Fantasia: Weekend Three

This weekend brought to a close what has been a great month of Fantasia. My most abitious year yet, I attended eight different screening and this coming Friday will be the first this month that I have not spent in Montreal.

The first film I watched this weekend was a Korean martial arts film called The City of Violence. It was a crime drama about a group of high school friends who find themselves becoming divided by the law and the death of their friend. This film had the best trailer I watched in preparation for Fantasia; in fact, the trailer had such an andrenaline saturation, that I couldn't imagine not trying to see it. As a 90 minute film, it naturally had to take a breath once in a while to establish plot points, and I feel like the first fight showed up later than I anticipated, but overall a great time.

What I liked the most about this film was how real the martial arts performances were. The was no significant CGI f/x that I can remember, and the wire work (that creates the kind of super kung fu that you see in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) was used with restraint. The choreography was superb as well, with many scenes shot in a manner that allowed the audince to view contact between fighters. There is also something about the style of Korean martial arts that involves a lot of spin kicks and quick feints, and it films in a manner that is breathtaking and beautiful. Again, check the trailer and you'll see what I mean.

The only real problem with this film was that during the middle of the most climatic battle the screen froze and the theater was evacuated by Concordia University for about an hour with no explanation (not even after we were allowed back in). Milling around outside, in the cool Montreal air, with hundreds of other Fantasia festival attendees really emphasized the enjoyable sense of community that I love about this festival. It also gave me a chance to listen in on Richard Gale, the director of the short I saw later that evening.

That short, Criticized, has apparantly won the title of "scariest movie" at the DC independent film festival, which no matter how you slice it means that in some circles this is considered the scariest film of the year. Almost this entire short about a kidnapped critic takes place in the claustraphobic setting of a shower stall, and there is an eyeball scene! Still, what makes this film scary is the way it makes the everyday man suddenly feel very vulnerable.

The feature that followed was the midnight showing...nay, now one AM showing...of the remade The Wizard of Gore. Let me just start by saying I loved this film. A great melding of film noir and gore driven horror, this film uses rakish angles and bizarre sets to create a surrealistic thriller. While the gore is pretty fantastic, there is also a pleasant sense of restraint, which allows the mysterious plot to drive the film rather than the effects. The acting by Crispin Glover (George McFly of Back to the Future) as the charismatic magician in superb, and he is supported by a great cast, including Brad Dourif (Lord of the Rings, Deadwood). And if you were looking for one more reason to watch this film, most of the victims are the scantily (if at all) clad Suicide Girls. Not only is this film a great ride, but in the midst of a rash of PG-13 horror releases, I felt like I was finally watching a more mainstream horror film for adults: smart, sexy and scary.

The experience watching The Wizard of Gore was a great finish for my time at Fantasia this year. Even though it started late, and I was deliriously exhausted the next day, the energy of a late night premiere showing and the great Q&A with director Jeremy Kasten and producer Dan Griffiths made it all worthwhile. Now it will be another eleven months until Fantasia starts up again, wich will hopefully be enough time to catch the other one hundred or so films I wasn't able to see.

Same to same,

Capt. Patrick Hendry