International Eye Candy
January 4, 2010
International Eye CandyDecember 30, 2010 Though the holiday season may slow the news cycle down a bit there’s just no stopping the International Eye Candy. Our numbers this time out may be small but the movies are still big. We’ve got epic, Disney produced Indian fantasy! We’ve got a spinning blade of death! We’ve got a moment of absolute “What the hell am I watching?” from Sundance! We’ve got anime sex tips! And we’ve even got a planet-crushing robot hand in action! Life is good and here we go!
We start things off with US-Italy coproduction 444. And while I think the title comes off like a silly parody of a demonic horror film – particularly considering this actually IS a demonic horror film – there’s no denying that the teaser is effective despite some dodgy grammar. The story revolves around a joint CIA-Vatican cover up and while the teaser gives up very little it does what it does very well indeed.Find the 444 teaser here
One of the big winners at Fantastic Fest 2010 was Miguel Angel Vivas’ KIDNAPPED. A punishing portrayal of a home invasion captured in a painstakingly choreographed twelve shots – no typo there, the entire film is made up of just twelve shots – this one pulls no punches and draws much of its power from the simple refusal to allow the audience to look away. It denies the relief that cutting away would give. The opposite style has been employed for the rapid-cut theatrical trailer but the end result is the same. This is hard hitting stuff.Find the final KIDNAPPED trailer here
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Putting a new face on an old friend is the upcoming Japanese theatrical release of GHOST IN THE SHELL STAND ALONE COMPLEX: SOLID STATE SOCIETY. Originally created as a feature length, video only release to conclude the successful Stand Alone Complex cycle of stories, this one proved so popular that director Kenji Kamiyama was enlisted to oversee a 3D conversion of the film for a theatrical release. There’s nothing altered in the story but, as anyone familiar with the series will tell you, this is a really, really good one so any excuse to put it out in front of new eyes is welcome in my book.Find the trailer for the 3D SOLID STATE SOCIETY here
Singing, dancing and a spinning saw blade of doom. That’s what you get in upcoming Tamil language pot-boiler SIRUTHAI. The Indian film industry in general appears to be in the grips of some sort of colourful madness to non-Indian eyes and the Tamil language, southern Indian film industry tends to be where the really crazy stuff happens. Yup.Find the SIRUTHAI trailer here
Beyond being crazy, the Indian film industry is also large and lucrative, a factor that has led to Indian companies getting progressively more involved in Hollywood productions while the Hollywood studios push increasingly into Indian language production. Warner Brothers and Fox have been particularly active there in recent years but Disney isn’t far behind and with their Tamil language action-fantasy ONCE UPON A WARRIOR they’re clearly hoping to launch a PIRATES sized local franchise.And, honestly, they just might. The production values are great, the balance of fantasy and action tropes feels about right and the local flavour keeps things feeling fresh. I’m just hoping this one manages to get a US release as well.Find the ONCE UPON A WARRIOR trailer here
We move closer to home now for a look at Calvin Lee Reeder’s THE OREGONIAN. Reeder has won a loyal cult with his previous short films – particularly LITTLE FARM and THE RAMBLER – and ‘cult’ is definitely the right word. His work is bizarre, dark stuff done in a style that I compare to a very rural, even stranger David Lynch. And now he’s bringing the full Reeder experience to Sundance in feature form, his debut full length film THE OREGONIAN soon to premiere in the Midnight section at the big fest. You can take a taste of the weirdness in the just released trailer.Find the OREGONIAN trailer here
Another Sundance offering here, this one Australian feature MAD BASTARDS, a gritty drama revolving around three generations of socially maladjusted petty criminals. This is the sort of film Sundance specializes in – smart, well acted, intimate stories. And it looks as though this one could cross to a wider audience as well.Find the MAD BASTARDS trailer here
So, you’re on your summer holiday when the end of the world arrives. What do you do? Well, according to upcoming Norwegian feature PEOPLE IN THE SUN you mostly try to figure out how to bed your friend’s wife. Because a man’s got his priorities, you know. Equal parts effects spectacle and sex comedy this is unusual stuff and looks rather good, indeed.Find the PEOPLE IN THE SUN teaser here
Off we head now to Israel, a nation that has just produced its first ever horror film in RABIES. A fairly conventional slasher in style – it’s your typical group of young people hunted in the woods story – it looks to be pulled off with style and a healthy dose of the red stuff.Find the RABIES trailer here
And, finally, we wrap things up in Japan with a new, five minute promo for tokusatsu epic ULTRAMAN ZERO. The Ultraman films have been engaged in a seeming game of one upmanship over the last several instalments with each film getting bigger and more elaborate and this is the biggest of them all, a full on galactic war between the surviving good Ultraman and bad Ultraman turned self declared Galactic Emperor Belial.Trust me, everything you’ve ever loved about campy Japanese scifi is here times ten.Find the new ULTRAMAN ZERO promo here
