International Eye Candy

January 11, 2012

Yes, boys and girls, a new year has come and gone and we have returned with our first edition of International Eye Candy for 2012. The start of the year is always a little bit slower than normal but that’s not to say there isn’t still plenty of good stuff to check out. In this edition we’ve got Vietnamese horror! OLDBOY star Choi Min-sik in a new Korean crime thriller! A clip from the RUBBER director’s latest oddity! A Turkish historical epic! Vincent Gallo dancing with Italian UFOs! And, of course, the proverbial so much more! Here we go!

We start things off with Turkish epic FETIH 1453. A grand-scale telling of the 1453 conquering of Constantinople by the Ottomans by director Faruk Aksoy, this is military violence on a scale seldom seen. The production values are absolutely fantastic, the setting one we seldom see on screens in this part of the world, Aksoy appears to have had a literal cast of thousands to work with, and the balance between intimate character work and large scale action seems spot on. Watch the FETIH 1453 trailer here

Upcoming Korean thriller NAMELESS GANGSTER has made the column before thanks to an earlier teaser and the presence of OLDBOY’s Choi Min-sik. And it makes it back now thanks to the arrival of the full theatrical trailer. Choi is one of those actors seemingly blessed with impeccable taste – he rarely appears in anything shy of excellence – and this tale of corrupt politicians in 1990 Korea does not look like it will disappoint at all. Find the NAMELESS GANGSTER trailer here

Greece has been experiencing a sudden surge on the world cinema stage lately, one fuelled largely by director Yorgos Lanthimos and his very odd films DOGTOOTH and ALPS. But an oft forgotten man in those films is writer Efthimis Filippou and Sundance audiences are about to learn that a great deal of the peculiarity of Lanthimos work is actually due to Filippou. Filippou is a writer on Sundance selected title L, a story that revolves around a separated family living in two separate cars, the father dreaming of life on a motorcycle instead. It also involves a bear. And honey. Yeah, it’s a weird one. Watch the L trailer here

What happens when you give the director of MACHINE GIRL and ROBO GEISHA carte blanche to create a film called ZOMBIE ASS? You get danger! Danger! Danger! You know you want to watch the ZOMBIE ASS trailer here

Best known to fans of electronic music as Mr Oizo, director Quentin Dupieux turned heads last year with RUBBER, the tale of a psychic tire on a rolling rampage of death and violence. Dupieux is hitting Sundance this year with his latest effort, the tale of a lost dog titled simply WRONG. And while a lost dog may sound like safer territory than a roving tire exploding people’s heads ... well, this is Dupieuz, after all, and he did title the film WRONG. The initial teaser for the film has now been followed by an extended clip. Find the new clip from WRONG here

Spontaneous human combustion, a killer dog and THE HOST star Song Kang-ho. You’ll find them all in Yoo Ha’s upcoming Korean thriller HOWLING. While the premise sounds like a recipe for disaster – or a very B film – Song is one of the biggest acting talents in the country while Yoo is one of the finest directors. The first teaser promised quality and that has now been followed by a second effort that does the same. Very nice. Watch the second HOWLING teaser here

A big budget action film from Pakistan? Not something you may have expected, but it’s coming. The film is titled WAAR and it will reportedly be the largest in Pakistan’s history. Chronicling events in the ongoing ‘war on terror’ there is a great deal of speculation as to what the politics of the film will be – there are rumors that it was partially funded by the PR arm of the Pakistani secret police – but whatever the politics may be the visuals look absolutely top notch. Check out the WAAR trailer here

While the US gears up for Sundance, the European festival season will soon kick off in Rotterdam. And while a lot of the lineup is yet to be announced there is one title already drawing attention. THE BROWN BUNNY’s Vincent Gallo stars in Italian cult scifi picture THE LEGEND OF KASPAR HAUSER. How do we know it’s a cult picture? Well, Gallo’s in it, for one thing. And, for another, he’s dancing for UFOs in the teaser. Yup. He’s still weird. Find the LEGEND OF KASPAR HAUSER trailer here

We wrap up with a trip to Vietnam, where THE REBEL and CLASH star Veronica Ngo will be making a Valentine’s Day appearance in horror picture THE HOUSE IN THE ALLEY. The trailer makes it out to be a haunted house picture with a touch of slasher thrown in for good measure and it looks as though a bloody good time will be had by all. Watch the HOUSE IN THE ALLEY trailer here