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AICN & Twitch Present International Eye Candy! Mark Hartley's MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED! AGNOSIA! And More!
Well, ladies and gentlemen, after the last instalment of International Eye Candy – one of the largest and most bad-ass in the history of the column – it appears that the international film world curled up and took a little nap. Result: I now present to you the shortest instalment of the IEC to grace these pages. But do not lose hope! Short is not bad! Not at all! And in this concise bite of wonder you will find Donnie Yen as a costumed hero! You will find the latest from the producers of PAN’S LABYRINTH and THE ORPHANAGE! You’ll find The Mighty Boosh! And you will certainly find all manner of wonders films in the Philippines! Plus bunnies with machine guns! Onwards!
We begin in Vietnam where the film industry is growing and changing so quickly that it’s hard to keep track. The latest Vietnamese film to catch our eye is SAIGON ELECTRIC, a hip hop dance film from the director of arthouse hit THE OWL AND THE SPARROW and the producer of high octane action flicks THE REBEL and CLASH. It seems like an odd pairing but clearly they’re doing something right because the first teaser – cut together after just the first few days of shooting – is very strong indeed.
From Vietnam we head to the Netherlands for SCHEMER, a crime story based on the real life killing of Maja Bradaric. When the teen girl was slain the police original assumed it was some sort of racial violence or, perhaps, an honor killing but the truth was even more alarming. Bradaric had been killed by a group of her own friends after one of them had convinced the others that she was evil and needed to be slain. The country was badly shaken by the idea that their own children could be capable of such a thing, the killing has been the subject of at least one documentary since and now it gets a slightly fictionalized treatment here.
They’re cute. They’re fluffy. They’re Japanese. And they’re heavily armed. Meet the bunnies of CAT SHIT ONE. Word is the first episode of this Japanese animated series will be released online for free July 17th. Can’t understand a word they’re saying and I really don’t care. It’s bunnies with fully automated weapons and that’s enough for me.
Though I’ve never particularly been a member of their very loyal cult, there’s no denying that comedy outfit The Mighty Boosh have been one of the most influential over the past few years, building up a massive following around the world. And, again, while I’m not particularly a member of the cult I absolutely do not need to be to recognize that Oliver Ralfe’s JOURNEY OF THE CHILDMEN is a pretty unique concert / tour film, one as concerned with capturing the behind the scenes experience at least as much as the on-stage performance, and that makes it immediately fascinating to me. Plus it looks exceptionally well shot. And it’s also touring the US in a series of limited engagements right now, so those of you who ARE in the cult have a fighting shot at seeing it.
Looking at that poster, is it any wonder that AGNOSIA director Eugenio Mira has made a fan of Guillermo Del Toro? Or that he’s enlisted the producers of PAN’S LABYRINTH and THE ORPHANAGE as backers of his second feature? Somehow I think that Del Toro is merely the first of what will soon be a very long line of very vocal, very high profile fans for Mira. An unusual story revolving around a young woman with a sensory disorder, AGNOSIA’s first trailer is nothing short of gorgeous. Expect to see this one on the festival circuit very soon.
For something a little more arthouse we look to Denmark and HAEVNEN, the latest from acclaimed film maker Susanne Bier. Like much of Bier’s best work this one goes multinational and touches on the way war and conflict affects diverse people – she’s trod this ground to varying degrees in BROTHERS and AFTER THE WEDDING – and brings it all home by rooting it in very normal, very recognizable people. As with all of Bier’s stuff this just looks to be impeccably crafted work.
Oh, GREEN HORNET, I feel sorry for you. Like it’s not enough that you’ve come out of the gate with an incredibly mediocre trailer, now you’re going to have to deal with going head to head with THE LEGEND OF THE FIST in which Donnie Yen, quite possibly the greatest screen fighter in the world today, puts his own stamp on a mask wearing, kung fu fighting hero. There hero in question here is Chen Zhen – the folk hero played by Jet Li in FIST OF LEGEND and Bruce Lee in FIST OF FURY, only this time out he’s treated as a sort of underground super spy fighting the Japanese incursion into China with a blend of parkour and more traditional ass whuppery. GREEN HORNET, not looking so good. LEGEND OF THE FIST, yes please.
Mark Hartley’s NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD – a blistering tour through the history of Australian exploitation film – was a raucous, wildly entertaining nostalgia trip of no-holds-barred film making. And after achieving widespread success and acclaim for such a thing, what do you do next if you’re Hartley? Well, what he’s done is give the same treatment to another country where the film history is even crazier: The Philippines.
Hartley’s MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED spreads all the blood and breasts and bizarre creatures you can handle as it takes you through the history of 1970s Filipino film making, a time when the country existed under a brutal dictatorship but when American production companies were welcome to come in and crank out seemingly anything on the cheap with the help of local Filipino talent. Roger Corman, Joe Dante and John Landis all feature prominently in the film itself. Lots of blood, a few breasts and a bizarre man-bat dominate the trailer.
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