The Beef @ Fantastic Fest: JCVD, TERRA, FIGHTER, LA CREME!!

Merrick here...
Here's The Beef with another report from this year's Fantastic Fest. Previous FF08 round-ups can be found HERE and HERE.

TERRA The "terrans" (not self-proclaimed) are a peaceful species. They live out their lives on planet "terra" (also not named by them) studying arts and sciences, being doctors, and everything else that a thriving civilization would do when they don't have war. Out of the blue their sun is overshadowed by some large mechanical monstrosity that they believe to be the coming of a new god. Not long after, the planet is attacked by a fleet of aircrafts, and one of the local species' father is abducted and taken back to the mothership. During her attempt to rescue her father she escapes from one of the ships and causes it to crash, unveiling inside an injured human. Sorry, that's less a synopsis and more a series of events that kickoff the film. I didn't really mention anything about any of the individual characters, their relationships, nor (sticking with my whole timeline above) what happens when the terran makes contact with the injured human pilot. The reason being is that, should you see this film, you will know exactly how the rest of the film goes. It involves humans - seemingly American, a military general, and a ton of subtleless anti-war cliches. This is a childrens film that seems created solely to act as commentary with creating an original and entertaining film a complete afterthought. There are a few sequences that standout relatively well compared to the rest of the film, and the robot assistant to the injured pilot has one or two charming moments, but when a film constantly takes a mallet to your head with its beliefs and doing it in the exact same way that other films have then I can't help but get restless and annoyed. If you're going to crack my skull with your belief system sledgehammer you can at least have the decency to not hit the same spots as the people before you, or maybe swing the hammer with style or something. At least. FIGHTER FIGHTER is about a muslim girl, Aicha, defying the wishes of her highly traditional family and learning to do kung fu behind their backs. However, the stress of keeping everything a secret from her family causes everything else in her life to come apart little by little, but increasingly devastating. As time goes on it becomes apparent that at some point she is going to have to choose between personal happiness, or happiness and approval from her family. Like TERRA, FIGHTER's themes are themes you've seen repeated many, many times before, most popularly in recent times with BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM. However, unlike TERRA, FIGHTER has compelling characters that you want to take the journey with, and it has kung fu. You can't beat including kung fu in any film, and kung fu is where this film gains its independence. The kung fu scenes in FIGHTER are more involved with teaching internal truth than they are occupied with teaching a young girl how to kick and punch. Kung fu is a means for Aicha to learn to deal internally with her familial problems so that she can succeed with whatever she chooses to externally, and the fight scenes in the film, which are very well choreographed and realistic, are symbolic of her progression from one stage to the next. This is a great crowd-pleaser and thus far one of the minor highlights of the festival. LA CREME LA CREME is about an unemployed man getting a jar of facial cream that when it's rubbed on will make everyone who sees him feel that he is a popular celebrity. Using it sparingly in the beginning he eventually becomes too much in love with the extra affection and attention he receives not only from strangers, but also his wife. LA CREME takes a very interesting twilight zone-esque type of premise and sets it to a comical tone, but presents it in a low-budget drama type of way. The picture is gritty and washed out akin to how you'd see more serious films, but the intention of the film is to make you laugh, which it does. However, a film like this is not something you watch with 3 days of little sleep. The film doesn't really hit the funnybone, or even look for it, for a good while. For a good deal of the beginning we see a poor man trying to make a living by selling postcards to help raise money for impoverished children, and competing for another job with a man that they are supposed to convince one another of who should not take the job (an interesting approach to filling a position). The film does gain some steam once the cream is introduced, and it gradually builds to an ending that's more satisfying than you would have expected. JCVD If I said that Jean Claude Van Damme deserved some kind of award would you believe me? A non-razzie type of award. An award someone could be proud of. I don't know what award. An academy award is not fitting. Not because his performance doesn't deserve it, but because Jean Claude Van Damme does more in this film than just act. He bares his entire, broken soul of what he's endured since becoming an A-list action celebrity in the 80s to being a wittled down direct-to-video film quality action lead struggling to get a paycheck. He has found a way to expose himself to the world in a documentary-like fashion by setting it to a completely fictitious plot. Jean Claude plays himself. He's a washed up has-been of an action star that can no longer do the kinds of things he did when he was younger on a film set, his agent won't attempt to get him a meaningful acting job, he's low on money, and he is having trouble affording his lawyer's services for his representation in a child custody case (a case in which the little girl is teased by her friends whenever one of ther father's terrible films is on television). In an attempt to receive a wire to help pay his lawyer Jean Claude walks unknowingly into a robbery, and the aging actor may in fact be called on to save the day. That last line was drawn directly from the Fantastic Fest booklet. That last line, and the clip I saw online led me to believe that I was walking into a parody of Van Damme making fun of himself. In some ways the film does do that, but man oh man that is not what this film is. Sure, Van Damme can and does laugh at his real life situations. Competing with Steven Seagal for films nobody else really wants, having an agent that doesn't even read the scripts he presents to his client - that's all funny, and Van Damme knows it. But, the comedy of JCVD is an afterthought to the tragedy of the rest of Van Damme's life. Real tragedy. His struggle with drugs, his alienation from his daughter, his financial woes, and his truly bleak outlook on the rest of his life, and all the while trying to keep a positive face on for his fans. All of this stuff is what sticks with you when the credits roll. I don't want to say much else about it. All I will say is that Jean Claude Van Damme has created something beyond special. He takes self mockery and turns it into an x-ray machine so that everyone can see what's really beneath the surface. It's completely transcendent. There is a moment in this film (which everyone will talk about) where Jean Claude has a monologue, addressing the audience. What makes this sequence special is not just the piece where Van Damme has a let it all out therapeutic type of moment, but the fact that in one seamless take he goes from that directly back into the fictional narrative of the bank heist without flinching. Granted, a short moment is given for him, and the audience, to gather themselves. Think about it though. In preparation for an emotional moment in the film an actor will do certain things prior to the scene to prepare. They get out of their current state to go somewhere dark. What Van Damme does is show the audience real dark, and then go into a world of fiction. Ladies and gentleman, if that is not great acting I really don't know what is.