a New World gathering, as a celebrity of sorts.  Not everyone desires such new world order, and the gathering devolves into anarchy and chaos.  Robin escapes, but is hurt and in a coma.

Much later, she wakes, this time to a cartoon world entirely whimsical, where everyone is whoever they want to be.  Her goal, though, is to find her son, and for that she must pierce the veil and see the world for the run-down ghettos it may actually be, and find a way to cycle around again.

As the film dove more and more into the surreal, it got harder and harder to follow.  I can picture the director of the film trying to explain his vision to a studio for funding, and everyone in the room gets so confused that they decide it must be brilliant.  I just thought it was confusing.

The Congress
2013, 122 minutes, directed by Ari Folman 

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear

An American martial arts master / idiot gives his wallet to muggers, then beats them up anyway, neglecting to get his wallet back, leaving his address with them.  Then he doesn't think they're a big deal, not bothering to call the cops, and doesn't take care when leaving his pregnant wife home alone.  When she's murdered, he starts with the muggers and advances through a increasing sequence of murderous revenge to hunt down those responsible.

Introducing the film, the director noted that "this movie is not original and not unique.  It's a ninja movie."  Indeed, the action scenes are excellent; there are no wires and no CGI, just raw emotion; as the director says, "All logic goes away."  Unfortunately it also reflects on the stupidity of the lead character, something I just can't shake.

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear
2013, 95 minutes, directed by Isaac Florentine

Gravity

I drew the short stick for this one, the third and final secret screening of the fest.  Tucked into a broom closet theater, we were relatively certain this was Gravity up to the moment when Sandra Bullock appeared on screen.  (Alas, despite being a resident Austinite, she was filming in Canada and could only send a video greeting.)  What followed was perhaps the best use of 3D imagery I've seen.  The film felt much shorter than the 90 minutes it was billed, as it drives the whole time non-stop towards the inevitable conclusion, barely slowing for a smattering of character development.

Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a science specialist on the latest mission of the space shuttle Explorer, when disaster strikes: a Russian missile test creates Kessler-like high-speed debris, shredding the shuttle and anything else in its path.  Ryan and shuttle commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are the only survivors, tethered together in space, with the only goal to return safely to Earth.

Gravity
2013, 91 minutes, directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

Tang isn't a very good hero.  He's a demon hunter, sure, and he's good at finding them, but his book of children's nursery rhymes don't seem to stop them so much as turn him into a laughingstock, especially when an action-oriented demon hunter or two show up and steal the show.  Far more, then, about his inner demons, the film shows a comedic slapstick journey to become one with Buddha.  And fight the Monkey King.  It's pretty cheesy, yeah.

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
2013, 110 minutes, directed by Steven Chow and Chi-kin Kwok

Confession of Murder

Five days of Fantastic Fest down, three to go, and I'm here for an improbably-plotted South Korean thriller.  With a 15-year statute of limitations on murder, a cop who lost everything chasing a notorious killer is forced to face him, free, and on tour with a new book.  It's a woven game of cat and mouse with the killer, now revealed, over the truth, and the remains of the final victim.

Confession of Murder
2012, 119 minutes, directed by Byeong-gil Jeong

Child of God

Fantastic Fest's legendary secret screenings provide opportunity to screen horrible films I'd never voluntarily walk in to see.  This time, though, it's James Franco's latest experiment, a biopic tale of a very sad, shy & mentally impaired man in the 1930s, descending into madness as the rural society of Sevier County, Tennessee, rejects him.

It's a really, really good film.  It really is.  But its also sad, creepy, and depressing, and speaks to our nation's - or species' - atrocious history of treating mental illness.  Much of the glory of this masterpiece has to be placed at the feet of Scott Haze, whose portrayal of Lester Ballard is outstanding.

Child of God
2013, 104 minutes, directed by James Franco

Coherence

I greatly enjoyed this film, despite having seeing it as a silly teen drama at SXSW a few months ago.  This time, though, the theme is wrapped into a legitimate sci-fi puzzler.  As a comet passes near Earth, reality shifts, throwing a dinner party into disarray.  That house down the block still has its light on - and wow, doesn't it look eerily familiar?

Here it is, the sci fi film of 2013.  Filmed with minimal script - just a note card with motivations - the actors didn't even know it was a sci fi film until days into shooting.  This shows what an excellent job you can do with a brilliant script, good actors, and - nothing else.

Coherence
2013, 89 minutes, directed by James Ward Byrkit

The Dirties

The director and star of the film summed it up best: "It's the story of everything leading up to the point where they're immediately and forever portrayed as monsters."

Matt and Owen are picked on.  By everyone.  They escape into the world of cinema, making films for their multimedia class.  Their latest, The Dirties, is a police drama, where they hunt down and punish bullies for their crimes.  As the bullying gets worse and their friendship suffers, Matt decides to film a remake...

The camera man is really distracting.  Someone - two people actually - follow Matt and Owen around and film everything, but these characters are never seen, never say a word, and only occasionally referenced.  In the Q&A Matthew says he originally wrote characters for them ("Jared"), but ended up cutting it as it distracted from the plot.  Meh.

The Dirties
2013, 80 minutes, directed by Matthew Johnson

Yes, this was actually filmed in a high school, using high school students as extras, and most of the time the kids didn't even know they were on film.  But it was in Canada, where they're less crazy about these sorts of things.

Kid's Police

Based on a popular TV series from the 1970-80s, the premiss for this film is simple: hit with a mystery de-aging ray, a special police squad focused on organized crime have physically reverted to children.  It's really hilarious, at first, then it's mildly humorous, then eventually it gets old.  It's a one-hit wonder - kids acting like adult, Japanese cops - and then it fades fast.  The huge holes in the plot don't help, since the action is cheesy and more appropriate for children anyway.  It's not even that weird, just kinda lame.

Kid's Police
2013, 100 minutes, directed by Yuichi Fukuda

Why do they need cover stories?  Why do they go to school?

We Gotta Get Out of This Place

I really don't like films where the action is driven by stupid people making stupid decisions.  In this installment, a small-town Texas boy sees his girl and best friend leaving for college, and steals money from his boss to fund a last weekend together.  What he doesn't realize is that his boss is a pretty awful criminal who doesn't take too kindly to being stolen from, and the consequences and subsequent choices made by the lead trio continue to stir up trouble.  As the trouble compounds, they are all drawn into an escalating situation of violence and threat.

In the end, they're smarter than I feared, but in exactly the way I predicted for an hour, making the story sadly wrote and predictable.

We Gotta Get Out of This Place
2013, 91 minutes, directed by Zeke and Simon Hawkins

The Green Inferno

I wouldn't see a cannibal horror survival film voluntarily.  No, this was of course a classical Fantastic Fest AICN secret screening.  Activist college students travel to South America to stop the destruction of native tribes, not realizing exactly what it is they were protecting.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; it was clearly made for its R rating, which means that while parts were suitably disgusting, other parts of it were kind of watered down and lame.  Still, I have no interest in ever seeing it or anything else by Eli Roth ever again.

The Green Inferno
2013, 103 minutes, directed by Eli Roth

The tribe where they filmed is in Chile, and are peaceful farmers.  They'd never seen an ice cube before and didn't understand the concept of video; Eli brought in a television and a projector and showed them Cannibal Horror, which they thought was a comedy.  It might seem like exploitation, but while they were filming a particularly gruesome scene, with heads on spikes and body bits on display, a few boats of Texas Christian missionaries sailed up and were shocked with horror.  Having Eli Roth convert the natives first almost makes it worth it.  (As payment for their acting and use of their village to film, they also built metal roofs on all the huts, replacing the leaky thatch roofs the tribe had before.)

Chanthaly

This is:

• The ninth Laotian film ever made
• The first Laotian film made by a woman
• The first Laotian film that's not a musical or communist propaganda
• The first Laotian ghost story
• The first screening of a Laotian film in the United States

And I really enjoyed it.  Sure, there were some production issues - sound cutting in and out with each scene, some booms visible in mirrors, but those are somewhat to be expected given the circumstances.  The director used people she knew as the actors, filming in her house, using a beer company to fund the production.  In the Q&A she noted that $200 was "a large percentage of the budget".

Chanthaly has been raised since birth by her father, her mother having died in childbirth.  Or, at least that's what she's been told.  When, then, does she have memories of her mother?  Her father - a staunch communist (as was required to get the film production approved) has no interest in hokey religion, but Chanthaly prays to understand her mother's fate.  And, when she discovers the truth, it's not at all what she expects...

Chanthaly
2013, 98 minutes, directed by Minnie Do

O'Apostolo

Based on Spanish Catholic mythology, O'Apostolo delves into the story of a cursed village, where the dead walk the streets at night, claiming the souls of traveling pilgrims.  Ramón, an escaped prisoner, just needs to slip in, grab some stashed loot, and make his escape toward a simpler life.  It won't be that simple.  Steeped in Catholic mysticism, corruption, and occult, and wonderfully animated in clay and ink, the film hits all the right notes for an excellent story.

O'Apostolo
2012, 80 minutes, directed by Fernando Cortizo

Cheap Thrills

What series of increasingly disgusting and debasing things will two desperate people do for money?  And that's not the worst of it.  It's the concept of rich people doing this sort of thing for fun.  I really haven't been this angry with a film in a long time; what a way to ruin an otherwise good day.  This is why I don't join the Alamo Alliance; they buy bad films.

Cheap Thrills
2013, 85 minutes, directed by E.L. Katz

Man of Tai Chi

Sometimes it's genuinely difficult to separate the film from the film-watching experience.  See my disappointment with Kick-Ass.  With that in mind, consider my review of Man of Tai Chi biased in favor of awesome.  Keanu Reeves is seated just in front of me, to the right, with Alex Winter to his left and Tiger Hu Chen to his right.  I see Marco Zaror in the front row.  How awesome is that?

The film.  It's a respectable, presentable martial arts action film, but it's not about the fighting.  It's about the path a young man takes as he decides who he wants to be, how he wants to live, and what he believes.  Oh, and yeah, there's a lot of awesome fighting.  I just wish there was more meditation - the buildup for that never releases.

Don't let my opinion bias you.  See it yourself November 11.

Man of Tai Chi
2013, 105 minutes, directed by Keanu Reeves

Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi (a.k.a. Witching and Bitching)

This Spanish film really wants to stir up gender hatred.  It starts with a robbery: a group of street actors - and one young boy - steal a huge bag of old gold from a local store.  As they flee, their motivations emerge: alimony, custody, disdain.  All they need to do is make it across the border to France and they can start anew, but first they must pass through Zugarramurdi, a town known as the seat of witchcraft, occupied entirely by women with a deep-seated hatred for men.  Seems simple enough, right?

A lot of action doesn't make up for a weak plot, but it does make for an engaging midnight film.  It was fine, stupid in places, but I have no interest in seeing it again.

Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi (a.k.a. Witching and Bitching)
2013, 115 minutes, directed by Alex de la Iglesia

It's not really a comedy, but I needed something to tag it with to convey the comical nature of the plot.

Afflicted

Derek and Cliff set out on a year trip around the world, the fulfillment of a long-time dream and a chance for Derek to push aside his life-threatening medical problems.  They have everything set up to document and share their adventures with the internet and the world.  Things quickly go awry when Derek contracts a strange illness, but the filming continues, as he becomes more and more afflicted...

Holy hell, this was the first FF film that has truly come from nowhere and smacked me with awesome.  Shot on a very low budget on Canon 5Ds, with the writers and directors as the principle cast, they showed what an excellent result young talent can achieve with a story and a vision.

Afflicted
2013, 85 minutes, directed by Derek Lee and Cliff Prowse

Grand Piano

If you've ever wanted to see a suspense thriller starring Elijah Wood, set in real time during and amidst a classical orchestra concert where Elijah actually performs the works while facing off against a threatening sniper, you have oddly specific desires and prepare to be satisfied.

Grand Piano
2013, 90 minutes, directed by Eugenio Mira

I finally lucked into the correct theater.  Hooray for no simulcast!

Monshoot Shootout

Boo hoo, cops have to play by the rules.  A rookie cop chases down a man fleeing the scene of a shooting.  Is he involved or a terrified bystander?  The cop has a choice: shoot the man, arrest him, or let his escape.  Each of these is explored in sequence, showing the ramifications for his choice as they play out.  Or is this even his choice to make?  I struggle to enjoy this; it seems despite the choice his fate was sealed.

Monsoon Shootout
2013, 88 minutes, directed by Amit Kumar

Yet again, I failed on the Q&A lotto.  This sucks.

Escape from Tomorrow

At this point, Escape from Tomorrow is better known for its surreptitious production than its story.  Filmed in secret at Walt Disney World in Florida, the film is billed as a parody of the make-believe story Disney wants its customers to see.

But then, there's the film itself.  Despite being fired that morning, Jim wants to have one good final day at the parks with his family.  Instead, he and his wife bicker and argue, and they take turns with their son and daughter separately, trying to keep either of them happy.  But then there's the two Parisian girls that Jim follows.  I don't think this was supposed to be an existential journey, so I keep trying to piece the parts together to make an arcing plot.  Exactly how are the scientists under the Spaceship Earth related to the aging witch with her mesmerizing necklace?  Was Jim selected as a child for this ultimate fate, and has his son now been selected to share the fate as well?

Escape from Tomorrow
2013, 90 minutes, directed by Randy Moore

Jigoku de naze warui (Why Don't You Play in Hell)

It's hard to explain the type of crazy that only comes from Japanese film.  Laughable plots, guttural rage, inexplicable motivations, nonsensical action, all are woven together to form the core of many a weird import.

In this installment, a yakuza boss's young daughter has her toothpaste commercial torn from the air, after her mother kills several rival gangsters who invaded their home.  Ten years later, mother is about to be released from jail for her crime, and the father wants to reward his wife with a feature film starring their now-rebellious upper teen.  Meanwhile, a young group of friends want to be filmmakers, making a vow to die happily as soon as they've made a great movie.  They happen to film a yakuza  soldier fleeing the boss's home - a solder who became infatuated in a really creepy way with the rival's daughter.

It's all set up for the final, crazy encounter - the filmmakers are "hired" to stage and film a massive fight between yakuza groups, one featuring the boss and his daughter, the other now headed by the man who "loves" her.  It's hard to describe what happens next, but assume it's insane.

Why Don't You Play in Hell
2013,  126 minutes, directed by Shion Sono

Patrick

I didn't get to see You're Next at Fantastic Fest a few years ago, but really liked it during its encore screenings this spring at SXSW.  Amazingly, this is Sharni Vinson's next on-screen work, albeit in a more traditional role as a female heroine in a suspense/horror film.  Sharni is Kathy, a nurse who takes a recently-opened caregiver assignment as the mysterious Roget Clinic, where doctor Roget cares for and works to cure deep coma patients.  One particular patient is the focus of his attention - Patrick - and Kathy is drawn to his blight.  Wait, is he communicating with her?  Indeed, for Patrick is developing psychic powers, and has a secret plan that threatens Kathy, the clinic, and everyone she knows.

This is a remake of a campy 1970s horror, rewritten for modern pacing.  I probably would hate the original, but this one was pretty good.

Patrick
2013, 95 minutes, directed by Mark Hartley

Machete Kills

Robert Rodriguez has a vison.  It's called Machete Kills Again... In Space! and it's the pre-announced title for the third film in this gritty Mexican action series.  At the end of the first film, Machete (Danny Trejo, in a role he's made for) has joined the U.S. ICE with partner Sartana (Jessica Alba).  At the start of the third film, Machete is tracking down the evil silver-masked villain on a space station.  To get from A to B, they had to make a film, and Machete Kills is the result.

To say it's a bridge film is an understatement.  It's a plot conveyance.  Masked assassins kill Sartana and steal a U.S. nuclear weapon.  POTUS (Carlos Estevez, yes that one) commissions Machete as the only person able to drop into Mexico and get it back.  But when things go awry, Machete is left with a captive with a deathwish and 48 hours to get back to the United States.

The cameos are one of the strong spots, with a role specially made for Cuba Gooding Jr., Lady Gaga, and Antonio Banderas (yes, all of them).  And I swear one of the guards at Mendez the Mad's compound looked like Bruce Campbell.  But overall, it's a bridge to a contrived story, one that Robert Rodriguez would much rather tell.

Machete Kills
2013, 107 minutes, directed by Robert Rodriguez

"Machete Happens"

Impact

When this made-for-TV movie started a few nights ago, I had no idea Syfy would drag it out into a four-hour sap fest.  In this epic tale, an asteroid - a fragment of a brown dwarf star - has crashed into the moon, causing it to veer and swing towards Earth.  A team of scientists rush to find a solution before the moon impacts our planet, while meanwhile their families suffer the effects of the star's gravity and magnetism.

With a few adjustments and a different ending, I think I saw this in Melancholia a few years ago.  And I hated that film.  And this one was almost worse.

Impact
2008, 180 minutes, directed by Mike Rohl