Fantasia ’15: Remake, Remix, Rip-Off

The nation of Turkey probably owes Nino Rota nearly its entire GDP in unpaid royalties. During the 1960s and 1970s there was no copyright law in Turkey, so the rough and tumble film industry based on Istanbul’s Yeşilçam Street “borrowed” liberally, but nothing was as frequently “re-purposed” as Rota’s “Love Theme from The Godfather.” Cem Kaya surveys the resulting knock-off films and the filmmakers who cobbled them together in the awkwardly titled Remake, Remix, Rip-Off: About Copy Culture and Turkish Pop Cinema (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Turkish filmmakers ripped off just about every popular Hollywood film, including John Ford westerns, even though they made no sense in a Turkish cultural context. Easily the most notorious are the riffs on Stars Wars and E.T. that lifted extensive scenes from the original films—naturally, without prior permission. Yes, they look absolutely crazy, but in a dingy, decidedly un-fun kind of way. Even the most adventurous midnight movie patrons are unlikely to be tempted by Omer the Tourist Travels to Space, a rather sad looking shadow of Star Trek.

Frankly, the problem with Re-Re is that it is neither fish nor fowl. It invites us to gawk at the cheesy clips on display, yet is laboriously struggles to find some higher meaning in the phenomenon than the obvious quick cash-ins. Unfortunately, Kaya completely lacks the self-aware attitude that makes sly, thematically related documentaries like Mark Hartley’s Not Quite Hollywood and Mike Malloy’s Eurocrime! so raucously entertaining. To make matters worse, the film often veers off on unrelated tangents, filming leftist trade unions as they protest the current state of things in the moderately reformed Turkish film industry.

Arguably, there is something embarrassing about the Turkish film industry’s crass compulsion to copy. While interview subject Centin Inanc was recycling Hollywood films in ostensibly Turkish packages, the Japanese and Hong Kong film industries were producing iconic works inspired by their national history and folklore. Even Cambodia was regularly producing original fantastical Angkor epics, which sadly did not survive the Communist Khmer Rouge insanity.

Re-Re should have been considerably more fun, but it just takes itself too seriously. Yet, its attempts to valorize the knock-off industry are undermined by its deliberately kitschy selection of clips. The result is an intermittently provocative film that is largely at odds with itself. Of passing interest to cult film fans, Remake, Remix, Rip-Off screens tonight (8/4), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Cosmodrama

They still wear turtlenecks in the future. In fact, the retro-1960s fashion and décor are rather reassuring. The passengers on this exploratory vessel will take their comforts where they may. They do not know where they have come from or where they are going, but at least the canteen is fully stocked in Philippe Fernandez’s boldly philosophical Cosmodrama (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

The travelers aboard this generational spaceship have just been awakened from their cryogenic slumber to find they are all suffering from amnesia. They have no idea what they are supposed to be doing, but more or less find their assigned roles through instinct. By far, the Astronomer is the most productive among them. He quickly traces their trajectory and analyzes their apparent destination. To find out where exactly they are headed, he will determine where they have come from, but in this case, he means the point at which life in our universe originated eons ago.

As the Astronomer announces his findings, the Reporter sends them back through space in his dispatches. Everyone seems to acknowledge his research into the very nature of existence should be the focus of their mission, even though the Psysiologist and the Semiologist have had great success teaching a primate to communicate with flashcards. Except for the increasingly erratic Psychologist, everyone settles into their routines fairly smoothly, even when forced to cohabitate with doppelgangers created by time-shifts.

It might take years for Cosmodrama to reach the audience it deserves, but eventually it should be hailed as a classic. Fernandez takes all the familiar science fiction tropes and turns them into a unabashedly cerebral philosophical inquiry. Think of it as the Star Trek episode Umberto Eco and Carl Sagan never collaborated on. It looks just as trippy-groovy as the mildly disappointing Space Station ’76, but it pitches its material at an infinitely higher level. You really need to see it a few times to absorb all the conjecture, but even if it is all gobbledygook, it sounds absolutely convincing.

Yet, there are also very strange psychological dramas percolating below the surface. Despite the lack of conventional genre conflicts, there are real stakes involved, as well as some seriously chewy dialogue. Jackie Berroyer is terrific as the Astronomer (and his double), completely selling some heady speculation. Bernard Blancan also makes a compelling everyman as the Reporter, while Sascha Ley further piles on the braininess as the Biologist. If anyone overplays their hand, it is Emmanuel Moynot doing the Full Monty as the Psychologist.

This is genuinely virtuoso filmmaking in the fullest sense. Eventually, Cosmodrama will be a Criterion Collection title and a mainstay on critics’ lists. It is like all the really inspired scientific bits from the last twenty years of SF film and television seamlessly assembled into a mastercut. Very highly recommended, Cosmodrama is a must-see film when it screens tonight (8/3) and tomorrow (8/4), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Tag

Mitsuko is a sensitive hafu (multi-ethnic, half-Japanese) high school girl, who writes poetry. This makes her an excellent candidate to be the “Final Girl.” Unfortunately, she will be the lone survivor, over and over again. She quickly wearies of the macabre phenomenon in Sion Sono’s genre-defying, reality-problematizing Tag (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

It is a beautiful day for a class trip. Unfortunately, some sort of supernaturally malevolent wind will sheer off the top of Mitsuko’s bus, decapitating all of her classmates and adult supervision. This might be the most school girls Sono has killed off in a single swoop since Suicide Club, so you know he will make the gory most of it. Preserved through happenstance, Mitsuko flees in a panic, but her survival instincts force her to dodge the murderous gale.

Soon, Mitsuko stumbles across another all-girls high school, populated with unfamiliar students that all seem to recognize her. The tough-talking ambiguously-yuri-ish Aki takes her under her wing, claiming to be her BFF. Together with Yuki and Sur (short for “surreal”), they ditch their first class for some girl bonding by the lake. Tragically, horrifically apocalyptic events will shake the school during second period. With Aki’s help, Mitsuko will once again survive, but when she reaches town, she discovers she has transformed into Keiko, a twenty-five year-old woman on her wedding day. Considering the lack of men in this world, it is safe to assume the groom is no prince. However, just when things look hopeless, Aki reappears. Yet, that means the process also repeats, transforming the former Mitsuko once again.

Tag is allegedly based on the same Yosuke Yamada novel that inspired the hit Chasing World films and TV show, but even if you have seen the entire Battle Royale-esque franchise, it will not explain anything that happens in Sono’s faithless non-adaptation. It is all Sono and it takes some wild metaphysical twists. This is not your 1980’s dead teenager kind of movie, not by a long shot.

Despite all the bloody mayhem, character counts in Tag. In fact, Erina Mano and the Austrian-Japanese Reina Triendl are rather extraordinary, all things considered, as the third and first manifestations of Mitsuko/Keiko/Izumi. In contrast, poor Mariko Shinoda seems a little overwhelmed by the wedding bedlam, inheriting the character at her most passive. However, if you are looking for transgressive mischief, her Keiko segment is tough to beat. Arguably though, the film really gets its heart from Yuki Sakurai’s career-making work as the fiercely charismatic Aki.

Arguably, we are really living in a golden age for cinema—one in which both Sion Sono and Takashi Miike exist and release new films on a monthly basis. In Sono’s case, Tag is the third of six films scheduled for Japanese release this year. It is also one of his most distinctive, somehow managing to subvert our genre expectations at every turn, while generating a truly massive body count. Very highly recommended for experienced cult cinema connoisseurs, Tag screens tonight (8/3), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Strayer’s Chronicle

Evidently, humanity is a lot like Microsoft Windows. Future editions might have new features that sound really cool, but they are far less stable. In the 1990s, two very different secret experiments attempted to hasten the next stage of human evolution. Both endowed their test subjects with super-powers, but left them with drastically shortened life expectancies. One group faithfully serves as the project leader’s clandestine task force, while the other went underground, but they will face their destiny together in Takahisa Zeze’s Strayer’s Chronicle (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Based on Takayoshi Honda’s novel, Strayer will be inevitably compared to the X-Men no matter how strenuously it objects. The similarities are obvious, but there is a dramatic difference in tone. While the Marvel franchise uses mutants as a metaphor for intolerance, often lurching into ham-fisted didacticism, Strayer is more concerned with its heightened sense of mortality. These super-heroes will all die soon, but straight-laced Subaru’s government-aligned team appears to be doing better than Manabu’s outlaw Ageha group.

Subaru has loyally served Koichiro Watase, the scientist responsible for his condition, but he is concerned about the recent “burn-out” of a team member. Their next assignment will be protecting a prominent molecular scientist and ethicist, whose insight into their condition attracts the attention of Ageha as well. Naturally, they mix it up during their initial encounters, but their attitudes towards each other soften as both factions get a fuller sense of the big picture. In fact, Manabu will send one of his members to Subaru’s group, because they will be better able to protect her. Having determined Aoi is able to reproduce, unlike her sterile comrades, she might actually have a future to protect.

Even if Strayer “borrows” some concepts here and there, it develops plenty of cool twists of its own, like Subaru’s power to see a few seconds into the future, which means he always knows where and when to move in a fight. On the other hand, the power stealing abilities of Shizuka (played by Sara Takatsuki, who does not get enough screen time) closely resemble those of Rogue. The multi-leveled government conspiracy also has no shortage of forerunners, but it takes on eerie apocalyptic and existential dimensions in Strayer.

Perhaps Zeze and co-screenwriter Kohei Kiyasu do not reinvent the mutant wheel, but they stage some wildly cinematic action scenes. What really distinguishes Strayer from the rest of the super hero pack are the very real stakes involved. Far from invulnerable, any character could go at any time, as if they are on Game of Thrones. After all, they are literally dying before our eyes. Featuring some vividly realized special effects and a popular youthful cast, Strayer is an impressively ambitious foray into superhero movie making by Zeze, the former indie auteur. Recommended for fans of near future science fiction and conspiratorial thrillers, Strayer’s Chronicle screens tonight (8/2), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Lady Psycho Killer

This college coed’s pathological aversion to men is not the product of freshmen indoctrination programs (although that probably did not help matters). She is quite literally insane, but do not judge her too harshly. Maniacal killing runs in her family. Montreal’s loutish frat boys are in for the slice & dice treatment in Nathan Oliver’s satirical Lady Psycho Killer (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in that very same Montreal.

Ella is suspiciously naïve and socially stunted. It is not just because she was home-schooled by her clingy mother. There is something off about her that her “edgy” psych professor will inadvertently turn loose. The only assignment of Prof. Douglas’s introductory class is to do something outside your normal bounds of behavior and write a paper about it. Ella decides to go to a strip club. Good choice.

Of course, when the manager inevitably starts sleazing on her, Ella ends up offing the creep. There is a lot of blood, but she likes it. Soon, she starts prosecuting her private war on the sexes, one sexually overbearing scumbag at a time, or in some cases, two at a time. However, she is not sure what to do with Daniel, the lacrosse-playing frat boy. He seems to genuinely like her—and he might be even shier than her. Eventually, her mother realizes what Ella is up to, but she understands. Her long absent father was the exact same way.

Somehow Oliver and co-screenwriter Albert I Melamed pull off quite a nifty trick in LPK. They have written a film all about gender politics that touches on just about every hot button social issue you can think of, yet it never comes across as didactic or hackneyed. The gory humor undoubtedly helps a lot. The crazy casting is also sure to please genre fans. If you have Michael Madsen, Malcolm McDowell, Daniel Baldwin, and Ron Jeremy on your Rotisserie B-movie team, than LPK will score you a lot of points, including a bonus for McDowell serving as executive producer.

The idea of Michael Madsen as an aging hipster freshman psych professor should unnerve any parent. Even though he tries to play it straight, it is hard not to laugh during his scenes. Be that as it may, nobody can top Kate Daly’s big screen debut as Ella. She is over-the-top nuts, but still projects a sense of pathos, while also nailing some wickedly droll narration. It is sort of like Reese Witherspoon’s arrival in Legally Blonde, but with buckets of blood.

To its credit, the humor in LPK is consistent funny and it flows organically from the dramatic situations, reflecting a fan’s appreciation of the slasher genre. Despite its themes and motifs, it never feels like a Ms. Magazine article grafted onto a psycho killer story. It gets everything right that a film like Girls Against Boys gets wrong. In fact, it is quite a bit of fun in a grisly, blood-splattered kind of way. Recommended for fans of sardonic horror films, Lady Psycho Killer premieres this evening (8/2), after services, at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Golden Cane Warrior

The best martial arts film often approach the level of classical tragedy with their tales of cruel fate and deep seated grudges. An entirely home-grown, domestically-produced Indonesian action historical is a definitely down with that program. When the leader of a revered martial arts house takes on the children of her vanquished rivals as protégés, it ends rather badly. However, her rightful heir survives to fight another day in Ifa Isfansyah’s Golden Cane Warrior (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

As the holder of the Golden Cane, Cempaka is above the sort of tournaments the rest of the warrior houses compete in. Her oldest students, Biru and Gerhana have learned much from her and enjoy the status they have as students of the Golden Cane. They assume she will chose Biru as her successor, but Cempaka anoints the young Dara instead. Slightly disappointed, the dastardly pair murder Cempaka, framing Dara and the ten year old-ish Angin, whom Cempaka took in to remind her of sins to be revealed during the third act.

Much to their former fellow apprentices’ frustration, Dara and Angin escape with the Golden Cane. Worming their way into the next most prestigious house, Biru and Gerhana quickly complete their evil scheme to dominate the world of warriors. Soon they start terrorizing the idyllic village that offered Dara and Angin sanctuary. The good news is the villagers have Elang, a protector who is even better versed in the Golden Cane style than any of Cempaka’s students. The bad news is he has taken an oath that makes it hard for him to do anything useful.

Utilizing a lot of staff-fighting techniques, the martial arts of Cane is fantastically cinematic. Fight scene for fight scene, it can hang with any big budget wuxia film produced in the Chinese-speaking sphere. Unfortunately, it has a bit of a draggy mid-section and never really explains what the full deal is with Elang. Nevertheless, when the feet are flying and the staffs are swinging, it is quite a spectacle.

As Biru and Gerhana, Reza Rahadian and Tara Basro have terrific romantically villainous chemistry together. They are so dramatically more charismatic than the good guys, the likable but bland Eva Celia and Nicholas Saputra as Dara and Elang, it nearly unbalances the film. However, young but scrappy Aria Kusumah more than carries his weight as Angin.

By Indonesian standards, Cane had a princely budget, but you can see it all up there on the screen. It really looks like it was shot in ancient villages that exist somewhere outside time, while Isfansyah and cinematographer Gunnar Nimpuno give it an appropriately sweeping look and vibe. Recommended for fans of martial arts seasoned with tragic mysticism, Golden Cane Warrior screens today (7/31), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Boy 7

Sure, the idea of delinquent youths becoming guinea pigs in mind control experiments is hardly unprecedented, but there is something decidedly unsettling about it when done with a German accent—if you know what I mean. Instead of juvenile hall, Sam is sentenced a well-funded private school and research facility. He probably had a hard time fitting in, considering he groggily awakens in a subway tunnel with a nasty case of amnesia during the opening moments of Özgür Yildirim’s Boy 7 (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

His name is Sam, not that he knows that. However, he quickly figures out the cops want him for murder. Retracing his step from the clues in his pocket, Sam discovers a notebook stashed in a diner men’s room. It seems to be a journal he kept in the apparently likely event of his complete memory loss.

For some unfortunate bit of hacking, Sam was to serve a term at the institute, where the gray military uniforms really give off bad vibes. He will be the new Number 7, because the old Number 7 died from a stroke. It was unfortunate, but these sorts of things seem to happen there. His hard-partying roommate Louis (#6) knows something is wrong about the place, but he tries to live in denial. Lara (#8) is more openly rebellious, but the punky girl initially has no interest in Sam’s attempts to form an alliance, or anything else for that matter. Nevertheless, they grow closer as things get weirder around them. In fact, it is Lara that comes to the clean-slated Sam’s rescue.

Yildirim’s Boy 7 was adapted from the Dutch YA novel by Marco van Geffen and Philip Delmaar, as was the Dutch film version that released a mere six months earlier. German efficiency is certainly impressive, but in this case Yildirim marries it up with an ultra-slick Twyker-esque style. Although it is doomed to be compared to the Divergent and Maze Runner franchises, Boy 7 is much more closely akin Baran bo Odar’s Who Am I—No System is Safe, for reasons beyond language.

Lead actor David Kross is best known for his work in The Reader, but in this case, try not to hold it against him. He has clearly grown in his craft. While he is still a convincing nebbish outsider, he also conveys some grit and a bit of a dark side as Sam. As Lara, Emilia Schüle has a weird, hard to define screen presence, but it sort of works in context. Unfortunately, the villains are not nearly as distinctive as they ought to be.

Nevertheless, Yildirim keeps it all hurtling along at full throttle, while cinematographer Matthias Bolliger gives it an eerie nocturnal noir glow. It is a quality production that far surpasses the low expectations its young adult credentials would suggest. Recommended for paranoid youths, the German Boy 7 screens today (7/29), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Big Match

Looking for a film that will give you sympathetic bruises and body aches? Sure, we all are, so here it is. Poor Choi Iko will go from one massive beatdown to another. Technically, that is his job as the top MMA contender, but he never signed up for this so-called “game.” Gameplay definitely leaves a mark in Choi Ho’s Big Match (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Choi was briefly a promising soccer prospect, but after one notorious game and a pile of red cards, he found his true calling in the MMA ring. His older brother Young-ho is his coach, manager, and the closest thing to a voice of reason in his life. Therefore, when the shadowy Ace kidnaps Young-ho and frames the brothers for murder, Choi will reluctantly play his game.

For the wagering amusement of Ace’s select clientele, Choi will have to navigate the successive levels of the very real life game, starting with his escape from police custody. Things quickly escalate when he is forced to attack an underground mob casino single-handedly. Choi is undeniably a cement-head, but he is determined to take the fight to Ace, as soon as he saves his brother. He might also find an unlikely ally in Soo-kyung, his reluctant in-game minder.

If you thought the day would never come when K-pop superstar BoA would go to work on a pack of gangsters with a set of brass knuckles, then brace yourself for some good news. Granted, she never really taps into the inner recesses of her soul as Soo-kyung, “the woman of mystery,” but she is kind of awesome in her action scenes. Likewise, Lee Jung-jae plays Choi with all kinds of fierce guts. He almost looks to lean to be a top-ranked MMA fighter, but he turns out to be pretty credible dishing it out and taking it.

The pedestrianly titled Big Match might sound like a workaday recycling of elements from films like 13 Sins and Man of Tai Chi, but the sheer spectacle and intensity of the fight sequences are something else entirely. There are a few stunts that just border on the ludicrous, but they always result in conspicuous scarring, which sort of keeps it real. To put things in perspective, Choi is tased on multiple occasions, but each time he just takes a beat to center his chi and then gets back at ‘em.

This is the sort of film that converts the stiff and staid into fanboys. Usually, kidnapping plots are not a lot of fun, but in this case, all the mayhem and promised payback more than compensate. For action fans, Big Match is the real deal, raw egg-swilling goods. Highly recommended, it screens tonight (7/29), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen

It its prime, the yakuza life may have had its benefits, but they did not include a pension, 401K, or long-term disability. As a result, those who manage to live into their golden years become an embarrassing burden to their families. Out of boredom and contempt for the new brand of organized crime, a notorious retired yakuza decides to get the old gang back together in Takeshi Kitano’s Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Ryuzo still has his massive yakuza tattoos and he is not shy about showing them off, much to his salaryman son’s chagrin. One day, Ryuzo nearly falls for a confidence scam, but the arrival of his old crony Masa limits the damage. Evidently, this is one of the many predatory operations run by Keihin Industries, the ostensibly legit financial outfit that took over territory once run by Ryuzo’s now defunct clan.

Assembling his surviving associates (in some cases just barely), Ryuzo forms a new inter-clan “league” to teach the Keihin creeps how crime should be done. They even have the wink-and-a-nod blessing of crusty Det. Murakami, who was just a kid in their day, but is one of the few remaining coppers who still remember the old yakuza. Of course, Ryuzo and his gang (including Mokichi the dreaded “Toilet Assassin”) are over-matched and out of shape, but they do not have much to lose.

Henchmen is about as cute as Kitano gets. There is usually a pronounced element of black humor in his gangster films, particularly the Outrage duology, but now he brings the comedy front-and-center. Of course, when the gags involve finger chopping and commode killings, it helps to have an appreciation for the yakuza tradition.

As Ryuchi, the quietly simmering Tatsuya Fuji looks like he could explode at any time. The former Stray Cat Rock star still has plenty of fierce in him, making him a perfectly suited to anchor the film. However, it is amazing how much pop the film gets from Kitano’s brief appearances as Murakami. Happily, the power of his deceptively placid presence remains undiminished. It just would be nicer to have more of it in Henchmen.

There is a tendency in the film towards goofiness, but the game supporting cast (starting with Masaomi Kondo as the loyal but slightly psychotic Masa) strives more for a nostalgic Tough Guys tone than a shticky Grumpy Old Men kind of thing. It mostly works. Overall, Henchmen is an enjoyable exercise in senior empowerment and old school payback, while also suggesting it is high time someone mounted a comprehensive Kitano career retrospective. It is a lot of fun, but not as much fun as another resurrection of Kitano’s Otomo for an Outrage 3 would be. Recommended for yakuza fans, Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen screens tonight (7/27), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: The Ninja War of Torakage

Ever found yourself wondering if you might enjoy a film more if a Portuguese ninja scholar was available to explain the cultural significance of the action on-screen? Well, a kitchen sink filmmaker like Yoshihiro Nishimura understands exactly where you’re coming from. By his lunatic standards, this foray into ninja skullduggery is pretty grounded, whereas for the rest of us mere mortals, it is total madness. Ninja clans will clash while Francisco the talking head elucidates the finer points in Nishimura’s The Ninja War of Torakage (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Torakage and his wife Tsukikage were ninjas serving their ruthless mistress, Gensai, but they fell in love and quit to raise a family. Of course, you do not resign from Gensai’s service so easily—not that they considered the torture they endured so very easy. She had temporarily allowed them a false sense of security, but that is over now that she needs them again. Kidnapping their young son Kogetsu, she demands they steal a certain Silver Scroll from the despised Rikuri clan. Once they deliver it to her, she will marry it up with the Golden Scroll that just came into her possession, to determine the location of an ancient treasure.

Inconveniently, Torakage and Tsukikage find themselves out of the frying pan and into the fire when they are captured by the human-sacrificing Rikuri clan. Somehow, the competing clan fell under the sway of a charismatic cult leader, who offers Torakage a similar deal. If he steals the Golden Scroll from Gensai, he can exchange it for Tsukikage.

That all might not sound so far removed from the Jidaigeki mainstream, but Nishimura tosses in a bamboo Iron Man-like battle suit, dizzying “human shuriken” action, drug addiction, a mercenary angel with a death’s head, Francisco’s color commentary, a bunch of conversations about going poo, and Eihi Shiina from Takashi Miike’s Audition doing her thing. However, even amid all the lunacy, Torakage’s chief rival still scrupulously observes his code of honor.

Together with Tokyo Tribe and Nowhere Girl, Nana Seino scores a heck of a one-two-three punch in a trio of films beyond category. Each one is an overpowering ecosystem unto itself, but she never wilts in any of the three. Once again, she also shows some convincing action chops. As Torakage and his nemesis, Takumi Saitô and Kanji Tsuda also flash plenty of moves and manage to maintain a stiff-as-a-board sense of dignity while navigating the all-encompassing bedlam. Of course, Eihi Shiina is creepy well past the point of comfort as the sadistic Gensai.

Overly sensitive viewers should be warned—Ninja War is a fantastically bloody, unabashedly subversive, and mildly scatological film. In short, it has everything growing kids need for their healthy development. Recommended for those who enjoy boldly over-the-top cult cinema, The Ninja War of Torakage screens tonight (7/24), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: On the White Planet

Welcome to racial allegory world. It is a tough place to live in, if you happen to be the only kid with any color or pigment. However, it is no picnic dealing with his murderous rage either. Homogeneity predictably breeds xenophobia and cruelty in Hur Bum-wook’s animated feature, On the White Planet, which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Maybe it was a perversely rare recessive gene or perhaps a form of mutation, but somehow the outcast orphan developed skin color. This was not well received by the wider, colorless world. It destroyed his parents and reduced him to a state of feral rage. Living off garbage, the pre-teen preys on the colorless adults who refused to accept him. Having neither personal ties nor any great moral compunctions, the outcast is a perfect candidate to become a ruthless gang leader’s latest patsy. Like a dystopian Fagin, the malevolent mastermind entices street urchins with dreams of empowerment, only to exploit them for his own benefit.

There are all kinds of tell-tale signs the shunned protagonist is getting involved with a crew far worse than the cops he despises. Nevertheless, the promise of organized support and structure for his killing spree is too tempting to pass up. Unfortunately, his supposed protectors soon show their contemptible true colors, so to speak. Even his young fellow ragamuffin-ruffians are only stringing him along, hoping to score the bounty on his head.

If any of this sounds subtle, than you are profoundly misunderstanding what White Planet is all about. Yet, the black-and-white dichotomy is somewhat misleading in a film produced on the Korean Peninsula, home of two of the most racially and ethnically homogeneous nations on earth (according to Prof. Wiki).

Life on the White Planet is nasty, brutish, and downright predatory. Frankly, the only character who is not constantly looking to sell-out everyone else is the young kid, but he is generating a massive body count. Let’s be honest. Hur simply hits the audience over the head with ideological point-scoring. Nevertheless, he has crafted quite an unsettling fable. His animation is deceptively simple, finding stark power in the scarred white-and-gray wasteland of the near future (or the alternate now). He also renders some unconventional but effective action sequences.

Not surprisingly, White Planet is a little thin when it comes to characterization. Such is usually the case with both allegory and propaganda. Hur’s film could be described as either, but its distinctive look still merits attention from animation connoisseurs. Recommended for style rather than substance, On the White Planet screens this afternoon (7/24) as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Nowhere Girl

This is no David & Lisa story of high school understanding and healing. Ai is definitely a disturbed student, but her art teacher seems to be part of her problem, rather than a solution. Granted, the school nurse is sympathetic, but there is definitely some weird hidden dynamic at work in Mamoru Oshii’s Nowhere Girl (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, following its recent NYAFF North American premiere.

Ai was once the prized pupil of a boarding school for the arts, whose distinguished presence helped drive enrollment. However, something happened causing Ai to severely draw inward. Now she sleepwalks through the school like an entitled zombie, facing no consequences for her irresponsibility. Her classmates resent her privileged status, but they find she is tougher to bully than she looks. On the other hand, the art teacher’s efforts to snap her out of it, or just punish her, ought to be grounds for his dismissal. Regardless, there are dramatic reasons for her compulsive behavior that will be revealed during the third act.

Not to be spoilery, but when Ai wrestles with the Macguffin, or whatever, it is pretty spectacular. Frankly, the big twist is not entirely unprecedented, but Oshii still pulls it off rather adroitly. In fact, Nowhere is the sort of film worth revisiting to catch all the sign posts we might have missed the first time around.

Again, it is almost spoilery to note how forceful and physical Nana Seino is during Ai’s action sequences, but her chops deserve props. It often seems like a very “closed-off” sort of performance, but she conveys a clear sense that something tumultuous is going on beneath the surface. Lily (as she is simply billed) is also terrific as the nurse.

You might think you have seen a lot of twisted Japanese school girl films, but Nowhere is something else entirely (yet still a little warped). Anime legend Oshii (director of the original Ghost in the Shell) basically directs in two speeds, eerily dreamlike or blazingly fast, but they are equally effective. The use of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Minor is also quite haunting, while art director Michitoshi Kurokawa’s sets provide the real X-factor edge. Cool and chilling, Nowhere Girl is recommended for fans of mind-benders and school girl genre films when it screens tonight (7/21), at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Arti: the Adventure Begins

These puppets can kick the snot out of the Muppets and those annoying Spitting Image tools.  They have mad martial arts skills and they are not even as dramatically wooden as a lot of flesh and blood actors. Creations of the Huangs, Taiwan’s leading puppetry family, they are the undeniable stars of Huang Wen Chang’s fantastical wuxia steampunk epic, Arti: the Adventure Begins (trailer here), which had its North American premiere at the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Sometime during the height of the Silk Road’s geopolitical importance, the wise Zhang Meng invented a wooden mechanical robot known as ARTI-C. Unfortunately, his promethean creation was used to stoke fear and paranoia. In a resulting riot, Zhang was killed, but his son Zhang Mo and his daughter Zhang Tong survived to preserve his legacy: ARTI-C.

However, ARTI-C is powered by a dwindling reserve of a mystic energy called the Origin. It is sort of like the “Force,” but more colorful and tangible. To keep ARTI-C in proper fighting condition, they must find a way to recharge his Origin cell. That quest will take them to the Nouveau Riche city of Loulan, which is currently locked in a cold war with the Lop Tribe and the Dune-like sandworms that apparently do their bidding. Unfortunately, when Zhang Tong is spirited away by the Elvish Lop people, she quickly surmises the shadowy Loulan regent has badly misrepresented the nature of the conflict to her gullible brother.

The mind-blowing truth is some of the best cinematic martial arts produced this year is performed by puppets. Some of their moves are just awesome. Yet, it is important to remember the greater artistry they represent. There is nothing campy about the figures Huang and his team bring to life on screen. Dispel any thoughts of Gerry Anderson’s marionettes. Aside from the occasional comic relief provided by Cheeky Ducky, the film’s only wholly animated character, Huang’s characters are entirely serious and their wuxia business is pretty darned spectacular and suitably tragic.

Granted, the story is just sort of okay, but the sets and backdrops are richly detailed and utterly lifelike. If ever a film with puppets deserved to win awards for best costuming, it would be Arti, hands down. This is incredible world building—literally built to scale.

It is gratifying to know Chinese puppetry traditions not only continue and move forward in Taiwan, thanks to artists like the Huangs. Reportedly, Arti is the most expensive pure puppetry film ever produced—and it is easy to believe it based on what is up there on the screen. Very highly recommended for fans of wuxia and puppet theater, Arti: the Adventure Begins is such an accomplished work of craftsmanship it must be destined for a long festival life and a devoted cult following, after its recent Fantasia premiere. Look for it, hope for it.

Fantasia ’15: The Case of Hana & Alice

Ever wondered how Cher and Dionne first met, before the events of Clueless (marking its 20 year anniversary this year)? If Amy Heckerling made an animated prequel, she could still use the voices of Stacey Dash and Alicia Silverstone. She would be following the example of Shunji Iwai, who revisited the characters of his more impressionistic indie Hana and Alice (going on eleven years) in anime form. Junior high is a strange place, but when the two girls join forces they just might make some sense of it all in Iwai’s The Case of Hana & Alice (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Thanks to divorce and family drama, Tetsuko “Alice” Arisugawa has a new home, a new name, and a new school. She now attends Ishinomori Middle School, but the strange hikikomorish girl across the street does not, even though they are roughly the same age. Of course, that would be Hana Arai.

Initially, Arisugawa faces some attempted bullying, but she puts a stop to that pretty quick. Bizarrely, some of it comes from where she sits in class. According to the school legend, a senior named Judas sat there the previous year, but he was murdered by his four “wives.” It makes little sense to her. Nevertheless, her classmates shun her desk like the Amityville Horror house. Eventually, Arisugawa learns she is also living in the previous home of Yuda (a.k.a. Judas). Creeped out by her proximity to so much presumed tragedy, she confronts Arai for information.

For a coming of age drama, Case has considerably more genre elements than you would ever expect, but that is a good thing for Fantasia audiences. The explanation behind the Judas legend is quite clever and darned satisfying. Along the way, Iwai creates some wonderfully compassionate moments, especially Arisugawa’s scenes with the elderly man she mistakes for Yuda’s father. There is indeed a good deal of heart in the film.

The downside is the CGI and roto-scoped animated is just okay, but it never distracts from the elegantly mysterious narrative. Fans of the original Hana and Alice will be delighted to hear Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki giving voice to their beloved characters. Aoi is particularly expressive and energizing as Arisugawa, while the introverted Arai mostly requires husky mumbling from Suzuki.

Case is thoroughly enjoyable, even for viewers who have not seen the first live action film. In terms of pacing and tone, they are apples and oranges, but both remind you of what it was like to be a kid in school. Great fun throughout, with a sly sense of irony, The Case of Hana and Alice is highly recommended for animation fans and anyone who enjoys a good student drama when it screens today (7/19) as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Possessed

When Franco was around there wasn’t any demonic possession in Spain. The Generalissimo simply wouldn’t stand for it. Things are different now. Everyone soul is vulnerable to infernal forces during these godless times, even the son of the country’s favorite matador and flamenco dancer. His name is Damien, by the way. You can watch his head spin around and projectile-vomit in Claymation courtesy of Sam [Samuel Ortí Martí]’s Possessed (trailer here), which screens tonight during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Trini was once the greatest dancer Spain had ever seen, but she retired from public performance after her husband’s untimely death. While grief-stricken, she also believed her son Damien needed more attention. He is a bit of a strange kid, who is prone to disruptive behavior at school. She has had him examined by child psychologists, but they are never around long enough to do much good. Her mother-in-law is convinced the boy is possessed, but her obtuse manager remains skeptical.

Eventually, Trini accepts the wild supernatural bedlam going on around them and seeks the Church’s assistance. Unfortunately, the corrupt Bishop will not be much help in a fight of good against evil. She needs the righteous, but disillusioned Father Lenin, the black sheep son of 1930s Communists.

If ever there was a Claymation movie unsuitable for kids it would be Possessed. In addition to the demonic horror, there is what you might call graphic cartoon violence. Plenty of mature subject matter is also referenced, but that is small potatoes compared to the faces that get lopped off. Call it a double standard, but if Possessed were a live action film it would be rather disturbing, yet it is all pretty funny in animated film. Think of it as Wallace & Gromit torturing Mr. Bill in Hell.

Yes, “Sam” and co-screenwriter Rubén Ontiveros’s anti-Catholic attitudes get tiresome, but they are stuck with the fundamental High Church world view inherent in the demonic horror genre. They also dig their flamenco, which counts for something. Ultimately, you just can’t nitpick such gory and scatological humor.

Trust me, you have never seen clay like this. While the craftsmanship is not quite at the level of the Aardman Studios, it is certainly impressive in its own way. Recommended for fans of The Exorcist films and Team America: World Police, Possessed screens today (7/19) and Friday (7/24) as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein

It is past time the Library of Congress added Plan 9 from Outer Space to the National Film Registry—not due to artistic merit, but because it is culturally significant. Arguably, no film is more responsible for the Midnight Movie phenomenon. Indirectly, the Rifftrax/MST3K guys probably owe their careers to Ed Wood. While they probably remain the gold standard of sarcastic talking back to the screen, Tim Kirk raises the stakes for ironic genre commentary by creating a wild meta-fictional backstory for a very real film. Director Gavin Merrill and his estranged screenwriter will reveal the whole sordid truth behind the production of their ill-fated Marry Shelly adaptation in Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein (trailer here), which screens tonight during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Merrill’s Swedish-Irish co-production Terror of Frankenstein is an actual film—and its not terrible. For years, it had a bit of cache as the Frankenstein film most faithful to the original Shelly, but according to Merrill’s newly recorded DVD commentary track we will be listening to, it has recently become quite infamous due to a related criminal case. After years of legal wrangling, a prominent cast-member has finally been executed, so Merrill is scrambling to cash-in.

If that sounds somewhat crass, screenwriter David Falks agrees. In case you are looking at its imdb page, Merrill and Falks supposedly used their “Calvin & Yvonne Floyd” pseudonym, dating back to their experimental theater days. In any event, Falks is only participating in order to correct certain misconceptions propagated by the tabloid media.

The way Kirk constructs a strangely disturbing narrative out of their bickering and bitter reminiscences is quite a feat of storytelling. He doles out revelations slowly, sometimes almost casually, but we quickly get a sense that there was a higher body count behind-the-scenes than on the screen.

Frankly, it is almost shocking that Commentary has not generated any angry protests, because in several instances it creates less than flattering alternate histories for prominent cast-members, most notably including Nicholas Clay (Patrick Redfern in Evil Under the Sun) and Per Oscarsson (seen in the Swedish Lisbeth Salander trilogy). However, Leon Vitali (best known as a Kubrick crony and co-star of Barry Lyndon) is quite the good sport playing himself.

Sometimes Commentary is blackly comical, but it is aiming more for uncomfortable insights into human nature than big belly laughs. In some ways, it is an experience not unlike listening to Orson Welles lose his cool while recording that notorious frozen peas radio commercial. Having produced Rodney Ascher’s Room 237 and The Nightmare, Kirk has keen handle on directing faceless voices for the big screen. (In a bit of a role reversal, Ascher takes on the producing and editing duties this time around.) They also get some first class voice acting from Clu Gulager (no stranger to genre fans) and Zack Norman (Danny Devito’s cousin in Romancing the Stone), as Merrill and Falks, respectively.

Believe it or not, Commentary makes you want to watch Terror of Frankenstein again, straight, sans voice-overs. Yet, it will never be the same innocent film once you have seen Kirk’s hyper-meta fabulization. (FYI, its on Fandor.) Wonderfully subversive yet chocked full of cultist genre love, Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein is very highly recommended when it screens tonight (7/19) as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Crimson Whale

This post-apocalyptic fable suggests what might happen if Moby-Dick and Captain Ahab were to crash Kevin Costner’s Waterworld. The world is mess, but a mysterious pirate captain still wants a piece of the legendarily ferocious lava whale. Since it happens to guard a vast horde of priceless minerals, she has no trouble recruiting a crew. However, the whale-calling street orphan Ha-jin never signed on for this mission. Nevertheless, she finds herself part of the team in Park Hye-mi’s Crimson Whale, which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Ha-jin has a gift for establishing mental links with whales (it also seems to work with porpoises). Unfortunately, her mother exploited her talents, forcing her to lure in whales to be butchered for food and fuel. It was not merely distasteful for Ha-jin, she shared their emotional pain. When Ha-jin refused to facilitate any further slaughter, she was subsequently abandoned. Forced to fend for herself on Busan’s earthquake-devastated streets, Ha-jin survives as a thief and smalltime dealer. Just when the law (such as it is) catches up with her, the mysterious Captain saves her from a nasty fate. In this case “saving” means she shanghaies Ha-jin into service for her assault on the great Crimson Whale.

Although Crimson is set during a tectonic Armageddon, Park’s screenplay is admirably restrained in its environmental soap-boxing. For all we know, the beginning of the end started naturally. However, it presents viewers two strong female action figures. Ha-jin is sensitive, but also resourceful and resilient. All things considered, she is much less prone to self-pity than many anime protagonists facing far less dire circumstances. There is also something appealingly Harlockian about the grudge-holding Captain.

Frankly, Crimson’s animation is pretty conventional, but Park still creates an intriguing world, mixing and matching genre elements and archetypes in rewarding ways. Within this milieu, it is hard to say with certainty where Doomsday ends and the post-apocalyptic times begin. Everyone seems to be carrying on like they used to, at least as much as possible, even though they are surrounded by anarchy.

Briskly paced, Crimson Whale has series potential (at least for a handful of character). It really is one of the better dystopian-killer whale-piracy-coming-of-age films in recent years. Recommended for older animation fans (teens and above), Crimson Whale screens today (7/18), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Indah Citra (short)

Evidently, it takes five directors to make an uplifting animated short about child labor. To be fair, it is quite a tall order and in this case, the final product is absolutely beautiful. In fact, it is rather satisfying to watch one young Indonesian girl challenge authority during both her escapist fantasies and her mundane factory life in Sarah Feruglio, Anthony Oliveira, Pierre-Antoine Naline & Maxime Orhnial’s short film Indah Cintra (excerpt here), which screens as part of Programme International 1 short film block at the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Unlike her fellow sneaker assemblers, our plucky young heroine is not intimidated by the thuggish foreman. She is also a bit of a dreamer, with a talent for puppetry and story-telling. As soon as she falls out of his field of vision, she slips into a daydream set during Early Kingdom era. Naturally, she will lead the revolt against a royal despot. When the foreman rouses her rebellious reverie, he gets more than he bargained for.

Although only six minutes long, Indah Cintra could (and perhaps should) easily be expanded into an epic feature. Visually, it is absolutely arresting, employing 3D animation in the present day and cut-out style animation intentionally evoking Lotte Reiniger’s Prince Achmed for the historical fantasy. The combination of styles, mystical themes, and resourceful young protagonist (a sort of Indonesian Norma Rae and Joan of Arc combo) make it a perfect short to pair up with Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues.

Arguably, one of the best things you can say for a short it could be longer without losing any of its zip. Such is the case with the elegant and inspirational (two words that do not often go together) Indah Citra. Highly recommended, it screens today (7/18) as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’15: Ludo

You have to give credit to these four hard-partying Kolkata club kids. When they stumble into a Hostel-like hotel, they have the good sense to get the heck out of there. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a case of out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire in Q & Nikon’s Ludo (trailer here), which screens tonight during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Ria and her BFF Payal are girls who just want to have fun. They have hooked up with two slicksters who just want to have sex. Ria and Payal are not opposed, at least not after some drinking and dancing, but finding a motel that is no-tell enough in socially conservative Kolkata is a tricky proposition. After scrambling out of the aforementioned suspicious love hotel like Shaggy and Scooby, they resolve to just sneak into the mall after closing. The air conditioning is the key selling point.

It is all good, clean fun for a while, until the four carousers realize they are not alone in the mall. They are sharing the space with two Grunge-ish evil entities who have one thing on their minds: blood. Just who are these malevolent beings? Q and Nikon are glad you asked, because most of the third act is dedicated to their backstory—and it’s a killer. It involves an ancient, sentient dice game that is profoundly evil, but fatally seductive.

Q and Nikon are two filmmakers, but grateful poster designers will never have a problem laying out their names on a one-sheet. Ludo’s jaded perspective on modern Indian life will come as no surprise to those familiar with Q’s banned opus Gandu. Nevertheless, even by horror film standards, it is an unusually dark film, in every sense of the word. It depicts the world as a predatory place, dating back centuries. While Q & Nikon are short on proactive recommendations, they seem to take perverse glee in giving the finger to polite Bengali and Bollywood cinema. There are no sentimental love songs here, but driving club music is certainly a prominent element of their cocktail.

The small ensemble, led by Subholina Sen, is sufficient to the task, performing at a level equal to what you might see in a typical Blumhouse film. Although it was probably shot on a shoestring, Devika Dave’s design team created some suitably creepy props. Q & Nikon also fully capitalize on their nocturnal urban settings.

Knowing the subversive cultural context of Ludo definitely adds to its enjoyment, but it is the energy and attitude that really hook viewers. It is a relatively straight forward narrative, yet Q & Nikon manage to upend several genre clichés. Enjoyably strange and gory, Ludo is exactly the adrenaline shot to the heart South Asian horror cinema needs. Recommended for fans who want to see something different, Ludo screens tonight (7/17) and tomorrow (7/18), as part of this year’s Fantasia.