Hey folks, Harry here... While I'm at SXSW across the globe in the land of sprouts... BRUSSELS, another film festival is taking place focusing on horror, sci-fi and suspense films... aka 'genre' flicks to those that use that term for that purpose... Seems like quite a cool fest to attend... and since I've never been to Brussels, I might have to make one of these. Till then though... hehe.. we'll have to consume the dish that Hannibal prepares for us... open up, here it comes...
Hi Harry,
maybe you remember me from last year’s Brussels filmfest-report, when I spread the word about The Crow: Salvation, The Convent and New Blood. If you do, goodygoody, because I’m back this year and I've had plenty of action over the last few days. Let me sum it up for you, if you please ...
As you may well know, the BIFFF (or Brussels International Festival for Horror, SciFi and Suspense films) is held every year in March, and on top of that it is the longest filmfest in Belgium, with a total run of 15 days.
This year’s festival opener was The Gift, but I missed it, so feel free to comment on that ...
The second day started off with two flicks, Another Heaven and Picking Up The Pieces, (the new Woody Allen, although he didn't direct the flick). I missed them as well, so let’s move on …
The 10.30 screening was BRUISER, as you may well know, George Romero's new flick. I really looked forward to seeing it, since I'm a big fan, but it hurts me to say that the film wasn't all that great. I'd really hoped for more. It started off interesting enough, with an unremarkable guy (Flemyng) working with a fashion magazine (named Bruiser), who wakes up one morning and realises that he doesn't have a face anymore. It has been replaced by a white mask. So he decides to settle a few scores, with his wife and friends. All in all, it isn't much more than your average revenge-flick, with some decent acting, although Peter Stormare really overdid his part as fashion-guru. Some fine-tuning would have done him good, but instead he keeps on rambling his often terrible dialogue. Jason Flemyng did a fine job as the bruiser, and Nina Garbiras is absolutely stunning as the slut-wife. All in all, only moderately entertaining. It wasn't really fresh, and reminded me of Sam Raim's DarkMan once too often. Still: 6/10
The last film of the day was HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME, but I don't really want to talk about that stinking piece of dung.
Sunday promised to be much better, with the screening of the fantastic australian film CHOPPER, written and directed by Andrew Dominik. The film tells the (sort of) true story of Mark 'Chopper' Read, an australian gangster who has already spent most of his life in jail. That would make him sort of a heavy, but he really isn't. And there lies his goal: Chopper wants to be notorious, and in order to achieve that, he muscles his way through prison, and later through the Sidney (sic?) underworld. The only thing that matters to him, is to become famous. The film doesn't really decide wether Chopper is a story-teller, or if he really did get away with the 13 or so murders he claimed to have committed. And there lies the film's great strength. It sees Chopper as a sort of victim of his own ambition. He'd go through anything (even work with the cops) to make a name for himself. But in the end, he's just a lonely guy with a big mouth (and lots of guns). Touching, but sometimes very violent, so be warned ... but don't miss this fantastic film, with a great performance by Eric Bana as Chopper. 8/10
The second film of the day was the very funny ON THE NOSE, starring Dan Ackroyd, Belinda Blethyn and Robby Coltrane. Coltrane plays a curator of some archive at a university, who has a shrunken aboriginee-head in a jar that can predict the winner of the local horse-races. After an enormous winning-streak, the australian minister of culture comes to claim the head. And of course Coltrane doesn't want to hand it over, because the head is putting his daughter through college. Enter a pissed-off booky, who wants to stop Coltrane win even more money, and you have a very funny (if predictable) comedy, that (I think) has a lot of potential. It appeals to the same audience as THE FULL MONTY and BILLY ELLIOT, so it might go far. Funny and entertaining, well done everybody. 7/10, you punk-rock abortion (sorry, I couldn't resist).
The last film of the day was ED GEIN, directed by Chuck Parello. My IMDb tells me that the film's title has been changed to IN THE LIGHT OF THE MOON, but the copy I saw still had the original title. Any which way, the film was very good. It tells the well-known story of famous killer Ed Gein, who, after his mother dies, goes nuts, and starts digging up corpses in order to make a woman's skin suit. You have already seen the same things in the films THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and PSYCHO, all of which base themselves on the 'works' of Eddy Gein. The film starts with some grainy stock footage, depicting the day Eddy was caught. None of the villagers saw it coming, and they all thought him to be a decent and friendly person. How wrong they had been. The story jumps back and forth between the last days of Gein and his youth. You see him getting beat up for jerking off in the bathtub, you see him listening to his dominant mother reading to him from the bible, and the film even suggests a sexual relationship between Ed and his mother. No wonder Eddy goes mad. The film ends with a shocking statement by Gein, that really blew me away. But you're gonna have to go see for yourself. In short, a very good film, with a stunning performance by Steve Railsback as Ed Gein (who looks a remarkable lot like him ... creepy), and tight direction by Parello. Recommended: 7.5/10
that's it for now, I'll now where to find you if I ever get hungry ... :)
yours sincerely,
Hannibal
