fantasia 2012
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Fantasia 2012: Depravity and lunacy cannot remain ‘Hidden in the Woods’ forever
Hidden In the Woods Directed by Patricio Valladares Written by Patricio Valladares and Andrea Cavaletto Chile, 2012 What exactly consists of a good groundhouse picture? Which conceivable, perceptible elements are sufficient for one movie fan, presumably one owing some familiarity in the genre, to conclude that groundhouse movie ‘a’ was swell, whereas movie grondhouse ‘b’ […] More
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Fantasia 2012: ‘Excision’ extremely unsettling, often amusing
Excision Directed by Richard Bates Jr. Screenplay by Richard Bates Jr. 2012, USA Writer-director Richard Bates. Jr. draws on years of movie-watching for his audacious feature debut Excision. The most obvious influences for Excision is possibly Brian DePalma’s Carrie, Todd Solondz’s Welcome To The Dollhouse and Michael Lehmann’s Heathers. Toss in equal parts Gregg Araki, […] More
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Fantasia 2012: It’s all fun and games in ‘Game of Werewolves’
Game of Werewolves Directed by Juan Martinez Moreno Written by Juan Martinez Moreno Spain, 2012 Ah, the classic werewolf creature. It is one of the vintage, most fondly remembered beasts made famous by Universal Studios back in the earlier days when cinema was but in its infancy. The first classic actor to portray the role? […] More
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Fantasia 2012: ‘Asura’ is messy in some areas, but packs a lot of realized potential
Asura Directed by Keiichi Sato Written by Ikuko Takahashi Japan, 2012 Who has not heard or read about the story of the man or woman who thought it was a neat idea to own as a pet, not a dog, cat, or some fish, but rather some wild beast they believed they could somehow tame […] More
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Fantasia 2012: Jennifer Lynch has ‘Chained’ the Serial Killer Monster
Chained Written by Jennifer Lynch, based on a screenplay by Damian O’Donnell Directed by Jennifer Lynch USA 2012 Fantasia imdb “I shall call you… Rabbit,” is the most chilling line of any film this year. Spoken slowly but deliberately with a slight lisp and a faint Germanic accent by Vincent D’Onofrio, the voice alone places Bob somewhere between Hans Beckert and Jeffrey […] More
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Fantasia 2012: ‘The Kick’ Makes Martial Arts a Family Affair
The Kick Written by Jong-suk Lee, based on a story by Prachya Pinkaew Directed by Prachya Pinkaew Thailand/South Korea 2011 Fantasia imdb Traditionally, films that pit one country’s martial arts against the martial arts from other countries are blood-soaked chauvinistic affairs like One Armed Boxer and its sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine. Both great films, they up the ante on the Kung […] More
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Fantasia 2012: ‘Black’s Game’ Makes Unfamiliar Moves
Black’s Game aka Svartur á leik Written by Óskar Thór Axelsson, based on the novel Svartur á leik by Stefán Máni Directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson Iceland 2012 Fantasia imdb It would be easy to describe dismiss Black’s Game as an Icelandic crime thriller, but that would be short changing this stylish film that zags every time you expect it to zig, making choices that make […] More
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Fantasia 2012: ‘Smuggler’ Fails to Conceal its Influences
Smuggler aka Sumagurâ: Omae no mirai o hakobe Written by Katsuhito Ishii, Masatoshi Yamaguchi and Kensuke Yamamoto, based on the manga Sumagurâ by Shôhei Manabe Directed by Katsuhito Ishii Japan 2011 Fantasia imdb The writers and director of Smuggler clearly watched Ichi the Killer a lot – A LOT – as kids. It’s all there: the yakuza setting, the gang war, the eccentric characters, the torture, the weird […] More
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Fantasia 2012: ‘Dragon’ an unusually human martial-arts showcase
Dragon aka Wu Xia aka The Swordsmen Written by Oi Wah Lam Directed by Peter Chan 2011 Hong Kong/China Fantasia imdb In a strange way, Dragon is a perfect companion film for the Shaw Brothers classic The Fists of the White Lotus that Fantasia presented this year. (Expect Edgar Chaput to review that film as part of his Shaw Brothers Saturday series soon.) Both films are about the never-ending cycle […] More
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Fantasia 2012: ‘Cold Blooded’ is one of the year’s best thrillers
Cold Blooded Directed by Jason Lapeyre Written by Jason Lapeyre Canada, 2012 When it comes to leading parts for female actors in cop and action films, the landscape is relatively barren. Even where such parts exist, rare as it is to begin with, all too often the roles are sexed up to the point where […] More
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Fantasia 2012/Shaw Bros. Sat.: ‘Fists of the White Lotus’ demonstrates that it’s cool to fight like a girl
Fists of the White Lotus (aka: Clan of the White Lotus) Directed by Lo Lieh Written by Tien Huang Hong Kong, 1980 *This week’s film was recently viewed at the 2012 Fantasia International Film Festival on a 35mm print, hence its inclusion in both the Fantasia 2012 and Shaw Brothers Saturdays columns. The old, evil […] More
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Fantasia 2012: ‘Monsters Club’, for all its violent ideas, is poetic and graceful
Monsters Club Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda Written by Toshiaki Toyoda Japan, 2011 How often is it said that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter? Maybe that is but a cliché which has emerged out of tired movie scripts. Be that as it may, most people in the world do claim entirely opinions on […] More
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