Hey folks, Harry here with long time contributor Hannibal sending in a report from the Brussels Festival For The Fantastic Film! I sure would love some reports about DOG SOLDIERS, it sounds like it was a Fantastic Film for a festival for Fantastic Film (too bad they subjected people to Rollerball 2002) Well, here's the report...
Dear Harry,
Here it is, as promised, the wrap-up of the Brussels Festival for the Fantastic Film. Please forgive the lateness of this report but the volume of work I had to attend to lately was enormous.
The festival ended last Saturday with the crap Rollerball. And how crap it was. I mean what’s the point of having green …. Oh well, nuff said about that. Let’s go the real showstoppers of the last week.
The first film on my list was the much anticipated Dog Soldiers, but due to certain circumstances I had to give that one a miss. Which is a shame, because it ended up winning the festival’s big price, the Golden Raven for best picture.
DONNIE DARKO
The next film I did see was Donnie Darko, of which I knew practically nothing. This proved to be an advantage, because the film blew my socks off in all the ways I can imagine. I even liked it more than The Devil’s Backbone. Donnie Darko It is without a doubt, the best movie I have seen this side of Mulholland Drive. The story was fantastic, the time travelling angle was a real revelation and the performance by Jake Gyllenhaal was, well, terrific. The rest of the cast was very good as well, with a solid performance by the lovely Jena Malone (who has the funniest scene in the film. Remember, she’s the new girl who has to pick a seat next to the guy she thinks is cutest. Pretty cruel). The rest of the cast is equally flawless, with unusual roles for Drew Barrymore (whaddoyouknow, she plays an adult) and a well-deserved comeback for Patrick Swayze.
I know that the movie has already been discusses at great length, so I’m not gonna go into the story much further, though I would like to express my gratitude towards director Richard Kelly for making this film. It has really struck a nerve with me. I think it’s going to be one of those classic teen-angst films like The Graduate, The Breakfast Club or The Catcher in the Rye (which is a book, I know). Kelly looks to me like the most promising new talent since David Fincher. I’m looking forward to his next film, and I hope he will make more absorbing films like this. Absolutely wonderful 10/10
Phew, enough with the superlatives, let’s get on with it.
SESSION 9
The next film was the spooky thriller Session 9, directed by Brad Anderson (Happy Accidents), who was in the audience with us. The film is about a couple of redecorators, played by Peter Mullan and David Caruso, who are hired to refurbish an old loony-bin. The company they work for is in a bit of trouble though, so Mullan offers to do the job in a week. As you might have guessed, the high work pressure, isolation and the spooky setting start to take its toll, and soon the murders start.
Director Anderson wisely decided to keep it low on gore and go for tension, which makes for an entertaining but unoriginal little thriller. It reminded me a lot of The Shining and the original The Haunting, which were about isolation and paranoia as well. Still, there are some pretty tense moments, the acting is good, especially by Mullan, (who unfortunately was sometimes hard to understand), and the inevitable final twist is equally shocking as it is satisfying. Well done. 7/10.
[Useless trivia: this film was shot on hi-res 25fps digital video. Anderson was able to get the same type of camera Lucas used on EPII. Since the technology is still being developed, Anderson got the equipment for a bargain. The film looked very good, not as sharp and cold as conventional video but you could still tell it was video.]
REPLI-KATE
Moving on to the final day of the festival. Next up: Repli-Kate, “the new film by the producers of American Pie”. How I hate these phrases. The film was only mediocre (I’ll get to that later) and wouldn’t have gone down as well as it did, hadn’t it been preceded by the annual rubber dinghy race. The what? The Annual Rubber Dinghy Race. It’s an event we festival goers look forward to every year. This event takes place on the last Friday of the festival and goes a little something like this: the crowd is divided into two halves; Les Rouges (the red ones) and Les Bleues (the blue ones), but everyone has to stay in their seats. Two members from the audience are asked up on the stage, receive a helmet and are put into a dingy. At the count of three (one-two-three) the dinghies have to be carried from one end of the auditorium to another OVER THE HEADS OF THE CROWD. It’s like a gigantic crowd-surf, and whoever gets back to the front first, wins. This is repeated two times more, and whoever wins after three runs is winner. You don’t get a prize, but that’s okay. The reward is given by the audience. After all, who wouldn’t like to be cheered on by 600 screaming people. It’s always such a celebration, a mad-house. It has to be seen to be believed. Harry, don’t you wanna come over next year? Maybe you can be the guy in the dinghy. You’d have fun!
This great event might have been the reason the crowd enjoyed Repli-Kate so much. If it had been a regular screening, the films would have been only half as much fun. The plot: two male (and I mean male-guy-stereotypes) scientist accidentally clone a beautiful journalist. The men soon realise the clone is like a blank piece of paper, so they program her to be the perfect woman, i.e. a woman who likes football, beer, sex and all the other guy-stuff. Yup, pretty lame, I know, but fortunately the film provides a lot of laughs (though some are a bit cheap). Director Robert Longo keeps the pace going, but brings practically no style or flair to the film. The meagre budget clearly shows, especially in the lab-scenes. Still, it could have been much worse. The acting by the two leads is okay, Eugene Levy (Jim’s Dad) is wasted in a stupid role and Ali Landry looks absolutely gorgeous as Kate/Repli-Kate. Go see this at a film festival, you’ll have fun. Otherwise you might want to catch it on video. Not nearly as good or charming as American Pie, but silly, undemanding fun: 6/10
ICHI THE KILLER
Now the next film I saw, I really hated. I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but Takashi Miike’s Ichi The Killer didn’t do it for me at all. I really hated the overall nasty and sadistic tone of the film. I know, it’s supposed to be ironic, but the violence is so extreme and graphic, it’s not funny anymore, merely disgusting and disturbing. I mean, what cinematic merit does the graphic abuse of a woman have, and are there actually people who think nipple slicing, face-chopping and rape is funny? Miike was in the audience with us, and he seemed to enjoy the shocked response of the audience. I hated him for that. Where Audition was disturbing and provoking (but let’s not forget a good film), Ichi The Killer merely is overblown crap. It looked good, and there are some moments of genuine emotion, but those highlights are soon beaten to death by another graphic act of mutilation. I couldn’t stand it and it made me feel dirty. Enough already! 3/10
And we nearly have come to the end. After the draining experience of Ichi, I needed something light and funny to cheer me up. Versus delivered in buckets. This film made me feel good all over again. The crowd seemed to respond as well, and after only a couple of minutes spirits were high again. A lot has been said about Versus already, so I’ll keep it short. This film is an awesome mix between swordfights, shootouts, great dialogue, martial arts and zombies. I have always loved zombies. And the zombies were a-plenty in this film. Chopped, sliced, diced, hacked up ever which way you like. Kudos to Ryuhei Kitamura for coming up with such a clever script. The mix is strange and unconventional, but works very well. Some people say it is a bit Tarantino-esque, but I don’t think that’s fair. Quentin still has to make his first martial arts movie (let’s hope Kill Bill turns out good) and this film is pure, uncompromised Asian fun. Do you like action? Zombies? Martial Arts? Coolness? Than this film is for you. But be sure to check it out with a big crowd as well. The movie will benefit from that. Party!! 7.5/10
And that’s it for this year. I’m really sorry it ended because I have seen some great films this year. As a matter of fact, this was the best festival ever. People, if you’re ever in Brussels in the month of March, be sure to drop by. You won’t regret it.
Harry, you I thank for posting my articles for the third year in a row. Much obliged. J you’ll hear from me again next year, I promise.
ta,
Hannibal
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