Lee Won-suk’s KILLING ROMANCE from Fantasia Fest was also the Opening Film of New York Asian Film Festival. An actress and her biggest fan are trying to kill her abusive husband in the often funny and manic musical comedy. It was amusing to see Parasite’s Lee Sun-kyun in silly evil mode.
Richelieu
Pier-Philippe Chevigny’s RICHELIEU from Fantasia Festival lays out the real life horrors migrant workers face every day, in this case at a food processing plant in Quebec. Influenced by The Dardennes, it is a tough yet necessary watch and has strong performances from Ariane Castellanos and the supporting cast.
Birth/Rebirth
Judy Reyes is back in scrubs, this time as a Bronx nurse trying to bring her daughter back to life with the help of the mad doctor Marin Ireland in Fantasia Festival horror BIRTH/REBIRTH. Both actresses deliver and the film would make David Cronenberg proud.
With Love and A Major Organ
Romantic indie sci-fi WITH LOVE AND A MAJOR ORGAN is a highlight of this year’s Fantasia Fest lineup. Here hearts are objects to be ripped out and traded and Anabel is yearning for human connection. If you like Eternal Sunshine and The Lobster, this should be right up your alley.
A Disturbance In The Force
A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE from Fantasia Fest is an entertaining documentary about the infamous disaster that was the Star Wars Holiday Special with insight from people involved and well-known Star Wars fans. It should appeal to both die hard fans and those who are looking for a fun time.
Hundreds of Beavers
If you are a fan of slapstick silent comedies and animation, you’ll have a ball with Mike Cheslik’s Fantasia Fest selection HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS. It is incredibly imaginative, very funny. A seemingly endless source of wonderful silliness.
Silver Haze
Silver Haze reunites director Sacha Polak with the star of her previous film Dirty God, Vicky Knight, who, like her character, is a burn survivor in real life. It’s a messy, but worthwhile film about trauma, anger, human connections, and ultimately forgiveness. It is streaming via OutFest LA.
River
Junta Yamaguchi’s two-minute time loop movie RIVER from Fantasia Fest is endlessly inventive like its predecessor Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes. This one drops the single-take camera wizardry and adds some romance. It is 86 minutes of laughs, movement, and creativity. If you haven’t seen Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes, it is free to watch […]
Aporia
Judy Greer tries to bring back her deceased husband Edi Gathegi with the help of a lo-fi time machine in writer-director Jared Moshe’s Fantasia Festival sci-fi APORIA. The first 25 minutes of the film would have made a satisfying short by itself. Instead Moshe uses it as a setup and goes on to explore the […]
Femme
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay are both fantastic in the neon-lit queer revenge thriller FEMME from Fantasia Festival. Writer-director duo Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping construct a near perfect script building on the themes introduced in their short of the same name. Intense from the first few minutes, it all leads to an […]