Picking films at Film Festivals is one of my favorite activities. With Fantastic Fest, even more so because at every opportunity, there’s 2 – 4 movies I genuinely want to see. Or at least think I want to see. Today was a perfect day at Fantastic Fest.
Father Geek and I got to the Festival 3 hours before the first movie, not to get tickets – there are no paper tickets to keep up with now or line up to get. You make your choices and they scan your badge. No, we got there 3 hours early, because we knew other folks would be down there and we could meet new awesome people and chatter with dear friends – all while making new ones. FANTASTIC FEST is a very social and fun festival – and every single year I feel more and more proud of what we’ve created here.
My first pick to watch today was a Polish-Israeli flick called DEMON. As Luke Mullin introduced, he broke the news that the director, 42 year old, Marcin Wrona died this past Monday – and well… that was quite sobering.
The “Brief Summary - A day after discovering human remains in the backyard of their new home, a man begins experiencing strange visions which come to a head on his wedding night.” …got me quite intrigued, but I think when I thought “his wedding night” – I thought this might get creepy sexual… but that’s not at all what this film was about.
First off – the title DEMON is a bit of a misnomer to what we think of as Demon. This is more based on the Jewish Mythology of the Dybbuk. Not that I knew much about Dybbuk at all – or could lay claim to its history, but when I looked it up – it fit perfectly. It’s a clinging malevolent spirit that can possess people and apparently can be helped into moving on from the host.
That sounds nice, but in Marcin Wrona’s film… moving on isn’t of interest. You see, the whole movie is basically taking place on the day of the wedding. On which, the Groom is already kind of possessed. The day before while operating a Catepillar he backs into a tree uprooting it exposing very old human remains.
After that… things progressively get worse for Peter. Even before this – it was a bit creepy, he witnessed some sort of screaming woman in water trying to escape what seemed like an organized cultish looking exorcism or something weird. But if anything, that just sets the tone. Weird shit happens in Poland. (like everywhere else apparently).
After the Wedding ceremony, things just keep getting wilder. There’s a whole lot of vodka being enjoyed by all. The priest, the doctor, the old school professor, all the family and guests… and Peter is kind of new to all these people except for the bride’s brother, who introduced them.
Pretty much everything I’ve ever learned about Possession comes straight out of William Friedkin’s THE EXORCIST… and to me the most horrible and tough to watch stuff isn’t the head spinning, vomiting, floating, crucifix masturbating scenes. It’s the doctor stuff. I mean, when we walk into these movies, we as audience members are at an advantage. We know it ain’t medical. It’s the really bad shit.
Well here. The groom is being fed vodka constantly. They give him shots of substances.. Meanwhile, my internal monologue is freaking out, cuz this is all weakening Peter and making the possessing spirit grab the wheel, so to speak. And yeah, it gets freaky.
Now – there were some folks that loved the movie, until the very ending. But for me. The ending was awesomely vague, but the clues are all there. The overall feeling I have is sadness at the end. But also, I’m betting that Marcin Wrona loves Kubrick’s THE SHINING – because… well, I definitely felt an homage – that for me, made the ending crystal clear. It came to me on the drive home. But at the same time, it’s the friggin ending and you deserve to have your own experience with it. I really dug the hell out of this movie!
Next – THE KEEPING ROOM!!!
WOW – this is an outstanding film. A full on Southern, set at the time of Sherman’s march through Georgia. We all know about how Scarlett O’Hara had to deal with them dirty Yankees… This is very similar material handled in a very real feeling manner. Directed by Daniel Barber, who did a great job with his first feature with Michael Caine called HARRY BROWN. THE KEEPING ROOM is much much better.
The film opens today in limited release, check your local listings. It is set on a homestead, where you have two sisters, Brit Marling playing the elder sister and Hailee Steinfeld playing the younger, slightly more spoiled sister. Then there’s Muna Otaru, their slave, Mad. But at this point the 3 of them are just trying to make enough food to survive until the men come back from the war. When Hailee’s Louise gets bit by a raccoon and Augusta has to go into town to get medicine, she crosses paths with Sam Worthington’s Moses and Kyle Soller’s Henry. A pair scouting ahead of Sherman’s Army, which was a breaking of the South as it was known manuveur. We’re not about the big stuff going on. This is about 3 women versus two men. These men intend to fuck them until they’re bored with them, then they’ll kill and burn the house to the ground.
It’s a bit more STRAW DOGS than GONE WITH THE WIND, but that’s a great thing. Brit Marling is fantastic here. Hailee Steinfeld continues to turn in great performances. But Muna Otaru’s Mad is really great. In some ways she reminds me a bit of Butterfly McQueen’s Prissy, but informed with modern sensibilities. After a rape scene, she tells a story about her first time that was incredibly disturbing and well done. How that story winds up into a metaphor for the Monsters we face in the world just wrecked me. I just don’t understand being a monster to others. The world could be so beautiful if the assholes all left.
Anyway, once it becomes… essentially a home invasion film – the tension wraps all the way up – and the movie becomes thrilling and scary. Can’t say enough good things about this movie, check it out!
My final film on this short day at FANTASTIC FEST was Takashi Miike’s YAKUZA APOCALYPSE – which is bugnuts fucking insane ratcheted up to full on crazy and subversion in beautiful ways.
Trying to describe the strange Yakuza Vampire thing, the Frog… I mean. You’ve just got to see the fucking Frog. SO MUCH FUN! Not for everyone though. This is weird crazy Miike. I love this stuff. I absolutely accept that no matter how weird and culturally impenetrable his INSANE films get, I’m on board for the ride through Crazy Town.
Honestly, just getting to see Yayan Ruhian romp through Miike’s sugar-cereal super rush of a flick is enough to emblazon one helluva shit-eating grin on my face for most of the night. Don’t know Yayan? He’s MAD DOG in THE RAID and is Prakoso in RAID 2 – and here… he’s just incredibly fun – and that last fight may not be a masterpiece of choreographed mayhem, but it is just so fucking funny to me. See if it doesn’t sock you similarly!
I think trying to describe YAKUZA APOCALYPSE is a futile endeavour. This is a special brand of cinematic drug that delivers a fever dream of cinema so far away from anything anybody else delivers that I can only celebrate it for the wonder that it is.
Overall – a great day. Met some new folks I adored, hooked up with old friends anew! Saw some great flicks! That’s FANTASTIC!
