Fantasia 2019: A Sombra do Pai (In Brazilian Portuguese)

(Since Fantasia is a truly international festival, we're proud to present a Portuguese translation of the J.B. Spins review of the Brazilian film The Father's Shadow, courtesy of Angelica Sakurada. For Brazilian readers, anything that sounds weird below came from the original review, not the translation.)

Rituais exotéricos são coisas que as crianças crescem convivendo? Não pergunte isso aos fãs de filmes de terror. De qualquer modo, a afinidade por magia que Dalva de nove anos possui e suas motivações para a prática não vão desaparecer tão cedo. Consertar sua família vai custar medidas extremas, mas ela está disposta a encarar o risco de abrir a caixa de pandora no filme A Sombra do Pai de Gabriela Amaral Almeida, que venceu o prêmio de melhor atriz e menção especial do júri do Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantasia 2019.

A jovem Dalva não está nem perto de ter superado a morte repentina de sua mãe, mas ainda assim ela está em melhor situação que seu pai Jorge. Ele basicamente se fechou emocionalmente, trabalhando mecanicamente em uma construção em São Paulo e quase sem motivação para fazer nada em casa. Ao contrário, Dalva se dedica às lições de magia branca de sua tia Cristina e as aplica para os seus colegas de escola. Talvez não tenha sido uma boa ideia, mas pelo menos ela pratica o social.

Infelizmente, quando Cristina finalmente tem seus sonhos realizados e fica noiva de um salafrário, ela deixa Dalva totalmente aos pobres cuidados do seu pai. Pior, seu pai desiste ainda mais de si mesmo quando seu melhor amigo de trabalho é demitido e logo em seguida morre em um acidente que pode muito bem ter sido suicídio. Jorge somente mostra alguma reação quando proíbe Dalva de praticar uma magia misteriosa, o que afasta ainda mais os dois.

A Sombra do Pai representa uma mudança radical de estilo após o sangrento primeiro filme de Gabriela Almeida, O Animal Cordial. Ainda há uma acentuada consciência social, mas isso é demostrado de modo radicalmente diferente. O ambiente em que Dalva vive é de uma extrema pobreza e seu pai é um mero trabalhador de baixa renda, mas essa é a única realidade que ela conhece e parece tão natural quanto o ar que ela respira.

Para os padrões cinematográficos, A Sombra do Pai tem um apelo sensorial fora do comum. Você pode praticamente sentir o calor do maçarico da construção e sentir o cheiro da terra quando a mãe de Dalva é exumada para que os ossos sejam guardados em uma gaveta (por falar em mau karma) no início do filme. Entretanto, muitos dos elementos de filme de terror não estão totalmente e consistentemente desenvolvidos, como o homem sombrio da fundição que assombra o Jorge, que por vezes parece ser uma personificação simbólica de sua culpa, mas que em outros momentos ele poderia ter saído de um filme antigo desses de psicopata.

Francamente, é difícil decidir o que achar de A Sombra do Pai, porque o filme sofre com a sua própria crise de identidade. Ainda assim, pode-se dizer que a jovem Nina Medeiros vai impressionar a todos como Dalva. Uma performance sinistra e ambígua, mas sua dor e vulnerabilidade são sempre fácil de sentir. Ninguém vai questionar o prêmio de melhor atriz que ela levou no Festival Fantasia deste ano, como a Anna Paquin do terror brasileiro.

Questionável, A Sombra do Pai mostra uma tendência de terror-arte no Brasil, do mesmo modo que As Boas Maneiras de Marco Dutra e Juliana Rojas, mas este filme anterior de lobisomen foi mais além e no final mais satisfatório em termos de terror. Ambas Nina Medeiros e Gabriela Amaral mostram uma facilidade em lidar com uma larga escala de emoções extremas, mas este filme será mais fácil de ser lembrado como uma etapa no desenvolvimento de suas carreiras do que um marco a ser relembrado de tempos em tempos. Então, parabéns a Nina Medeiros. Este é um filme a ser respeitado, mas Animal Cordial foi muito mais divertido. Recomendado para quem curte assistir terror com uma dose forte de realismo social, A Sombra do Pai ainda deverá ter um longo período de exibição após o lançamento no mercado norte-americano no Fantasia deste ano.

Fantasia ’19: 8

Even without a great deal of knowledge regarding South African folklore, a mysterious stranger wearing a long duster coat and a wide brimmed hat still rings all kinds of archetypal bells for most of us. When he blows back into town bad things are likely to happen, as they do in Harold Holscher’s 8, which had its world premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

It has been quite the rough patch for William Zeil’s family. Having declared bankruptcy, he was forced to move back to his late father’s ramshackle farm, with his wife Sarah, and their niece Mary, whom they have just adopted, after the untimely death of her parents. Yet, they are still probably doing better than the nearest township. For years, an ancient evil has preyed on their souls, using their former shaman as the instrument of its will.

Lazarus is that man with the very film noir outfit. He too has recently returned to the hardscrabble region, setting off waves of panic. However, he is handy with his hands, so Zeil obliviously takes him on as a temp farmhand, despite his wife’s objections. Her reservations are mostly rooted in fear and prejudice, but she happens to be right in this case. Lazarus’s real goal is to win Mary’s trust for sinister reasons involving the thing in his over-sized satchel.

It is definitely true Lazarus is all kinds of bad news, but there is more to him than your standard horror movie bogeyman. Having made a Faustian bargain during a moment of sudden and complete despair, Lazarus is now a remorseful monster, who regrets each soul he is forced to take. In some ways, he is a throwback to Lon Chaney Jr.’s angst-ridden Wolfman, which makes the use of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake—so memorable as the theme to the original Universal Dracula and Mummy movies—as a recurring motif in 8 so appropriate.

Without a doubt, Tshamo Sebe’s performance as Lazarus and his character’s relationship with Mary are the most interesting aspects of 8. On the other hand, her adoptive Zeil parents are both rather clumsy and spectacularly unintuitive stereotypes. Even more problematically, the monster in the bag is more likely to inspire laughter than nightmares. Frankly, that could have been a case where less would have been more.

Still, steely Sebe is quite a force to behold. He covers quite a bit of ground, projecting pathos and supernatural malignancy. David Pienaar’s cinematography also impresses, conveying the isolation of the region, as well as a musty, redolent sense of decay. Recommended for horror fans in the mood for something more atmospheric, 8 should ride a wave of buzz on the festival circuit, after its premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: A Japanese Boy Who Draws (short)

Manga is a tough business, where success is measured in sales and the unforgiving rankings of fan polls. It has been the undoing of better artists than Shinji. However, he learns when artists are true to themselves, their art will be true to them in Masanao Kawajiri’s remarkable 20-minute animated short film A Japanese Boy Who Draws, which had its North American premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

As a boy, Shinji was almost tragically average, but a mutual love of drawing led to a fast friendship with Maseru Abe. Although the particulars are never concretely established, Abe has some kind of developmental disability. Regardless, drawing sessions with him are great fun. Alas, as Shinji grows older and his sketching prowess improves, he becomes increasingly uncomfortable socializing with Abe.

Eventually, Shinji moves to Tokyo where he finds some initial recognition as a mangaka, but lasting success proves elusive. As the years pass, he gets by doing work-for-hire on tacky franchises, instead of his own stories. He hardly ever thought of Abe, but his old friend also continued drawing.

A Japanese Boy is a wonderfully inventive film, visually rendered in a way that constantly evolves to reflect Shinji’s artistic progression. It starts out resembling a child’s simplistic hand-paintings, segues into cheerfully chunky animation suitable for youngsters, and proceeds into increasingly sophisticated manga and anime styles, before reaching a stark black-and-white live action cinematography (set off by dramatic splashes of color).

Aesthetically, Kawajiri’s film is a joy to behold, but even more importantly, his story is deeply touching and somewhat surprisingly ironic. Yet, there are no forced happy endings or indulgences in saccharine sentimentality to detract or distract from the film’s many merits. Although the tone is somewhat different, A Japanese Boy would make a great companion short for the live action Bakuman.

This is just a great film. It ought to become a mainstay of the next round of Reel Abilities regional film festivals, but it might be too hip for their programmers. Regardless, it should make manga fans swoon. Very highly recommended, A Japanese Boy Who Draws had its North American premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Kingdom

This is a film that could make the heads of the “Own Voices” cultural segregationists’ heads explode. It is a Japanese film, adapting a Japanese manga, starring Japanese actors, portraying Chinese warriors during the Warring States period. Let us dispense with issues of so-called authenticity and deal with the film’s cinematic merits, because they are considerable. A slave find himself caught up in a palace coup, but that also means opportunities for freedom and social advancement, if he can survive that long in Shinsuke Sato’s Kingdom, which had its Canadian premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Li Xin and Piao were born into slavery and slaves they shall remain, unless they can hack and slash their way to freedom. All their free time is devoted to fencing training, but it appears to pay off when they catch the eye of Lord Chang Wen Jun. Alas, it is only Piao he is interested in—for a very particularly reason. It turns out, he bears a striking resemblance to the King, for whom he was to act as a double.

Unfortunately, Li learns this when Piao returns to the farm mortally wounded. The King of Qin, Ying Zheng, was usurped by his serpent-like younger brother, with the backing of the generals and ministers at court. Reluctantly, Li takes Piao’s place protecting the king, even though he (not unfairly) blames the deposed monarch for his sworn-brother’s death. However, the more he and the king fight together, the more they will come to respect each other.

Kingdom has just about everything you could ask for in a historical costume drama. There is gritty, blood-drawing action, both on an epic scope and at a one-on-one level. There are all kinds of betrayals and scheming going on. Plus, there are a number of outlandish looking Dick Tracy-esque villains. Yet, above all, the characters display the sort of tragic heroism of the best wuxia and Chanbara films.

Sato has become Japan’s blockbuster director of the decade thanks to movies like I Am a Hero, Inuyashiki, Gantz, and Bleach, but Kingdom is his most sweeping film yet. He is working on a big canvas, but he still gets some good work out of his cast. Kento Yamazaki is bug-eyed and hyper-active as Li, but not to the level of shtickiness. Ryo Yoshizawa plays a nicely differentiated double role as Piao and the King, but it is Masahiro Takashima who really commands the screen as Lord Chang. Yet, the surprise star might be Masami Nagasawa, who steals scenes and shows off impressive action chops as Yang Duan He, the chieftain of the Hill People.

Even in Japanese wuxia movies like Kingdom, we still get a triumphant celebration of the forcible unification of China, which seems rather unnecessary. Nevertheless, the whole point of the film is the fight scenes and action coordinator Yuji Shimomura does not disappoint. This is exactly the kind of film that made action fans fall in love with martial arts cinema in the first place. Very highly recommended, Kingdom opens August 16^th in the U.S. and Canada, following its screening at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: The Father’s Shadow

Are esoteric rituals something kids grow out of? Horror movie fans are the wrong people to ask. Regardless, nine-year-old Dalva’s natural affinity for magic and her motivations for dabbling are not going away anytime soon. Mending her family will take extreme measures, but she is willing to risk opening Pandora’s Box in Gabriela Amaral Almeida’s The Father’s Shadow, which won the Best Actress Award and Special Jury Mention at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Young Dalva is nowhere close to being over her mother’s untimely death, but she is still in much better shape than her father Jorge. He has basically shut down, robotically laboring away in his Sao Paulo construction job and barely going through the motions at home. In contrast, Dalva soaks up her Aunt Cristina’s white magic lessons that she in turn applies on behalf of her classmates. Maybe that is not such a good idea, but at least she is being social.

Unfortunately, when Cristina gets engaged to the distribution marketing stooge of her dreams, she leaves Dalva solely in Jorge’s sullen care. Alas, her father further withdraws into himself when his best friend at work is laid-off and subsequently dies in an accident that might very well be suicide. Jorge only rouses himself to roughly forbid Dalva’s practice of the mysterious craft, which drives them even further apart.

Father’s Shadow represents a considerable change of pace after the bloody chaos of Amaral’s first feature, Friendly Beast, like a change-up following a fastball, in American baseball terms. There is still a pronounced class consciousness, but it manifests itself in drastically different ways. Dalva’s environment is desperately poor and her father is as working-class as one can be, but that is the only reality she ever knew and as natural as the air she breathes.

By cinematic standards, Father’s Shadow is unusually evocative. You can practically feel the heat from the blow-torches at the construction site and smell the earth when Dalva’s mother is exhumed from the graveyard, so she can be reinterred in a cheaper drawer (talk about bad karma) early in the film. However, many of the genre elements are not fully and consistently realized, like the ominous welder shadowing Jorge, who sometimes appears to be a symbolic embodiment of his guilt, while other times he could have stepped out of a vintage slasher movie.

Frankly, it is hard to decide what to make of Father’s Shadow, because it struggles with its own identity crisis. Yet, it is safe to say young Nina Medeiros will impress everyone as Dalva. It is an eerie and ambiguous performance, but her pain and vulnerability are always palpable. Nobody will begrudge her the Best Actress award she snagged at this year’s Fantasia, like the Anna Paquin of Brazilian horror.

Arguably, Father’s Shadow signals a bit of a trend towards art-house horror in Brazil, along with Marco Dutra & Juliana Rojas’s Good Manners, but the earlier werewolf film was slyer and ultimately more satisfying in genre terms. Both Medeiros and Amaral show a facility for handling a wide spectrum of extreme emotions, but this film is more likely to be remembered as a stepping stone in their careers rather than as a genre touchstone to return to periodically. So, cheers Nina Medeiros. It is a film you will respect, but Friendly Beasts was much more fun. Recommended for viewers who take their horror with a strong dose social realism, Father’s Shadow should have a long festival life after its North American premiere (with nicely translated English subtitles) at this year’s Fantasia. Portuguese translation to come, courtesy of the truly amazing Angelica Sakurada.

Fantasia ’19: Melopee (short)

Arguably, no genre makes better use of sound to create atmosphere and tension than horror. Try to imagine The Exorcist without its signature sound design. Sometimes sound is the source of danger itself (as in The Sound and Pontypool). In this case, a little campfire music leads to a lot grave peril in Alexis Fortier Gauthier’s short Quebecois film, Mélopée, which screened during the 2019Fantasia International Film Festival.

Three millennials will be vacationing together in a beach house, but sensitive Olivier definitely looks the odd three’s-a-crowd man out, especially since he is obviously attracted to Diane, Guillaume’s girlfriend. However, she starts to give off hints his interest might be reciprocated. Nevertheless, she is still together with Guillaume, so there are times Olivier will not want to be in the house. Instead, he polishes a new song by the water, but beneath the surface, something listens—and it will start responding.

Believe it or not, Mélopée takes a borderline Lovecraftian turn, which is quite a jolt. Yet, it maintains a consistent tone. Stylistically, Mélopée could sit compatibly alongside so-called “post-horror” films like The Witch and Personal Shopper, but also takes care of genre business to sufficiently satisfy old school genre fans.

There is some wild design work in Mélopée. It is also nicely inclusive to have a deaf character among the primary trio—Diane, impressively played by Rosalie Fortier, whose warm presence makes an impression—but it also turns out to have a direct and surprising bearing on the narrative. Highly recommended for a broad spectrum of genre fans, Mélopée had its world premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Idol

There is nothing like an auto accident to stall a promising political career. Just ask Teddy Kennedy. At least he survived to become a national punch-line. Koo Myung-hui does not have the luxury of running as a Kennedy in Massachusetts, but technically, he was not a party to the accident. It was his horrible son Yo-han behind the wheel. His callous and reckless behavior will ignite a deluge of agonizing moral dilemmas in Lee Su-jin’s Idol, which won the Cheval Noir Awards for best feature and best actor at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Koo was feeling pretty good about the chances for his anticipated gubernatorial campaign, until he returned home to find his son and wife washing blood of the family car. Then he noticed the body in the duffel bag. His wife is in full cover-up mode, like Hillary Clinton deleting emails, but Koo will not play along. Instead, he has them return the body to the scene of the crime and then forces the entitled Yo-han to turn himself in. They just fudge with the timeline a little.

Of course, things get complicated when reports of a witness surface. Suspecting the death [or murder] of his grown autistic son will not be a priority for cops and prosecutors, the victim’s father, Yoo Joong-sik hires a private investigator. Things really get complicated when it is revealed the mystery witness is Ryun-hwa, his son’s arranged wife, an illegal alien from China. Everyone wants to find her, including the maybe not so morally upright Koo.

Okay, so we should all be able to accept the notion politicians will do some pretty reprehensible things to preserve their power by now. However, what makes Idol so interesting is that it shows how far everybody will go to get what they want, as well as the lines they just won’t cross. All the major characters in this film are capable of some pretty extreme actions, but there are also things they just refuse to do. That isn’t necessarily so for some of the minor characters, of whom there are arguably too many. Lee has the questionable habit of introducing new faces very late in the game, just to advance the narrative.

In a somewhat unconventional turn of events, Han Seok-kyu and Sul Kyung-gu shared Fantasia’s best actor honors for their respective turns as Koo and Yoo, but it rather makes sense. Both performances are excellent and there is a weird symbiotic push-pull dynamic shared by their characters. Koo is the less showy role, but Han still has moments that genuinely shock and surprise. Nevertheless, Sul just burns a hole in viewers’ souls with his portrayal of Yoo’s righteous rage and bitter impotency.

Chun Woo-hee’s work as Ryun-hwa also perfectly fits with the film’s ambiguous tone, yo-yoing from femme fatale villainy to frightened vulnerability from scene to scene and moment to moment. Plus, Yo Seung-mok and Hyun Bong-sik do what character actors do best, adding grit and color as Yoo’s investigator and the honest cop working the case.

Idol is a tense film fueled by blistering anger at political corruption and social iniquity, but it has some ragged edges. Motivations are often questionable and sometimes personalities can change drastically for no clearly established reason. Nevertheless, its boldness is bracing, like good, strong aftershave. Recommended for fans of socially conscious thrillers, Idol should have extensive festival screenings ahead of it, after winning the Cheval Noir at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Dreadout

You can think of it as the Indonesian Silent Hill. Doesn’t that inspire bushels of confidence? It is the first Indonesian video game movie-adaptation, based on a locally produced horror-survival game. Staying alive will be no easy feat, but it never is in a Mo Brothers film. This time around, Kimo Stamboel helms on his own, bringing Dreadout to bigger screens, including Concordia’s SGWU theater, where it had its North American premiere during the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

This will be a case of live by the smart phone, die by the smart phone, or vice versa. To score more followers than their upstart juniors, a group of well-heeled high school seniors decide to break into an abandoned apartment building that was the scene of a notorious crime. Super idea kids. Nothing could go wrong with that plan. To enter, they need the help of Linda, a financially strapped classmate.

Of course, we can immediately tell she was the terrified little girl who witnessed the disastrous exorcism during the prologue. Soon, she also starts regaining memories of that night when the entitled Scooby-Doo gang break through the old police tape cordoning off her former apartment. It had changed since she lived there. Much to everyone’s bafflement, there is now a deep pool right in the middle of the floor. Naturally, it turns out to be a portal to a sinister nether realm that pulls Linda and Jess (the queen bee) through to the other side.

This world is populated with demonic creatures, who all want a piece of Linda. Fortunately, she discovers the flash on her phone will keep them at bay—and possibly even vanquish them. Yes, much game-play-inspired demon flashing will transpire.

As half of the Mo Brothers tandem, with Timo Tjahjanto, Stramboel has jointly directed some pretty extreme movies, like Killers, but this time he goes it alone. The results are strangely ordinary, but the atmosphere is genuinely creepy. In fact, Silent Hill comparisons are indeed apt.

The set design and art direction of Dreadout are genuinely quite striking. The film looks good and Caitlin Haldman solidly anchors the film as down-to-earth Linda. On the other hand, the rest of her classmates are just generic horror movie teens. Only Mike Lucock really stands out from the pack, to any extent, as the older, more corruptible security guard.

Dreadout moves along at a respectable clip, but it has none of the visceral intensity of a film like Killers. It is mostly just okay, which is really the film’s biggest surprise. Still, by the standards of video game movie adaptations, it ranks up there, largely from lack of competition. Recommended for game fans, Dreadout had its North American debut at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: The Incredible Shrinking WKND

In most time-loop movies, the looper gets to start fresh with each reset, but Alba will carry her cuts and stains with her. Fortunately, she is in okay health, despite drinking like a fish, unlike the easily winded Bill Murray. However, her relationship with Pablo is in a sad state. Alba must heal their bond to get back to forward-moving regular life, but she is running out of time and chances in screenwriter-director Jon Mikel Caballero’s The Incredible Shrinking WKND, which had its North American premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Lately, Alba has exhibited behavior typically observed in aging frat boys with Peter Pan syndrome. For Pablo, it just isn’t cute anymore. Yet, it is really her insensitivity to his needs that finally prompts him to break-up with her. This catches her completely off guard, largely spoiling the weekend trip to her childhood vacation cabin she had planned with their friends. Suddenly in a ruminative mood, she wanders past the mysterious old abandoned weapons factory that is presumably the cause of the time-loop she finds herself in.

Of course, Alba is utterly baffled by the situation. She then responds by preemptively dumping Pablo. However, as she resolves to prevent the breakup and heal their relationship (presuming that will break her out of the repeating cycle), Alba figures out each loop lasts exactly one hour less than the one before. Tick-tock.

The glut of time-loop movies could give a science fiction fan Groundhog’s Day Deja vu, but Caballero makes it fresh again, starting with the gender reversal of his hard-partying, irresponsible protagonist. He dexterously reveals more and more revelations regarding Alba’s relationships with Pablo and their friends in each loop, springing new complications that make each successive go-round even trickier for her to navigate. It really is quite a clever script and he stage-manages all of Alba’s rushing about quite effectively.

Iria del Rio is compulsively watchable as Alba, going all in, in a hot mess kind of way. Viewers will get annoyed with her, but remain sympathetic to her predicament. In fact, she shows tremendous range, showing a flair for almost farcical comedy, but also dialing it down for a few surprisingly poignant moments. Frankly, Adam Quintero is mostly underwhelming as Pablo, but Jimmy Castro and Adrian Exposito definitely stir up the pot as two of their noisy, discontented friends.

“Clever” really is the right word to describe WKND, because in addition to all the new twists and tweaks Caballero gives the time loop movie, it also engages in some wickedly droll visual gamesmanship that will sneak up on you if you are not alerted to it beforehand. Probably the best loop movie since the Korean film, A Day (granted, that was just from 2017, but there have been a lot of them since then), The Incredible Shrinking WKND is highly recommended for time-themed science fiction fans, after its North American debut at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Sadako

Somewhat ironically, the more successful a horror franchise gets, the trickier questions of canonical continuity become. That is certainly true of the Japanese Sadako/Ring/Ringu series. It has at least two separate continuity lines, as well as two Ju-on/Grudge crossovers and an early sequel TV series. That doesn’t even include the first Japanese TV movie that adapted Koji Suzukki’s source novel without much fanfare or the American and Korean remakes. Regardless, fans will be happy to see Hideo Nakata, director of the original Ring and Ring 2 (but not technically the second Ring film) return to the well (so to speak) with a freshened-up new jumping-on point (but not exactly a reboot), Sadako, which had its North American premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

The poor little girl we immediately meet has endured an abusive childhood, not unlike that of Ringu’s Sadako Yamamura. In fact, her psychotic mother, Hatsuko Sobue, is convinced she is the reincarnation of Sadako, but before she can immolate the terrified girl, either Sadako or the would-be victim lights Sobue up, Fire-Starter-style.

The little girl is physically unscathed, but emotionally stunted in the extreme. It will be Dr. Mayu Akikawa’s job to draw out her young patient. However, she gets distracted when her aspiring YouTuber brother Kazuma vanishes after posting an urban exploration video of the burned-out Sobue apartment. Of course, weird things start happening around the hospital, but the epicenter of the madness will be a certain cave.

Instead of just warming up the Ring backstory in a microwave, Nakata and screenwriter Noriaki Sugihara broaden and deepen the Sadako mythology. The film is long on atmosphere and mostly disinclined to peddle in jump scares. The amber-glowing cinematography also gives the film an eerie otherworldly shimmer. Plus, the sound design is as unsettling as ever.

On the other hand, it is hard to believe Elaiza Ikeda’s deer-in-the-headlights Dr. Akikawa would have the wherewithal to mix it up with some kind of demon-spawn. Regardless, young Himeka Himejima deserves a great deal of credit for being heartbreaking vulnerable or legitimately terrifying, depending on the scene. Takashi Tsukamoto also provides a solid Fox Mulder to Akikawa’s Scully, with his portrayal of Yusuke Ishida, her brother’s publicity consultant. Plus, Hiroya Shimizu is painfully credible as the cringe-worthy Kazuma.

A lot of reviewers have uncharitably slammed Sadako as merely a collection of J-horror staples, but what did they really expect? The truth is Nakata established a lot of those conventions, so he is entitled to rip himself off. Regardless, it is definitely creepy, in a vintage 1990s J-horror kind of way. Recommended for fans or as an introduction to J-horror, Sadako had its North American premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Extreme Job

Being a small businessman is not so different from being a cop. Both have a tough time making ends meet and the bottom-feeding media is only too happy to score cheap points against either. At least independent proprietors can be their own boss. That is why narcotics team leader Go will be tempted to make it permanent when he goes undercover as a purveyor of fried chicken in Lee Byeong-heon’s Extreme Job, which screens again during the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Go’s team made a real hash of their last case, so if they do not rack up some high-profile collars quickly, they are likely to be disbanded. The five misfit cops decide to follow a rival squad leader’s tip, staking out long-suspected drug kingpin Lee Moo-bae’s new hideout. There is definitely illegal business going on behind closed doors, but the chicken shop they have been using to monitor Lee’s gang is about to go out of business. In the spirit of all or nothing, Go uses his pension fund to buy it out.

Of course, they will have to sell some chicken to keep up appearances. Oddly enough, Det. Ma, the compulsive gambler and general foul-up, happens to have a knack with chicken. In fact, his chicken with rib marinade becomes a foodie sensation. Suddenly, Go and his team are too busy filling orders to do much police work, which frustrates the hard-charging veteran and the idealistic newbie. However, things take a surprise turn when the media starts nosing around.

Extreme Job is one of the relatively rare South Korean comedies that translates quite well for American audiences. Of course, it does not hurt that there is quite a bit of action, including a massive beatdown climax. However, it really works because Lee Byeong-heon and screenwriter Bae Se-young take a clever premise and fully develop it. They do not simply milk a few chuckles out of the prospect of cops distracted by their own chicken-slinging cover. This Macguffin takes on a life of its own.

It is also amusing to see Ryu Seung-ryong, the grizzled star of films like The Target, The War of the Arrows, and The Front Line, playing such a sad-eyed, snake-bit underdog. He still shows off plenty of action chops down the stretch. Although he is more than a bit annoying at first, rubber-faced Jin Seon-kyu also develops some roguish charm as the culinary-skilled Ma.

Thanks to the game cast (Go’s Fab Five), Extreme Job has quite a bit of genial charm. It is easy to see why it broke Korean box office records and has Kevin Hart kicking the tires of a potential American remake. It is just a lot of easy-going fun, somewhat in the spirit of the original Beverly Hills Cop and Stakeout movies. Recommended for fans of cop comedies, Extreme Job screens again next Wednesday (7/31), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Ghost in the Shell Virtual Reality Diver (VR short)

Major Motoko Kusanagi is one of the most beloved characters in anime—hence the strong emotions riled up by the “white-washed” casting of Scarlett Johansson in the live action Hollywood adaptation. Fans will be happy to see the real anime Kusanagi is back, but she only has fifteen minutes to save near-future Japan in Hiroaki Higashi’s Ghost in the Shell: Virtual Reality Diver, an immersive VR short that screened (or goggled) during the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

If it is your heart’s desire to freefall over a dystopian Tokyo than Diver is about as close as you can get, for now. The experience might make some headset wearers a little nauseous, but try to enjoy the scenery on the way down, because the panoramic 360 field of vision was rendered by Production I.G with their usual attention to detail and flare for spectacle. In fact, if you are not constantly looking around, you are missing out.

Fans also will not want to miss an original and entirely self-contained Ghost in the Shell story. Having the just completed her latest tune-up (more of a rebuild), the now entirely cyborg-ized (but fully conscious) Kusanagi is scrambled to defend a Kuzan peace delegation from terrorist Okitatsu Oribe. To do so, she will have to fight him both in physical reality and in cyberspace, both of which are pretty trippy to plunge into via VR.

Yet, maybe the coolest thing about Diver is that screenwriter Junichi Fujisaku and the I.G team still find ways to address the franchise’s over-riding theme: just what does it mean to be human in a cyber age? Kusanagi is keenly aware of her cybernetic status and the awkward fact Oribe’s weaknesses are rotted in his acutely human condition.

So yeah, there is some substance there, but the whole point is soak up the visuals and feel the rush. Clearly, I.G takes their bread-and-butter franchise world seriously, because they took considerable care translating it to a VR short format (still considered pretty gimmicky by a lot of folks). Although Ghost in the Shell: Virtual Reality Diver is now available on several VR platforms, many fans’ best chance to see it will during festivals, like this year’s Fantasia, where it was a selection of the virtual reality section.

Fantasia ’19: The Prey

Joel McCrae in the original 1932 Most Dangerous Game film was the exception. The villains in every subsequent people-hunting movie always have a knack for choosing the worst possible quarry, like Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target, Michael Dudikoff in Avenging Force, and Ice-T in Surviving the Game. Undercover Chinese cop Xin is cut from the same butt-kicking cloth. When he winds up in an off-the-books Cambodian prison, he will have to survive the warden’s special hunt in Jimmy Henderson’s The Prey, which had its Canadian premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Xin was working undercover infiltrating a gang of cyber-thieves targeting China when he was swept up in a local bust. Justice is swift in Phenom Penh, so he soon finds himself remanded to a remote jungle prison. Not surprisingly, his martial arts skills earn him a spot in the latest hunt the warden organizes for carefully selected customers. This time, his regular client Mat has brought along his fabulously wealthy but ragingly psychotic nephew “T,” so good times are sure to be had.

Of course, Xin will be gosh-darned difficult to kill. As a further complicating wrinkle, his Chinese colleagues will follow the tracking device in his confiscated Rolex, but they are definitely out of their element. Essentially, Xin will have to rely on himself—maybe getting a small degree of help from the thief who also survives the initial culling with him.

Yes, this kind of story has been done many times before. Some films have offered more interesting twists, but Henderson keeps it simple, preferring to rely on the action chops of newcomer Gu Shangwei. Fortunately, he has the moves and the grit, resembling a cross between Tiger Chen and vintage Jimmy Wang Yu.

Gu should earn himself a lot of attention for his work in Prey, but as of now, Vithaya Pansringarm is probably the best-known cast-member. Recognizable to western audiences for portraying the corrupt warden in A Prayer Before Dawn and the corrupt warden in Mechanic: Resurrection, this time around Pansringarm plays—the corrupt warden. It’s like he has become the Strother Martin of Southeast Asia.

Byron Bishop and Nophand Boonyai also make strong secondary villains, so viewers can anticipate plenty of cathartic payback. Italian expat Henderson never gets too fancy, but the legit rain forest settings definitely give it a humid atmosphere of authenticity. The Prey has been billed as Cambodia’s first million-dollar action movie, but its charms are really more that of grungy old school beat-downs. Easily recommended for straight-up action fans, The Prey had its Canadian premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Ride Your Wave

This case of young love is so sweet it could put you into a diabetic coma, but since it comes via anime, most of us will be okay with it. Hinako Mukaimizu and Minato Hinageshi are an obscenely cute couple, but their romance will be mixed with tragedy in Masaaki Yuasa’s Ride Your Wave, which had its North American premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Mukaimizu is already a legend on a surf board, but she is uncomfortable navigating life on dry land. In contrast, everything seems to come easily to Hinageshi, the dashing young fireman, except surfing. Both Hinageshi and his junior, Kawamura Wasabi, noticed Mukaimizu from afar, but it is Hinageshi who turns her head. Of course, he was at the right place, at the right time: rescuing her from her burning apartment building, on a fire department cherry-picker.

Things get serious quickly between them, but their happiness will be rudely interrupted by misfortune. Yet, somehow, they maybe find a way to stay together. In fact, there is a bit of a fantastical twist. Meanwhile, Wasabi and Hinageshi’s sister Yoko start playing larger roles in the drama.

Thematically, Ride Your Wave feels like a closer cousin to Naoko Yamada’s A Silent Voice than Yuasa’s previous films, even including The Night is Short, Walk on Girl. Regardless, it packs an emotional haymaker that rivals Your Name. This is definitely the kind of film that will give you the sniffles down the stretch. Yes, it is shamelessly sentimental, but it also lays a lot of character development ground work that pays off big time.

Yuasa’s aquatic motifs give him the opportunity for some delightfully colorful and splashy visuals. His “new adult” characters are also ridiculously attractive, as physical specimens and as sensitive young kids. However, Michiru Oshima’s groovy instrumental soundtrack and Generations from Exile Tribe’s candy-coated J-pop theme song really make the film so lethally effective.

It is refreshing to see a film that is so unabashedly romantic and utterly unapologetic about wearing its emotions on its sleeve. The surf and sun might bring to mind the 1960s Japanese “Sun Tribe” movies for some cineastes, but the earnest characters are a welcome rebuke to the sociopaths of Crazed Fruit and its ilk. This is a wholesome film, just like Mukaimizu (and surfer girls like Gidget and Annette Funicello before her). Highly recommended for fans of Japanese animation and beach movies, Ride Your Wave had its North American premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: It Comes

Hereditary’s Ari Aster cannot hold a candle to Tetsuya Nakashima when it comes to portraying extreme human emotions. Technically, this is his first outright horror movie, but aesthetically, it is not so far distant from films like Confessions and Memories of Matsuko. The only thing more intense then the family dysfunction in his latest work is the supernatural horror looming over Nakashima’s It Comes, which had its Canadian premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Newlyweds Hideki and Kana Tahara look like a picture-book couple, but there was a strange incident from his childhood that continues to haunt his dreams and subconscious. There is a sinister force out there that still “calls out” to him. The birth of his daughter Chisa was a happy event for the couple and their friends, but it might provide an opening for the ominous supernatural power to get its hooks into the nuclear family.

When wild things start happening around him, Tahara reaches out to Kazuhiro Nozaki, an expert on the occult, and his girlfriend, Makoto Higa, a self-taught psychic. However, the uncanny entity is too powerful for her to handle. Much to her chagrin, the Tahara family will need the help of Higa’s arrogant older sister Kotoko, a professional exorcist highly trained in the shamanistic arts. Then you-know-what happens—a lot of it.

It Comes is a heck of a wild ride. It starts on a micro level, but Nakashima quickly takes it macro, staging bigger and more-over-the-top horror movie exorcisms than you have ever seen before. There are also multiple shocking surprises in store for viewers. In fact, we start out assuming it is about one set of characters, but it really turns out to be about an entirely different group of folks. It Comes morphs into a very different film than what you expect, but that makes it genuinely surprising, almost (but not quite) like seeing Hitchcock’s Psycho again for the first time.

Takako Matsu, who rocked Nakashima’s Confessions, commands the screen as Kotoko Higa, portraying a psychic exorcist distinctive enough to rival Lin Shaye in the Insidious franchise. Jun’ichi Okada really sells the film’s extreme madness, convincingly playing Nozaki as the character is dragged sideways through the proverbial wringer. Nana Komatsu and Haru Kuroki, as Makoto and Kana, respectively, also convincingly shift gears multiple times over, completely keeping viewers off balance.

This is a scary film and an insane spectacle. It is also Nakashima’s best film since Confessions, representing a rebound after the comparatively disappointing World of Kanako. Enthusiastically recommended for fans of films like Hereditary, Insidious, and The Conjuring, It Comes premiered in Canada during this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Mystery of the Night

Think of it as A Midsummer Night’s Dream set in Spanish colonial Philippines, but the forest spirits are very, very angry. Karma is a you-know-what for a privileged aristocratic family and a wronged feral woman will be the instrument of their destruction in Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr’s Mystery of the Night, which had its world premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Without question, the most striking scenes in Mystery are the opening and closing shadow silhouette sequences that share a similar aesthetic vibe with the Lion King Broadway production, except they are considerably darker—of course.

Not surprisingly, it is all the fault of a hypocritical Spanish priest, who finds it rather inconvenient when a woman he impregnated starts heckling him in front of his church before masses. Believing she is insane, the wealthy mayor Anselmo agrees to abandon her deep in the forest during his next hunting expedition. He keeps his promise, but he returns home a cursed man—literally.

Years later, his son Domingo continues the family tradition of journeying into the forest most of the other Spaniards fear to enter. This time, he encounters the woman’s feral daughter, who was raised by the mythical spirits and wild animals of the woods. Her pheromones exert such a powerful influence over him, he forgets himself with her. He also forgets his wife, making promises to her he definitely shouldn’t. When his betrayal becomes clear, the forest orphan’s rage will manifest itself in supernatural ways.

Mystery is either hypnotic or sluggishly paced, depending on how indulgent you are. Visually it is quite striking and the forest setting is so evocative you can practically smell the underbrush. However, the film practically trips over its heavy-handed anti-colonialist message. Borinaga Alix and screenwriters Rody Vera and Maynard Manansala (who adapted Vera’s stage play) completely throw subtlety out the window.

Still, there are some cool effects and make-up, particularly the spirit with eyes (that open and close) all over his arms and shoulders. There are also some really grotesque bits that will impress gore fans. Above all, Solenn Heussaff really deserves credit for going all in as the feral woman. It is truly a wildly animalistic and highly sexualized performance. Frankly, the sum of the film’s parts is probably greater than its whole.

Arguably, Mystery is too artsy for its own good. A faster tempo and a little less sermonizing would bring its message to more viewers. Only recommended for high-end cineastes, Mystery of the Night had its world premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Stare

There is a new name in long-haired, slit-mouthed yurei J-horror, but you don’t want to know it, because those who do, eventually wind up dead. It is not a pleasant death either. Basically, their eyes explode. There is a way to survive, but it will not be easy, because it is always hard to escape the wrath of a malevolent Japanese horror entity, especially the one we dare not name in Hirotaka Adachi’s Stare, which had its world premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Mizuki expected to have a laidback lunch with her friend, instead she watched her die from some kind of explosive eyeball aneurism. Soon thereafter, Haruo’s younger brother dies in a similarly grotesque fashion. People just don’t die this way, so Haruo and Mizuki quickly find each other and team-up to investigate. A bit of nosing around leads them to Eiko, a mutual friend of the deceased. Unfortunately, she barely lives long enough to explain how it all started when the three co-workers heard a folk tale about a mystery grudge-holding woman, who killed all those who knew her name.

Alas, she will cry out that name to Mizuki and Haruo while in a state of supernatural agitation. Of course, they pass it on to Mamiya, a journalist investigating the suspicious deaths, who repeats it to his wife. Fortunately, there is a survivor—at least for now—who can explain how he did it (maybe there is a hint there in the title).

Stare is a fun film precisely because of its J-horror excesses. You will shout out loud every time someone utters the unspeakable name, which happens frequently. Sure, it is totally nuts, but the Macguffin, the big tricky gimmick, and the final twist are all deviously clever. Adachi (a.k.a. horror writer Otsuichi) executes the horror business with slickly sinister style. Scare is definitely scary, even if when it doesn’t make much sense (it even acknowledges its biggest logical hole, so you have to just go with it). As Mizuki and Haruo, Marie Iitoyo and Yu Inaba also do their parts, making compellingly earnest and believably scared witless protagonists.

While watching Stare, it is hard not to think about how much money Blumhouse could make with an American remake. Seriously, it has all the elements, plus several fresh wrinkles on supernatural horror. If you can take options on a Stare franchise, snap them up. This has the old J-horror magic of the original Grudge and Ringu—just check your pedantry at the door. Highly recommended for J-horror fans, Stare world premiered at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: Away

Beautiful but forbidding, this island exists somewhere between the natural world and your subconscious. To survive, a young boy must endure the elements and elude an archetypal monster that could be real or a product of his own unconscious fears—or both. It is only seventy-five minutes, but animator-director-screenwriter-producer-editor-composer Gints Zilbalodis’s Away will likely be one of the most memorable (and possibly divisive) films that has premiered at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

The boy wakes hanging from a tree, dangling by his parachute, when suddenly he comes face to face with the monster. He extricates himself in the nick of time, but the monster follows and follows. Despite his best efforts, he cannot shake the silent hulk, even with the help of the timely warnings provided by the yellow canary, who becomes his traveling companion. At least the scenery is beautiful to behold.

Whether you love it or hate it, give Zilbalodis credit for crafting a remarkably distinctive piece of animated cinema. There is no question, some people will not love it, given its complete lack of dialogue and heavy symbolic weightiness. We never really get to know the boy as a character, but that hardly matters. It is all about the journey and the spectacle (the sight of the giant is especially haunting). Many of have already compared Away to Michael Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle, which is apt, but try to imagine a teaspoon of A Monster Calls thrown into the mix.

If you buy into Away, it becomes a hypnotic cinematic experience. Visually, it is a true stunner. The details of the island’s environment look as if they could be of our Earth, yet somehow the way they are put together feels alien and exotic. Even if you can only engage with Away on a surface level, you should still appreciate Zilbalodis’s artistry.

Away looks awesome, but it also sounds quite striking, thanks to Zilbalodis’s minimalist soundtrack, which could pass for the work of Philip Glass. It is an amazing work of auteurist animation in the truest sense, given how many roles Zilbalodis played. Away really is its own cinematic island. Very highly recommended, Away should be on GKIDS radar following its North American premiere at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’19: The Wonderland

Akane and her friends pass through a basement portal to enter this fantastical realm, but it is definitely cut from the same cloth as other classic YA fantasies featuring looking-glasses and wardrobes. Maybe it feels a little familiar, but everything looks amazing in Keiichi Hara’s anime feature, The Wonderland (a.k.a. Birthday Wonderland), which had its North American premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Akane is a junior high student who has not been acting particularly social or ambitious lately. To perk her up, her mother sends Akane to pick up her own birthday present from Chii, an eccentric friend of the family, who runs a mysterious curio shop. However, even Chii did not know there was portal to another fantasy world in her basement, until Hippocrates the alchemist pops out of it.

Convinced Akane is the reincarnation of The Goddess of the Green Wind, Hippocrates drags her to his world, so she can perform the ritual of renewal the absent prince appears determined to blow off. Without the ceremony, the lands will dry out and the color will be drained from the world. That might be okay with Zan Gu, the steampunky Dr. Doom-esque villain, who has been plundering metal from the countryside to smelt down for his nefarious plans. Of course, Chii tags along, because she is adventurous and always on the look-out for unique new merch for her store.

Hara’s previous film was the outstanding Miss Hokusai, but while Wonderland matches the visual lushness of that film, it does not connect as deeply on an emotional level. Hara and screenwriter Miho Maruo adapted Sachiko Kashiwaba’s beloved children’s novel, but the story itself proceeds like a mix-and-match of tried-and-true fantasy elements.

Still, Wonderland is worth seeing—and we do mean seeing—because of Hara’s grand spectacles and his neat little details. The sheep who look like gigantic cotton balls are sure to be favorites of younger viewers (ours too). The distinctive character designs created by Russian expat artist Ilya Kuvshinov definitely differentiate Wonderland from other anime, but their personalities are not as strongly delineated.

Wonderland has been tagged by critics as a Ghibli want-to-be, like that is a criticism. Frankly, it brings to mind the story of Phil Woods responding to a critic by shoving his alto at him and hissing, if it is so easy to imitate Charlie Parker than let’s hear him do it. There are definitely Ghibli-esque pastoral vistas and a similar sense of wonder. It is all quite enjoyable, but nobody will be dying to meet these characters again. Recommended for anime fans, Wonderland had its North American premiere at this year’s Fantasia.