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Montréal 2026
I briefly met a Danish fellow and complimented him on his film; he in turn complimented me on my jacket.
7/16: Kung Fu
Opening night, late night. Following my descent into Refn’s dreamscape, I took in a new kung fu comedy by Giddens Ko. An eight-century-old master of an esoteric martial art convinces two teenage losers to become his disciples, hoping to unlock their strength to aid him in his fight against his nemesis. Kung Fu delivers plenty of kung fu, as well as plenty of laughs in the first half (cheesy wuxia-style flashbacks with knock-off screen legends, and more snakes than I could count—for training, you see). The second half goes dark, as underlying causes come to the fore. While the stars are the fighting threesome (excuse me, foursome:the young, non-loser contemporary of the losers is a vivacious hoot),the nebulous Government Man steals every scene he’s in, providing an unanticipated menace.
7/17: Tunnels: Sun in the Dark
Chuyen Bui Thac walks a fine line (crawls a narrow passage?) with Tunnels, set within and above a circuit of rooms and tunnels inhabited by a couple dozen Viet-Cong fighters. The arrival of a clandestine intelligence group coinciding with the appearance of an eager outsider triggers tension. It was thrilling to experience the claustrophobia and comradery, as weapon and survival skills were on display (the outsider, in particular, showed an eagerness that bordered on death wish: watching him remove the explosive element of a failed bomb by heating the casing over a fire was… tensely amusing). Kudos to the director for his deft storytelling, and in particular for giving the Yankee soldiers far more fair a shake than expected. War is hell, and Chuyen Bui Thac makes it clear that none of these poor souls should have had to be caught up in its evil.
Trauma Or, Monsters All
Going for broke, Larry Fessenden ties together three of his earlier movies (Habit, Depraved, and Blackout) in the story of a young woman recently moved to Talbot Falls, NY, hoping for a quiet environment in which to work on her historical book about George Washington Carver (“You know, the peanut guy.”) When she observes strange activity by a neighbor’s basement, she pens an article for the local paper that removes the scabs, scars, and sutures that had kept the long troubles mostly quiet. Much of what Fessenden does here works well (his turn as a sleazy vampire stands out for its smirking nihilism); that said, the lead is little more than a vessel. Small complaint, though, as evidenced by Trauma‘s rain-chilled ambience, smoky-cool jazz score (with Fessenden on the sax, I am told), and the bold climax bringing all his monsters together for bittersweet burst of bloodletting.
7/18: Anime no Bento (Anthology)
“Echo” — dir. by Asuka Dokai
Cheshire post-birth guide / pulsing plants and ash and lights / but God, too-cute “kids”
“Future Kid Takara Ep. 1 – The Child from the Future” — dir. by Yuta Sano
action start: run, run! / boy time machine, to the past / preachy but seems fun
“20001 An Earth Odyssey” — dir. by Haruki Kasugamori
child’s park cult lair? / a graveyard, not an orchard / aliens delve dumb
“Don’t Dodge Life” — dir. by Taka Yuki
tiny moments speak / welcome life, and his plus sign / take in the good, Miss
“Ambivalent Garden” — dir. by Nagomi Ueno
geometric flow / lotus growth and mirrored life / want this on my wall
“Foxing: Kitsuné-tsuki” — dir. by Takeru Shinozuka
talented but cursed / ‘toon-drawing woman, fox-plagued / but, try to heed it
“Dust of the Simulacrum”
— dir. by Eit Mitsufuchi
don’t like CGI? / check this out: epic fable / push that medium!
Sleep No More
Some few hours before attending this screening, I had already experienced brushes with overwhelming fatigue. Having gotten my second wind shortly before Edwin’s creature-feature, it was not long before my tipping-towards-sleep returned. This is no criticism of Sleep No More, a fun little horror set in a wig factory with a jingoistic culture (daily reminders of care and encouragement, as well as its own marching band for daily exercises) harboring a strange secret. Two sisters take jobs there to work off their mother’s debts, this mother having seemingly killed herself in a chemical vat. The sisters’ half-brother has his own problems, as the thugs he owes money to keep slicing off his ear for payment (don’t worry, he grows the thing back, and also any other removed body part). Supervisor Mrs. Mariaty is calm, professional, and seemingly kind: but what is up with all those locks of hair lurking and shifting in the background?
7/19: Blades of the Guardians
In the late years of the So-And-So dynasty, things are not well and various groups pursue their own interests so as to… You get the picture. I intend no disrespect to any of the several-millennia-long history of the various royal households, but it becomes clear quickly that Yuen Wo-Ping has just grabbed a convenient slice from long history to arrange a wuxia spectacular.
He delivers. Handsomely. Samurai swordplay, trick shot bow shooting, and a pair of intricate “woven” sword clubs are among the armory found within Blades of the Guardians (but I reckon a laundry list of neat-o weapons “of the Guardians” would have ruined the titular flow). Erm, plot: a masked rebel leader has a staggering bounty on his head, and anti-Emperor forces have arranged for another fellow with a bounty on his head to protect him, and enter Dao Ma, a chirpy specimen of bounty hunter… hm. Lots of bounty. Anyway! This was a mountain of fun, with humor, adventure, and just enough plot to hold the long-form fightin’ showcases together.
Redline
We’ve talked about Takeshi Koike’s recent classic before, so I will merely add two things: I think we should’ve considered it for The List, and few movies have left me feeling this turbo-charged. Seeing it for the first time ever at a sold-out showing in Fantasia’s big theater with an introduction from the story writer is probably the best way to experience this for the first time. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE
7/20: Our Effed Up World
A quiet film about grief, friendship, and alien invasion. Alice Maio Mackay pulls another Alice Maio Mackay with a breezily contemplative story about a group of friends as reckoning with life’s daily trials, interrupted by hostile extraterrestrial visitors. Fans of the director will be pleased, whilst others may find the pacing (and event load) perhaps a bit bare. I was happy enough to have seen this, and very much enjoyed the charming awkwardness of Finn, the reluctant owner of a video rental store, and pleased also that Mackay continues to feature the “stand-up middle aged guy” archetype, this time in the form of the main character’s astronomer father.
Cine MapSosa 2026 (Anthology)
“SPEEDY!” — dir. by Oh Ji-in
It’s 1989 and speed-reading is the path to success. Or so a father-son team would have you believe. Jung-min reluctantly attends classes for the art of visual information absorption; reluctant, at least, until she witnesses its “results” first-hand. However, disillusion is around the corner, and this comedy takes a dark turn when the cult-like nature of the movement is made clear.
“I Love Your Alter Ego!”— dir. by Lee Chan-bee
Ji-eun has an aversion to sex, at least until she looks into a mirror and her other self emerges. The mind is depicted as an ad hoc observation post, with a chair, lamp, and TV arranged amidst a patch of grass. The story becomes very bleak (Ji-eun’s stepfather is not to be trusted), though it ends on a troublingly optimistic note.
“Wish You Were Dead”— dir. by Lee Min-hyuk
For an insouciant fellow like myself, this was the best of the shorts. Family members huddle in a storage room, hatching a plan on an architecturally illustrated “Go” board, with beads as the conspirators. Their goal? To murder the patriarch looming in the main room who has turned into a blood-thirsty zombie. One-by-one the family succumbs to the grandfather’s hunger. Will mother and daughter survive?
“TROPIC”— dir. by Park Jung-yoon
Dreamy and dark (almost a theme here), “TROPIC” concerns two sisters: one with a history of suicide, the other growing weary of the other’s ordeal. Voyeuristic in the extreme, we feel like we’re right there in the bathroom where the tragedy occurs.
7/21: Big Break
Ian Faria & Company, the minds, faces, and bodies behind New York City’s real-life comedy troupe “Simple Town,” bring us a fun little trapped-in-the-house-with-a-killer comedy with the twist that it’s part of their crew who’s turned psycho (perhaps from being the only one of the four who made it Huge after leaving parting ways with the gang). Nothing to write home about, but a fun bit of capering. Among the memorable post-facto lines is the gem, “He’s going to make us Gummy Bears!”
Levitating
Heart-warming, witty, and occasionally exhilarating, Wregas Bhanuteja’s coming-of-age film may deserve another look if it crosses our path again. Bayu plays the flute, and his buddy plays a sweet electric guitar, and they both aspire to become their small town’s spirit channeler. This “after school team sports and romance special” has charisma to spare—especially from Guru Asri, who crafts the realms for the channeling through her focused singing—alongside clever on screen depictions of the spell the celebrants fall under . Can Bayu come to terms with his irksome past so as to channel happiness for others? His opening salvo falls apart badly as the spirit-addicts find the nectar 
falling upon them turning into a rain of hotdogs. As the saying goes: It’s a long way to the top if you wanna channel ancient animals.
Hayop Ka!
Sliding on to the scene in 2020, Hayop Ka! (translating into “You Animal!”, a common rejoinder—before a slap to the face—in Filipino soap operas) disappeared into the memory slag of Covid and the ensuing lockdown. I saw this some years ago during the remote Fantasia Festival, and was pleased to give it another look, this time with fellow viewers and on the big screen. On the second go-around, it was still a fun time, and Jerry the frog remains awesome.
Los Vampires
Technically a horror movie—there is a killer on the loose, after all—and technically a monster movie—there are, indeed, not one, but two (!) vampires—Craig Mitchell’s movie is more an exploration of art and ego. The late 1920s presented filmmakers with a problem: what to do now that sound was becoming the standard? Silent movies easily swap intertitles for different language-speaking markets, and dubbing technology did not exist. So, what to do?
Just film the darn thing in two or more forms. The interplay between the leads, Luis De Ossario performing the eminent count by night recording for a Spanish audience and the world-famous Kürt Orlov performing by day performing the primary English-speaking role, plays out with petty cut-and-thrust of professional rivalry. De Ossario is instructed to watch the rushes from Orlov’s performance and mimick them, but he has hopes of his own. Also with hopes of her own is the mysterious no-name young woman extracted from a convent to perform as the vampire’s victim. It gives nothing away when I say that she is not what she seems. This trio, amongst others, inhabit glorious recreations of original Dracula sets (rights not acquired, alas), traveling in an off-set world of narrow production corridors, screening rooms, and a truly grand staircase. Perfect for a double feature with Shadow of the Vampire.
7/22: The Samurai and the Prisoner
Part castle-siege, part murder mystery, Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s latest historical drama focuses on Araki Murashige, a local chieftain who decides to take a stand against the evil Lord Oda. Murashige navigates a path of principle and compromise as he endeavors to fortify the resolve of his allies. Mysterious murders within his stronghold, Arioka Castle, complicate matters, but he has the benefit of a captured envoy: Kanbei Kuroda is imprisoned in the dungeon, and has a knack for Sherlockian dissection of events.
The Samurai and the Prisoner feels both grand in its scope, as the ambient realities of a medieval siege cut ever deeper into the day-to-day proceedings, and quite intimate, as Murashige first consults and then befriends his bound guest. Humor, too, has its place in this chamber epic: the chieftain rues his decision gift a priceless urn with a small fit of petulant despair, and a timely blast of lightning sparked a burst of laughter from the rapt audience. Kurosawa’s gift for historical accuracy and compelling dialogue made the two-and-a-half hours feel altogether too brief.
The Seoul Guardians
Cho Chul-young, Kim Jong-woo, and Kim Shin-wan knock it out of the part in this energetic documentary about the December 2024 coup attempt by President Yoon Suk-yeol. Beginning with the Korean supreme court’s presentation of their impeachment decision, action swings back to that fateful night months prior before the verdict, showcasing the fear, confusion, tension, and bravery as lawmakers scramble to assemble quorum to reverse the martial law decision—with everyday citizens forming human blockades as the police and military descend upon the National Assembly. With flashes-back to the Gwangju uprising nearly five decades prior, The Seoul Guardians is an impressive, edge-of-your seat documentary cut from live footage of events captured by news teams and the pro-democracy masses.