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Montréal 2026
Samuel de Champlain for my real friends and Samuel de Realplain for my sham friends.
7/23: Sekiro, No Defeat
Kenichi Kutsuna made an interesting choice here, though perhaps it’s explainable as being the less-expensive one. I have played the video game Sekiro, and managed to batter my way through a bit of the narrative; it’s a lush fantasy samurai epic, with supernatural doings throughout a long story featuring conspiracy, political machinations, betrayal, and so on. But the team behind the adaptation focused on something I did not expect. Sure, sure, there are some fights scenes of adequate quality, and the core NPCs are all there (special shout-out to the smirkingly tragic undying samurai mentor), but the film focuses on the father/son-esque relationship between Wolf and the Divine Heir, with sundry scenes of bonding between them—including making confectionaries for the townsfolk’s festival. (I do not remember this bit from the game, but again: I didn’t get far.) Curious soundtrack choices, too. Hm.
The Eyes
The rule of thumb for me at Fantasia is I should scale back my official reactions to films until I hear from my peers. I like to like movies, and this tendency can lead me to enjoy certain movies I possibly shouldn’t: like Yeom Ji-ho’s stalker/horror thingy, wherein the passing of one twin sister (both with a degenerative condition of the eyes) causes the other to suspect the circumstances and investigate the mystery—all while her own vision deteriorates. I got on board with the twists and tropes (“derivative” is a quick way to describe the film), but plenty here disagreed, and I have no arguments. Indeed, one famous film critic (and all-around horror afficionado) emerged from the screening with a look of abject bewilderment and an obvious need to get something off his chest. Being the nearest victim, I spent the next few minutes absorbing his incredulous disappointment.
7/24: We’re Nothing At All
The film opens with brief credits, then an overhead shot of a Hong Kong bus meandering the streets, and then an explosion. Cue closing credits. Herman Yau’s film begins again after this violent introduction, and proceeds to look both forward, with the investigation of the incident, and backward, the build-up. A limited edition wrist-watch kicks off the evidence and narrative trail, and we learn about the lives of two desperate individuals and one whimsical and eccentric forensics specialist. It surprised me to learn that We’re Nothing at All is from Hong Kong, as this movie is a sympathetic depiction of queer romance. Mind you, the police unit in charge of the investigation is for the most part displayed in a positive light; but again, only for the most part.
Yau has made something special here, as his movie is one of the handful of genuinely sad films I’ve sat through that I can honestly say I enjoyed tremendously, even the melancholia that had descended upon me and took some ten minutes walking around Montréal to shake off. It’s also a masterfully written and edited, delivering the story in perfectly sized pieces at just the right time, all without being coy. Recommended for fans of queer cinema, and generally.
GROTESQQQUE
Atsushi Nishigori: we will meet again! This anthology animation hit me in the face, then poked me in the eye, and then finally urged me to slip into some introspection. But where to go from here? The first installment was my favorite, so I guess I’ll dive into “A(E)LIENS”.
Elie is an alien on Earth, and is known; at some point before the story begins, we have invited cosmic visitors to explore and trade with our planet, but none love this ball of dirt more than Elie. To begin: opening narration explaining herself, shot of cutesy Anime-girl on a tower holding an umbrella. On the move! She skips off the ledge and floats Mary Poppins-style, for a second, before plummeting to the ground below and embedding some twelve-inches deep into the pavement. Unphased (though increasingly tentacle-faced now), she looks up, scans the scene of shocked witnesses, and sprints over across the street to save a cat. Getting him out of harms way, she is then immediately smashed by an oncoming truck, splashing bodily into countless droplets. (This energy does not let up the entire runtime, with visuals courtesy of methed-up magenta and a zip-zip film score.) Heck, despite the next two being more staid, maybe this deserves another pass.
7/25: Bliss: Beyond the Edge of Time
Kevin Geiger, Liu Yu Shu, Chiu Li Wei, Jo Jo Hwang, Liao Wei Chih, and Jade Lien all together for another anthology. The score for these six goes as follows: one crummy, two middling, two good, one amazing. To quote the Fantasia blurb, “In the I-Ching, all things can be simplified into Ying (- -) and Yang (—), symbols known as Yao (line divination). Rather than opposing forces, they represent two inseparable aspects of the same reality.” Bliss explores this concept as it relates to technology, and none explore that more than the tech-trippy ride, “The Last Faith”, from Liu Yu Shu. Waking up on a train car, quite probably dead, the protagonist is both guided and heckled by a manic simulacrum before encountering an enigmatic figure who informs him that he is undergoing the 3,996th iteration of a faith experiment. What the…?—but there’s no time ask; cue the dancing neon buddhas.
The Last Temptation of Becky
Note to self: Neil Patrick Harris makes for a genuinely threatening Nazi. He was the best thing about Jenn Wexler‘s film—alongside the sundry sideshow silliness—and he was deadly serious in a ridiculous context. It is a credit to this director, perhaps, that she pulled off the trick that she did: crafting a movie I genuinely enjoyed whose protagonist I really didn’t care for. I have seen neither of the first two “Becky” movies, though I heard from various attendees that they are worth checking out. If you’re in the mood for 4th Reich-y machinations with a nasty villain and an overblown heroine, The Last Temptation of Becky may well be what you’re after.
7/26: Thrilling Bloody Sword (1981)
There are seven dwarfs in “the Happy Forest”: the leader, the sleepy one, the fat one, the gay-coded one… and, erm, they adopt a daughter who emerges from a giant, TicTac-shaped flesh pod. Meanwhile, in the city, a one-eyed demon (a lady demon, I presume, judging from the mascaraed eyelashes; though considering one of the dwarfs…) runs amok, sent by a pair of power-hungry sorcerer charlatans in league with a demon god. And meanwhile, from another city, an heroic prince passes through the forest en route to some heroics and he and the seven dwarfs’ adopted daughter fall in love and.. and… And Chang Hsin-Yi made something amazing here, perhaps as amazing as the hero’s Fet-Life He-Man magic armor.
(I dunno, I think perhaps another writer should whip up what is likely to be a candidate review for this item, as Thrilling Bloody Sword is now remastered and revving up for a physical media release.)
A New Dawn
Being an expert on neither Japanese nor French animation, I can only guess at the implications of a co-production between those two countries. Yoshitoshi Shinomiya’s dramedy concerns two brothers, scions of a centuries-old fireworks manufactory, and a young woman named Kaoru who grew up with them in the small coastal town of Ajiro. More precisely, one of the brothers and the woman grew up, and moved to the big city; Keitaro, the younger brother, withdrew into the failing business, which is slated for destruction in the name of municipal development. The action builds to the day the authorities are slated to occupy and claim the property: but not before the trio devise one last hurrah with a semi-mythical ordinance. There is a pastel veneer that borders on cosmic during the big display, with delightful animation (in particular, the older brother becomes trippingly drunk one evening and perceives a diorama of the compound as real-life, non-animated items, with Keitaro and Kaoru as Mahjong tiles), and a satisfying denouement which is rightly neither grand nor tragic.
The Mouths
Takashi Shimizu, I’ve been told you’ve done better than this. I’ve also been told that this was among three or more films you made this year. So, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt (much to his relief, I’m sure), and not judge you based on my disappointment with this J-Horror thing. There are many close shots of the protagonists speaking to the camera about their encounter with a cursed tree in a semi-abandoned cemetery. There is also the modestly corrupt police captain, whose facial expressions whilst listening to the various testaments carried a lot more weight for me than they should have. Much in its favor comes from the subtle framing mechanism and the punchline it delivers after the story wraps up. But it doesn’t quite save us from the ho-hummery throughout.
7/27: Corpus
The movie-still provided for this feature, alongside the brief summary, suggests that this is just a rather gay movie with a lot of gay feelings. My anticipation proved merited, but incomplete. Corrin Evans makes a hard turn with her film’s arc at the start of the second act: the three buddies she’s established (one quite gay, one mostly gay, and one not at all gay) head from New York City to that mythical land, “upstate,” to attend a party. But though it is a party, it is a small one: six attendees in total, with the three NYC pals sharing dinner with three women in a crumbling estate. Growing creepiness (after the club-life interlude which follows the opening creep) is mixed with some laid back humor (courtesy of the straight man, ironically), and all told I was delighted at how “genre” the experience ended becoming. Recommended for anyone interested in watching hot young guys and hot older women pursue some deadly ambitions, 1980s BBC-style.
The Glorious Dead
The family Adams have been a Fantasia staple since my second year of coverage (roughly fifty years ago). They are a fun family: mother Tobey , father John, and sisters Lulu and Zelda. If you enjoy them on (and behind) the screen, The Glorious Dead will hit the spot: a cold winter morning, the sheriff’s day off, becomes increasingly troubling as missing-person reports pile up, blood blurps from the pipelines, and massive fleshy holes manifest in the ground. (Not to mention the creepy humanoid monsters with face-covered bodies and lightning-speed.) The packed house jived with the vibe, laughing and wincing on cue as the Adams’ bloody horror comedy unfurled.
7/28: I Love Paris
Another vampire movie? Another mockumentary? Another take-down of the Music Biz? Well, I’ll say: thank goodness for all three. Director Nicky Murphy retreads three common paths, but to entertaining effect. Cue Paris: the city, sure, ’cause that’s where this story takes place, but more-so the young woman who’s adopted the city as her name. Her efforts to boost her social media presence lead to an encounter with an odd woman lurking in the depths of an abandoned tunnel, unable to move from the shadows into the dying light. (Hint hint.) What follows is a cavalcade of flaky biz-bosses, pandering promoters, and proof in celluloid that though Paris may lack music chops, her thirst for success can carry the day. Pity the poor fellow behind the camera as he captures Paris’ excesses in downtown Paris. Not sure which is worse: the violence, or her songcraft. Interview below:
Junction Row
This feature film debut from Ashlea Wessel weaves together a number of themes: recovering drug addict facing her past, social commentary with a focus on housing, the sinister machinations of an evil corporation, and possible alien invasion. For the most part, Junction Row works, due to its gritty atmospherics, its cast of interesting characters (shout-out here to small-time drug dealer Miles, whose early church confessional marries thug life and Catholic tradition), and beautifully luminescent tendrils. Some production flaws crop up, but they are easily overlooked through steady pacing and a type of ending I haven’t witnessed much since the 1980s: climax of tension, violence, and fire, and then closing credits. We are spared a denouement, and I am all the more pleased for the abruptness.
7/29: The Last Footage
There is not much for me to say about The Last Footage beyond hoping (with some reason) that director Arkar Soe Oo improves for his next release. Much of this reticence is due to my general disinclination for “found footage” horror, and to the nagging suspicion that the subtitles could have been improved upon. That said, Arkar’s film hits a few very good notes. The bus driver for the friends visiting a remote rubber tree farm is a convivial delight, and his run-in with the film’s monster, and subsequent Molotov cocktail, are both pure energy. And the mystical forest beast is a frightening example of what can be achieved with plenty of imagination and very little funding. I’ve seen better. But, I’ve seen worse.
Colony
For any Last Train to Busan-kateers out there, I strongly advise you hoof it to Yeon Sang-ho’s latest Zombiesque outing. Skyrise, scrappy survivors, and a slimy mastermind are all there—as well as the requisite “We need to get to the rooftop helipad” proviso. A bioengineering corporation hosts an exclusive pitch event, interrupted by a disgruntled ex-employee with humanity-altering ambitions. Of course, these tend to have nasty results, and when he injects his erstwhile CEO-employer with a newfangled serum, all hell breaks loose. So we’ve got a zombie infestation, all right, sure, but with the fun twist that these drones evolve through pheromone communications within their hive mind. Fortunately, Professor Se-jeong, a combative scientist with a hidden link to the machinations, is at the event, and she leads her crew with calm calculation. Super fun time had by all, particularly my colleague who threatened “consequences” if there wasn’t stupendous peril and a sky-high body count.
She was not disappointed.