Hey folks, Harry here with Pschedelic's second take on FANTASTIC FEST. Pretty good stuff - only - it makes no sense to say the marionette strings are a destraction to the story - as... THE WHOLE POINT OF THE FILM is that this takes place in a world and a dimension where apparently the populace is bound by some unnown force. It's meant and I believe serves as a brilliant device to discuss how tied we are to tradition and history, and how it's only we can finally see the alternative to the fact that while on strings they have seemingly free choice. After talking to dozens of folks that feel STRINGS was the best or their favorite of the fest. Otherwise, here's Psychedelic with the latest.
Hey Harry and Horror Hounds,
There’s a peculiar hypnosis entered after watching movies for hours and hours, especially if they’re good ones. The mind is opened and body relaxed as sensory input is written all over your being. The usual analytical mechanics of watching movies drop away and an almost pure visceral experience emerges, the reason we all watch movies in the first place. I haven’t seen one movie at Fantastic Fest 2005 that’s utterly bad or totally sucked. Based on the few festivals I’ve attended, this is highly unusual.
Herman The Legal Labrador (short)
This apparent pilot for an animated series leaves me wanting more. A dog named Herman, who only barks, defends he clients from injustice dealt out by various villains. In one funny scene, The Mob, Klu Klux Klan, Mid-East Terrorists, Direct Marketing companies, Republicans, and many more plot conspiracies for taking over the world. Herman’s owner is a college drop-out Herman supports with his legal fees. Hopefully, this will show up on, let’s say, Adult Swim one day. Director: David Blumenstein.
Hagukei: Legend of the Moby Dick
This is the first four episodes of an anime series. The beginning is convoluted with a story forming about a third of the way in. In short, it’s Moby Dick set in space with hunters going after derelict floating ships with buried riches OR actual creatures who live in outer space. It wasn’t clear to me. A cutesy style for the teeny-bopper set undercuts any drama or tension developed. The quasi-trippy color and animation design is cool, but doesn’t make up for lack of interesting characters. Director: Osamu Desaki.
The Dark Hours
This mean, cleaver psychological thriller has a sadistic gruesome side. A doctor at a mental hospital has a weekend from Hell when a former patient shows up for nasty payback. Secrets and deceit are revealed in a series of brutal games. A terrific script by Wil Zmak and assured, at times inspired, direction by Paul Fox makes this team from Canada one to watch. The layers of psychology they delve into are impressive. The actors follow suit. Kate Greenhouse turns in a solid performance filled with subtlety as the doctor. Greenhouse reminds me of Naomi Watts at her best. The rest of the cast is just as good and not afraid to go the dark places of the soul. Check this out if it comes your way, high recommendation.
The Wild Blue Yonder
Werner Herzog strikes again with a moving poetic meditation on the human, as opposed to technical, ramifications of space travel. Herzog, very much pushing the fictional/reality borderline with which he’s fascinated, uses almost entirely found or stock footage to spin his visual poem. He has three primary sources: astronauts on the space shuttle, deep sea divers perhaps in the Arctic Ocean underneath the ice, actor Brad Dourif delivering monologues as an alien who’s been on Earth for many years. Herzog ruminates on the loneliness of such travel and deep outer space’s daunting distances while using dramatic music as counterpoint to his images. Like the Koyaanisqatsi films trilogy, this more about viewing experience than following any kind of narrative story.
Night of the Living Dorks
If you like Shaun of the Dead, then you’ll dig this German flick. Three dorky guys get killed then resurrected in the course of a VooDoo ceremony. Playing on their new found powers and blood thirst, the movie drops them into 80s high school movie clichés with varying degrees of laughs. Director Matthias Dinter maintains a high energy level throughout. Even in it weaker, predictable moments this movie remains fun.
The Big White
Robin Williams plays an Alaskan travel agent on the verge of Chapter 11 due to his wife’s (Holly Hunter) medical bills for her mental condition. Then one day he finds a dead body in the dumpster and cooks up an insurance fraud scheme involving his brother who’s been missing for five years. This comedy is too self-consciously quirky at times with not the amount of dark humor it wants. The first two-thirds are plodding. It gets better at the end due to Woody Harrelson and tighter pacing. The performances are very good with Williams, Hunter, and Giovanni Ribisi getting special kudos. Williams is believable as being in love with his wife despite its hardships. Mark Mylod directs.
The Birthday
This is the weirdest movie I’ve seen in a while and I mean that as a compliment. Imagine Corey Feldman doing a strangely compelling Peter Falk impression in a hotel that’s a cousin of the one in Four Rooms that ventures into David Lynch territory and finally slams into Roman Polanski paranoia. Norman Forrester is attending a birthday party of his high maintenance girlfriend’s family. Things spin into the Twilight Zone. Nothing is as it seems. Director Eugenio Mira rocks! This is one of the most unique and memorable debut films to come along in a good while. I look forward to Eugenio Mira’s future projects. This is one of the true finds of Fantastic Fest. Hopefully it’ll get a decent theatrical release. I’ll get the DVD as soon as it comes out. Go find this whacked out horror movie.
Strings
This entire film is performed by marionettes. And director Anders Ronnow Klarlund and company don’t let you forget it for a single second. For example, one of the story’s conceits is when a head string is cut, so is a character’s life. Never is the audience unaware of the marionettes’ manipulation. When you see Kermit the Frog, you see Kermit the Frog. You’re not constantly reminded that somebody’s hand is making him talk. From this one flaw, any attempt to build narrative tension or suspense is unraveled. Now I must emphasize the art direction and overall production values are mesmerizing and inspired. There are many memorable images. For these alone, Strings is worth a viewing. But not for one moment was I caught up in the story or characters.
My favorite menu item at the Alamo Drafthouse thus far: Queso and Chips. I haven’t had queso in years. Yummy.
-Psychedelic
