The Fantasia International Film Festival is one of the longer ones we cover at Berkreviews running from July 20 to August 9. There are so many movies it would be impossible to cover them all. Here are some thoughts on a few of the films seen at the festival that we will also be discussing on the Bloody Awesome Movie Podcast.
Home Invasion
Home Invasion, from director Graeme Arnfield, initially feels like you’ve stumbled onto a found footage YouTube channel. The entire movie is shown on screen, with a fisheye lens circle in the center of the screen. The style and subject are divided into basically three distinct pieces: the first is mostly doorbell or security footage, the second is via clips from movies, and the third is via still drawings. The subjects are thematically connected with the idea of surveillance, and how it has pushed humans to live in fear of one another.
There is a lot of relevance to the subject, and while it sometimes doesn’t seem to connect those thematic dots, the point comes across. With that said, there are no spoken words and so much text in that tiny space. It very much feels like watching an essay. This decision feels like it belongs in another medium. The choice to frame everything as though it was through the doorbell fisheye camera doesn’t do much for the enjoyment of the viewer. It also doesn’t truly capture the point the filmmaker is making. It’s, ultimately, style for the sake of style – and while different, it’s not necessarily better.
Rating: Not a Total Waste of Time.
With Love and a Major Organ
With Love and a Major Organ is a quirky film by director Kim Albright that blends sci-fi and rom-com elements. Immediately, this film will either click with your sensibilities or push you away much like the two characters in the film. Anna Maguire plays Anabel, who is really hoping to find love – but wants to do it in a more traditional means. She witnesses a man rip out his heart, but also becomes intrigued by him. That’s George, by the way – played by Hamza Haq – and there does seem to be some kind of spark. The synopsis reveals a plot detail that feels like it would be better for the audience to witness without knowing where the film is going, as it takes a turn around the midpoint.
The two lead performances are quite great. The story requires the two to make very big changes to their characters, both as a result of their choices and the unique setting of the film. The scene that truly won me over was Maguire working on her art while reciting a poem into a tape recorder to give to Haq. The delivery of the lines, the setting, and the editing of that moment really clicked for me, and I knew this film was on my wavelength. There is a lot to read into with this film, and it is a fun journey to go on in the process.
Rating: Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy.
T Blockers
T Blockers is an admirable indie B-horror movie from an 18-year-old director, Alice Maio Mackay. Speaking as a high school film teacher, Mackay’s grasp of filmmaking and storytelling – giving credit to co-writer Ben Pahl Robinson as well, – is incredibly impressive. The horror elements of the film are great throwbacks and are effectively gross when it calls for it. Yet, the characters in the film feel lived in and real, so you actually care about what’s going on. There are much bigger-budgeted films that can’t achieve what this film manages to do.
Lauren Last plays Sophie, a young trans filmmaker trying to figure herself out. The normal challenges of life take a back seat as an earthquake unleashes ancient parasites that thrive on hatred. The film and story use horror to explore issues that are very relevant in today’s world. Sophie and her friends really make the film a standout. This is a movie that allows Sophie to have an intimate conversation with her brother on the porch; many filmmakers wouldn’t allow the characters this kind of room to breathe, as they’d be afraid they would lose their audience. However, the scene not only helps us get at the root of what Sophie’s life is like, but somehow manages to not feel like it is slowing the film down at all.
Rating: Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy
Shin Kamen Rider
Shin Kamen Rider is the next entry in a superhero franchise KAMEN RIDER (“masked rider”), which is an enormously popular Japanese tokusatsu series. I was completely unfamiliar with it, but it felt very much like “R-rated” Power Rangers – both in style, and with a “morphin” like process – Kamen Rider (Sosuke Ikematsu) clicks a button and gets powered up. The first action scene in the film establishes how violent it may get, as heads explode on impact.
The film is tasked with delivering a lot of information to the audience, much by characters thinking out loud and narrating the story to themselves. It feels very episodic, as Kamen Rider, along with Ruriko (Minami Hamabe), are going to take on other augmented humans (i.e. Hornet-Aug, Butterfly-Aug) in a way that feels like the next episode rather than a cohesive movie. The characters have to give so much exposition for any of what is happening to make any sense, and it makes the story feel very bogged down with details. These two elements could be a deal breaker if it clashes with your sensibilities.
Despite that, it’s hard to deny the action sequences and style of the film. Each battle has its own aesthetic and often looks quite cool. The action and costume design is easily the highlight of the film. Unfortunately, many of the fights are also doused in more character narration explaining what is happening. For a medium that usually prescribes the “show don’t tell” mantra, the amount of “tell” in this movie gets old.
Rating: Not a Total Waste of Time
BLACKOUT
Blackout is a new film by director Larry Fessenden. A new take on the werewolf tale follows Charley Barrett (Alex Hurt) who sets out to expose Hammon’s (Marshall Bell) corruption while also reconciling with Hammon’s daughter, Sharon (Addison Timlin). There is a hunt for a murderer and a lot of accusations are thrown at Hammond’s Latino workers. The parallels of society’s xenophobia work well with the genre, but the execution of this film isn’t going to work for everyone.
The first major complaint about Blackout is the dialogue. While every film isn’t going for realism, there is something so out of place with the lines of dialogue. It’s most familiar with the performances of The Room and the phrasing characters use just feels so unnatural it shoved me right out of the movie. The film is also a little slow in its plotting. There isn’t a real explanation for the decision to take so long to get going.
Fortunately, Blackout isn’t all bad. The horror scenes, which are few and far between, are well executed. The gore works and the makeup work mostly looks good. Those just looking for a horror film to gross them out may find some enjoyment in this. The potential for a deep examination of our social structure is there, but the execution of the writing just kept me from clicking with that aspect.
Rating: Not a Total Waste of Time
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