September 25, 2007
Fantastic Fest - Day 5
Mon, Sep 24
Ferryman, The (100 min.) - The Ferryman is a well made thriller with a refreshing lack of CGI. That may have been due to budgetary constraints but it shows a solid commitment from the director and actors that the story never gets silly. The tension is not as taught as I would want but I was never bored and maintained my suspension of disbelief. It is (so far) one of my top 5 from the festival.
Tyger (short) - Nonsensical but gorgeously brilliant blend of puppetry and animation.
Aachi and Ssipak (90 min.) - Aachi and Ssipak is certainly a film that every animation fan will enjoy, but the frenetic animation and silly story development will turn off a lot of animation non-fans.
Everything Will Be Ok (short) - It is hard to rate this film honestly. Hertzfeldt’s depiction of spiraling schizophrenia is creepily accurate, and his desire to upset the audience is 100% effective but this foray into a more serious narrative is not easily consumed. Fans of his previous work will be galvanized in his new effort.
Sniffer (short) - This strange, funny, stylized live-action short about a man who samples live deodarant effectiveness in a world where people float left me with many questions.
Maiko Haaaan!!! (120 min.) - Leave it to Fantastic Fest to program a Rom-Com at a genre festival. Of course it is a wacky Japanese Rom-Com with a Jerry Lewis inspiration that involves some inappropriate relationships. I laughed and loved, wondering the whole time how it would resolve itself. The film is a little on the long side and (typically) American audiences will be scared off by the subtitles, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tries to rewrite this for US consumption.
Gary’s Touch (short) - The only successful point of this short was to be uncomfortably inappropriate. Like the bastard mentally-retarded sex-fluid-crazed child of Michael Barney, this film is useful as a torture device.
Never Belongs To Me (90 min.) - Plot holes; cheap sets; lousy sex scenes; story that made almost no sense at all. Avoid this film at all costs. The only laughs were unintentional. Ignore the Tim League and Lars Nilsen reviews of this film. They only want to make you miserable. (Believe me! You know they’ve done it before and they’ll do it again!)
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