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

Upstream Color

Kris is kidnapped. Brainwashed. Wiped out. Left with nothing but emptiness, and a subtle link she can't explain. Jeff has the same emptiness, but he's found her. And then there's the sound. Quinoa. The connection. The hypnotic telepathic worms. Told with minimal dialog, this surreal film explores the involuntary bonds these people share with each other and their counterparts. More than that, I can't explain.

Upstream Color
2013, 96 minutes, directed by Shane Carruth

Antiviral

Well, here it is, the end of another film festival.  This is my 34th screening including shorts series; it's my 35th event including the awards ceremony.  With a last-minute change to my planned film, I'm walking in mostly blind to Antiviral.

This film focuses on the cult of celebrity.  We (as a culture, not me) follow every moment of their lives, good and bad, desperate to grab at shoestrings and remnants of their lives.  Is celebrity mania so strong that people would pay to get celebrity diseases?  Would you eat celebrity cell steaks?  It's an interesting topic, and one delved into whole-heartedly by this story.  I find it refreshingly different that the lead actor must act sick for the entire film, as he falls deeper into the underworld of society.

Antiviral
2012, 108 minutes, directed by Brandon Cronenberg

Wrong

In this Drafthouse Films Quentin Dupieux special, Dolph Springer has to deal with: his missing dog, coworkers at the office, the clingy pizza operator, his gardener, a private detective, and the police.  And none of it makes any damn sense.  A lot of the audience was laughing at this but I found it incredibly stupid.  Why did anyone pay money to film this?  I would have rather stayed home and ironed my clothes.

Wrong
2012, 94 minutes, directed by Quentin Dupieux

I can't even tag this as a commentary.  It isn't funny unless you're high.

Holy Motors

Is Monsieur Oscar a master of disguise?  The ultimate odd-jobs man? Or is he and the entire Paris population simply insane?  Prepare to have your head rattled with Holy Motors.  Warning: people going into this film expecting a plot tend to be disappointed.  Think of it more as a day-in-the-life of the Most Interesting Man in the World.

Holy Motors
2012, 115 minutes, directed by Leos Carax 

Tebana Sankichi: Snot Rockets

Japanese people are weird and repressed. I was very tired for this screening, and my legs ached, making it difficult to keep them still. I think both actually enhanced the film experience. ADHD sufferers will enjoy this.

Tebana Sankicki: Snot Rockets
2012, 79 minutes, directed by Yudai Yamaguchi

The Warped Forest

I'm not really sure what I just watched.  Even having seen Funky Forest, the weirdest thing on film, I'm at a complete loss for how that formed a coherent story in the mind of writer/producer/director's Shunichiro Miki's mind.  It's Japanese.  Picture strange creatures, unusual currency, and über technology.  For God's sake, don't let it splash the dumplings!

The Warped Forest
2011, 82 minutes, directed by Shunichiro Miki 

The Rum Diaries

I tried to read the book once, but Hunter S. Thompson's writing style wreaks havoc with my reading, my eyes flitting around from line to line at random, piecing it all together in my mind a few moments later.  I just can't make that work when his words flitter about with the same randomness.

So while watching this film - what I believe to be a true-to-the-book portrayal of his story - I was never sure how much of this is based on real events and how much is pure story.  The resulting confusion left me puzzled by the abrupt ending and text-on-screen epilogue.  I would have liked to like it, but I'm too confused.

The Run Diaries
2011, 120 minutes, directed by Bruce Robinson

Milocrorze: A Love Story

This film is comprised of three stories that vary in tone, style, mood - really anything to tie them together except the lead actor and the base theme of searching for love.  I left sad and confused.  Or confused and sad.

Milocrorze: A Love Story
2011, 90 minutes, directed by Yoshimasa Ishibashi

Manborg

God damn it don't put a long short or two or FIVE and a Q&A before midnight films!


Robocop meets Army of Darkness with Tron thrown in.  It's not the best film I've seen this year, this week, or even today, but it was a film.

Manborg
2011, 60 minutes, directed by Steven John Kostanski

Underwater Love

In the film's lore, Kappo are underwater reincarnated spirits who love cucumbers.  One particular Kappo wants to save a girl he loved in life from her own early death.  A German-funded Japanese pinku musical ensues.  It was actually much tamer in those ways than I expected, and was otherwise pretty fantastic.  It's another excellent film from the director of Uncle's Paradise.  The song lyrics are worth it alone.

Underwater Love
2011, 87 minutes, directed by Shinji Imaoka

Urchin

The director of this film spent too much effort on the opening credits, and not enough on acting, dialog, and sound editing.  Premise aside, the rest is just nonsensical.  I can watch low-grade film.  I can watch low-budget film.  I won't watch this again.

Urchin
2007, 108 minutes, directed by John Harlacher

Kamogawa Horumo - Battle League in Kyoto

It's a bit too slot and bit too long, but, as the Tim League recommended in the Fantastic Fest guide, if you're going to see this the best bet is to go in totally blind. What happens after 42 minutes should be a total surprise.

Kamogawa Horumo - Battle League in Kyoto
2009, directed by Katsuhide Motoki

Tôkyô zankoku keisatsu (Toko Gore Police)

My god, that's crazy fucking shit. This is no doubt best-of-show for splatterfest.

Tôkyô zankoku keisatsu (Tokyo Gore Police)
2008, 110 minutes, directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura

Your Name Here

What the frak? People writing when high aren't as funny as they think they are.

Phillip K. Dick non-biography.

Your Name Here
2008, directed by Matthew Wilder

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

It was incredibly stupid, but filled with deep laughs that make it feel so good. The audience responded very well to the film, and it was hard to not pick up on the enthusiasm. Plus John Cho, Kal Pen, and Neil Patrick Harris participated in the Q&A, which was really lively and fun. From Cho: "It felt simple, right, and stupid."

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
2008, directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg

They showed what amazingly was an R-rated cut. Yes, they're all fake. Apparently it's ok as long as it's not real. Well, most of them.

Eraserhead

What. The. Hell. did I just watch? I'm nearly speechless. The film is industrial, gritty, disgusting. There's little dialog; just enough to keep us from getting lost. This is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Don't eat while watching this.

The other reviews I've just read say to think of this not as a film, but as a work of art. Perhaps, if you consider embalmed calves to be works of art...

Eraserhead
1977, 108 minutes (in the DVD version), directed by David Lynch

Uncle's Paradise

Don't let the "softporn" tag fool you. This movie has a serious plot with multiple plot lines and twists. The fact that they are all insane is merely a side effect. Movie makers in Japan have to include the softport to get funding, but then often proceed to tell a story that is bizarre and original. This one is no exception. You have been warned.

Uncle's Paradise
2007, 64 minutes, directed by Shinji Imaoka

Southland Tales

This was the first of the Ain't It Cool News "special screenings" at Fantastic Fest. Us unwashed masses have no idea what the film will be until moments before the projector starts. This time, what we got was Southland Tales, a sprawling film of untold proportions. Seriously - I've seen the film and large portions remain untold.

It's weird - no question - far weirder than Weirdsville could ever be. But it's not weird because they hired the first family of weird actors to play stereotypical roles. No, it's weird because you can sit there, watch it, and shake your head in wonder at the notion that someone paid good money to film this and put it on the screen.

In the Q&A after the film, the director said that he wanted to draw the cast entirely from those with a comedic background or from the pop culture. For the most part he did so, with all of the comedic roles portrayed by comedians, and the pop culture roles played by pop culture icons. Some of the people barely have speaking roles, but at least they show up on camera. He also wanted to try role reversals, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson playing a schizophrenic and Sarah Michelle Gellar as a porn star. Maybe it would have been fresh in 2005, but by now I've seen the Rock in nonstandard roles, and I haven't seen enough SMG in the past few years to be shocked by this "break from tradition".

The film just didn't work for me. I picked up a copy of the three backstory graphic novels, which they were giving away after the film. If I ever get around to reading them, I'll edit this post to explain if they help the film make sense.

Southland Tales
2007, about 120 minutes unless they chop more out before release, directed by Richard Kelly

Wicked Flowers

Back in 2007, I started a project.  I attend a few film festivals a year, and regular get asked to name some films I liked.  Put on the stop like that, though, I simply draw a blank.  To avoid that - and help my memory overall - I'm posting notes and a brief review for every film I see, starting with this one, my first film of Fantastic Fest 2007 here in Austin, Texas. 

Wicked Flowers is a movie I can respectfully categorize as from the weird Japanese film genre.

What can I say? Weird. It's not the weirdest movie I've ever seen - that honor still must go to
Naisu no mori: The First Contact aka Funky Forest, which I saw at last year's festival. But, if you're looking for a suitable head scratcher with resolution, give it a shot.

Wicked Flowers
2006, 85 minutes, directed by Torico