The Beef From Fantastic Fest: ESTOMAGO, LEFT BANK, THE CHASER, VINYAN, SEVENTH MOON, And JACK BROOKS MONSTER SLAYER!!

Merrick here...
Here's another Fantastic Fest report from The Beef! You can find The Beef's reports from Day 1 of the fest HERE, and Day 2 HERE.

ESTOMAGO: A GASTRONOMIC STORY Not since Ang Lee's EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN has food on screen worked its way onto the senses of the audience, and not since 9 1/2 WEEKS has food played such an erotic role in a film. ESTOMAGO tells two stories about young chef Nonato. One section of the film chronicles his life as he wanders into a Brazilian city with no money, no place to stay, and no sense. Another part of the film shows his entry into prison and his trying to gain respect in the prison ranks by impressing the higher ups with his culinary skills by turning barely edible prison food into gourmet dishes. It's fairly evident that the prison story is the present day, and his life in the city is flashback, which invokes two serious questions. What did he do to land in prison, and how the hell did he learn to cook so damn well? ESTOMAGO is thus far the best film of the festival. I'm not sure who the filmmaker is, but I'm making it a mission to seek out his other films. If there's one thing I know as fact it's that it's very difficult for a filmmaker to engage an audience's senses other than sight and sound. It's very difficult to get them to smell the perfumes, to taste the flavors, or to feel the textures even if you're showing them something completely familiar. It's something that normally requires an extra effort from the viewer. However, every so often a film comes along that's able to get an audience to connect with it on a multi-sensual level. It isn't just pretty to look at, and wonderful to listen to. It's salivatory. ESTOMAGO is one of those films. Not to mention that on the story level watching the two separate stories of Nonato's life unfold simultaneously, and in parallel fashion as if they were meant to be told side by side instead of chronologically, is one of the strongest narrative decisions of the films I've seen all year. LEFT BANK LEFT BANK is a film that draws out striking similarities in pacing and atmosphere to some of the classic Polanski horror films and others of its type, like the original THE WICKER MAN, only to fall just short of very good with an anticlimactic ending. The story is about a young competitive long distance runner who meets an archer during one of her practice runs, and starts to form a strong relationship with him. Eventually, he convinces her to move in with him to his apartment located in a part of town called "left bank." During this time she begins to have some internal body problems, and methodically throughout the film starts to experience odd dreams and further body complications that may or may not be linked to her new residence. Very similar to those late 60s and 70s European horror films this film doesn't reveal any of its horror elements until well into the middle of the second act. Up until then it makes an effort to establish the mood of the picture, and then gradually build up to some suspense that isn't so much tense as it is eerie. There are very few true scares in LEFT BANK, but it never attempts any either. What it mainly wants to do is get you to the feel the gloom of the location of left bank, and little by little clue you in to where it's going with the story of Marie (the runner) and the history behind the building that she's just moved into. In this aspect the film passes with flying colors, which is why it's such a shame that it fails to close the deal with the kind of punch that it seemed to be building towards. THE CHASER If ESTOMAGO is not the best film of the festival thus far, it's because THE CHASER is. It's one of the most intelligent, brutal, and just plain straightforward type of serial killer films to come along since the discovery and overusage of the twist ending. There are no real secrets to unlock in THE CHASER. No faceless killer to uncover. No game to play. There's nothing but a killer that we see immediately, a victim we love immediately, and a hero for us to root for to bring the killer to justice. A killer in the shape of a shy man, a hero in the shape of a fired task force police officer turned pimp, and a victim in the shape of a sweet and innocent call girl with young daughter. What makes THE CHASER so wonderful, and so goddamn refreshing is that we're not trying to solve a puzzle. There's no mystery to solve by locating the killer. The killer gets located immediately in the first act. What THE CHASER does is it allows the audience to witness and cheer on the heroes as they struggle to find out what we already know. We know that the victim is still alive inside the killer's house, and we know exactly where that house is. What we are privy to is to watch the good guys find their way through all of the clues to try and locate that house before they have to release the killer the next morning since they have no evidence to charge him with. In many ways THE CHASER is the best film of its kind to come along since THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. They share a great deal of similarities, especially with the kind of serial killer stories that they are. Both films focus on getting the audience to connect with the hero, and to try and define the killer instead of trying to expose him. Where this film one-ups SILENCE is with the story of the victim. Unlike SILENCE, we really do care whether or not this poor girl makes it out of the house alive. She has an adorable daughter that we get to know more about as the film progresses and the investigation leads them to her house, not to mention that she's a genuinely nice girl that that truly doesn't deserve to be in the predicament that she finds herself in. Because this film is more a race against time to find a victim and less about tracking down the murderer I can see myself watching this film repeatedly, as I do with SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and never losing an ounce of entertainment value with each viewing. Fans of serial killer films owe it to themselves to seek out this Korean flick. VINYAN Poor Rufus Sewell. For some reason the guy can never, ever find himself in a film that he should be in. He's made a career out of playing the mean Brit in movies that don't deserve his mean Brit. In this film he gets to be the nice Brit, yet he still somehow ends up in a film that doesn't deserve good guy Rufus. VINYAN is about a British couple that decide to take an expedition into Bhurma when they see a video of a group of Bhurmese children at a party, and the woman notices in one of the shots that there's a young boy walking away from the camera in the distance that she believes to be the son that they thought drowned 6 months earlier. On their expedition they encounter a handful of financial concerns as the husband feels that they are being taken for money due to their ignorance of the country by their guides, as well as psychological trials as they get deeper into the heart of the Bhurmese jungles and come into contact with the locals and the effects of their culture. There isn't much to say about this film other than it isn't very enjoyable, and while some if not many may find the the last third of the film to be interestingly disturbing I had lost all willpower to follow along on their journey to find their son about 20 minutes into the picture. I will agree that the ending does pack a significant amount of power, I just wish it had been spread out across more of the earlier sections of the film. SEVENTH MOON THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT in China. That's what I felt while watching this film, and not just because it was directed by Eduardo Sanchez. Minus the documentary angle, almost every other aspect about this film seemed to draw direct inspiration from BLAIR WITCH. The way it's shot, its location of being out in the middle of nowhere, a stronger female presence than male, and even a house that seems obvious the protagonists should not go into. SEVENTH MOON is about a recently wed couple (Amy Smart and Tim Chiou) taking their honeymoon in China during the Hungry Ghost Festival. They find themselves stranded out in nowheresland when their driver gets lost along the way to their destination, get out of the car at a nearby village to get directions and never returns. The two newlyweds get out of the car to find him and notice that all of the villagers have locked themselves in their homes, and have tied up a bunch of animals outside their homes. When the two return back to their car they find that it's been drenched in blood, and they try and make their way back to town the way that they came. On their way back they come into contact with the reason that the villagers are locked in their homes, and the couple run for their lives away from the demon ghosts that haunt the area. What's disappointing about SEVENTH MOON is that a good film, or better film probably existed during the shooting but was not captured with the right camera. Very long stretches of this film are nearly unwatchable. Not because they're terrible, but because you can't see a damn thing. It's filmed using very little light to give the impression that there's little light in the middle of nowhere during the dark hours of the night, and it's filmed with a handheld. Does this sound a lot like a certain fake documentary that was released some 10 years ago? Picture the scene from THE BLAIR WITCH where the three filmmakers are running away from the tent. Now, extend that over 90 minutes, give it a third person perspective, and kill all of the lights. That's SEVENTH MOON. If you like your horror film served to you in the dark with no flashlight then you'll love SEVENTH MOON. The concept is intriguing for a horror film, and the creatures are fairly terrifying even though the majority of the movie they're filmed like a sasquatch photo. Like THE BLAIR WITCH I can see this being a good film to scare the hell out of you if you're going to take a trip somewhere uncivilized. Otherwise, it's a so-so film that could have been pretty good horror. JACK BROOKS MONSTER SLAYER This is what you get when you make a Sam Raimi type of horror film, and don't give it to Sam Raimi to do. It's a party type of horror film that takes too long to get to the juicy stuff that everyone came to see, and when the juice arrives it seems squeezed from fruit that wasn't really ripe. Jack Brooks has anger issues. His family was killed by a grotesque creature when he was little, and his cowardice in the situation has caused him to get apeshit whenever his temper flares. Jack is also seeing a shrink about the problem, and also taking night classes taught by Freddie Kreuger. Jack is a plumber as well. Jack goes to Freddie Kreuger's house to fix a pipe problem. Jack causes a major breakage. A demonic mist makes its way into the house. Freddie Kreuger becomes possessed. Freddie Kreuger eats a lot. Freddie Kreguer vomits a lot. Freddie Kreuger becomes a massive demon during class and starts to turn his students into bloodthirsty demons too. That last line is about 50 minutes into the picture. Up until then we're treated to some comedy that isn't ever fully amusing, and when we do get to that 50 minute mark we're treated to some death scenes that we've seen done before many a time already. It never really has a moment that someone can look upon that will really grab them and force their eyes onto the screen. Jack Brooks isn't cool enough to be Ash and carry a film on his own for a long duration, and the demon scenes aren't grotesque enough to come off as excessive to the point that they have no choice but to entertain (early Peter Jackson). JACK BROOKS MONSTER SLAYER is the kind of film people who haven't seen great B-movies will look at think that it represents how good B-movies are. It has all of the same ingredients, it just isn't cooked nearly as well as other great low budget horror comedies. Thanks, The Beef