Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with my promised glut of catch-up reviews from Fantastic Fest. Here are a pair that go together… they are the first and second features from an exciting new director/star pairing out of Chile. Both are directed by Ernesto Diaz Espinoza and star Marko Zaror. Zaror’s biggest claim to fame was to double The Rock in RUNDOWN, but if these two films are any indication of what we’re to expect from him in the future, then I think we’re in for some really awesome action spectaculars in the coming years. KILTRO Their first feature is really a throw-back, a film that would be comfortable in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s pre-direct to DVD Seagal era. It liberally copies the traditional martial arts hero’s journey (a brawler has talent, but doesn’t have the conviction to be a true martial arts champion and is reluctantly put on the path to be the hero we all want him to be), but it injects a huge booster shot full of Leone and a tiny bit of TIME BANDITS-era Terry Gilliam. There’s also a bit of absurdist comedy, like from some of Schwarzenegger’s goofier action flicks, but I don’t want to give the impression that this is a retarded flick because the overall tone is pretty serious. What it does capture from that era of action films is a sense of fun that is missing from many modern action flicks. What you get in this film: -A midget martial arts master -A semi-creepy stalker for our hero -A badass villain with a perfectly maintained beard and a cane tipped with a clawed hand that is razor sharp and used to eviscerate many a poor Chilean bastard. -A sweet-ass training montage with a giant red setting sun backdrop. -Some insane full contact fighting -Tons of blood -One of the best awkward failed kiss attempts ever put to film -A great climactic fight Zaror carries this film. Ernesto Diaz Espinoza is a talented young director, but the movie is fully carried on Zaror’s shoulders. He has the charm of Dwayne Johnson, but feels somewhat more real, not as molded and created for big entertainment. He pretty much plays a doofus in this movie whose obsession with the lead girl could have easily been creepy, but Zaror plays it so full of puppy-love and innocence that it just makes you root for the guy. If this plays a festival near you don’t hesitate to give it your time. It’s a whole lot of fun and not the kind of fun you have to feel ashamed about when the credits roll. Mirageman This one was in the 9 films I judged for the AMD competition and was an early favorite. I ended up ranking it as #2 in my top 3 and it ultimately hit the #3 spot behind TIMECRIMES (#1) and SPIRAL (#2). MIRAGEMAN is Ernesto Diaz Espinoza and Marko Zaror’s second feature, but if you weren’t told that you might assume it is their first feature. KILTRO had a budget, shot on film and was more of a polished, traditional action film and this one is shot quick and cheap with one central gag. Zaror again plays an incredibly likable lead, a physically intimidating man, but a strong man that’s really a bunny rabbit. Unless you piss him off. This is kind of a what if a man decided to become a masked hero, playing to the reality of being a low level crime fighter. In this film, Marko comes up with the identity of MIRAGEMAN after stumbling across a robbery/hostage situation/attempted rape on his nightly jog. He takes out a man in a blue mask and takes the mask as his own upon entering the house and using his martial arts knowledge to save a pretty young girl. This girl turns out to be a reporter and publicly thanks this mysterious masked hero, who appeared out of nowhere, like a Mirage. So, he has the attention of a pretty girl, but even more important in his decision to become a crime fighter is the affect the news report has on his younger brother. We come to find out he was a victim of some violent act and has withdrawn to such a degree that he has to be institutionalized. He won’t ever come out of his room and shows no sign of noticing anything going on in the real world, but once he sees the news he begins to hero-worship Mirageman. There’s a lot of comedy in the film, all taking off of the reality of a masked hero. He doesn’t have a car, so he takes public transport in regular clothes and when he finds some wrongs to right, he has to spend about 45 seconds pulling his clothes off and putting the rest of his costume on. There’s also the goofy costumes he puts together and the laughs it gets from the early criminals he takes out. But there comes a moment when reality hits. He goes from purse snatchers to a real group of hard criminals and suddenly this light comedy becomes a deadly serious movie where our hero can get hurt and easily killed. He is, after all, just a man. One really interesting bit of trivia here is that Espinoza and Zaror used their same crew from KILTRO, which was kind of a learning period full of rehearsal and training. There was never an action film made in South America before KILTRO, so there was no stunt team. One had to be assembled. Because they shot MIRAGEMAN low budget and on the fly, they didn’t rehearse the fight scenes, so most of the time when you see a punch land or a kick to the skull drop an approaching villain… it’s real. If you see someone drop like a sack of potatoes that poor fucker was really knocked out. MIRAGEMAN was the audience favorite at Fantastic Fest and I completely understand why. It’s an incredibly likable movie that really showcases the best this team has to offer. I can’t wait to see what else they have for us in the future. This one has a theatrical release next year, so make sure to check it if it plays a theater near you. Alright, that’s the first of about 4 or 5 reports wrapping up my Fantastic Fest hit list. Be back with more soon. -Quint quint@aintitcool.com
