With the 27th edition of Canada’s largest genre festival, the Fantasia International Film Festival, about to start, there’s a lot to get excited about. Guests including Nicolas Cage, Barbara Crampton, Jennifer Reeder, Larry Fessenden and Xavier Gens are en route to Montreal for three weeks of horror, science fiction, fantasy, action and animé screenings which include some of the big titles of the year ahead, alongside which there will be filmmaking masterclasses, panels and parties and the networking opportunities from which exciting new projects will emerge. With all this going on, we decided to start small and look at some of the lesser known gems which you may want to seek out this time around.
Talk To Me
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| Talk To Me Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
Amber Wilkinson writes: The idea of peer pressure takes on fresh menace in the hands of Danny and Michael Philippou. The Australian duo show a keen ear for the stresses and strains of being a young person in the modern world as they tell the story of Mia (Sophie Wilde), who is grieving in the wake of her mother's death. Although she has a strong friendship with her mate Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and Jade’s little brother Riley (Joe Bird), her grief fuels her risk-taking behaviour when a weird ceramic hand makes its way into their friendship group. The hand allows those who touch it to become briefly possessed - so long as the "door is closed" before 90 seconds is up - which is the perfect time-slot for a viral video. The rush of peer approval, magnified by Mia's existing mental state, is shown as being as addictive as a drug, with the Philippous indicating just how toxic the desire to fit in can ultimately be. Dark and disturbing precisely because it taps into the realities of being a teenager as much as the supernatural.
Skin Deep
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| Skin Deep Photo: courtesy of Glasgow Film Festival |
Body swap film usually take the same route. People with very different outlooks on life walk for a while in one another’s shoes, learn valuable life lessons, and are relieved when it’s over but more respectful of each other going forwards. Alex Schaad’s ambitious, multi-layered tale is a different beast. It explores what happens when such swaps are undertaken deliberately, at an island retreat, and what happens when one person doesn’t want to swap back. This is no crude tale of bodily hijacking, but an exploration of identity and, in turn, of the complexities of attraction. When we fall in love, is it with a body, a personality, or a combination of the two – and if the latter, how should we respond if that combination turns out to be unbearable to the person actually liiving it? With sensitivity, grace and impressive insight, Schaad uses science fiction to tease out the subtleties of a relationship between two people who are undertaking different journeys and still trying to hold onto one another.
Mami Wata
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| Mami Wata |
Sometimes there is a fine line between fantasy and spirituality, and their proximity is a matter of significance in this pertinent and beautifully crafted fable from the Fon people of southern Nigeria. Rebellious Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) is unconvinced by the stories she hears from her mother, a woman who presents herself as the intermediary between the their village and the titular sea goddess. In this she is at odds with her adopted sister, Prisca (Evelyne Ily Juhen), but after a stranger arrives in the village and the familiar structures of their lives begin to fall apart, the two young women will have to work together to find a solution. Faith takes on a value of its own, irrespective of fact, in a story where connection with the divine might be a reward but is never an excuse for failing to take on moral responsibility oneself. Gorgeous black and white photography and charismatic performances reward viewers.
Richelieu
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| Richelieu |
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: Ariane (Ariane Castellanos), an interpreter of French and Spanish, begins a new job and is our entryway into the story of Pier-Philippe Chevigny’s gripping début feature Richelieu (Temporaries). On a bus she sees a crying man (Manuel, played by Nelson Coronado) and is told by Michèle (Eve Duranceau) to take care of it. They are traveling to a corn facility in the Richelieu region of Quebec with migrant workers on board. Upon arrival she is greeted by her boss Stéphane (Marc-André Grondin) and is told that “any fool” could do her job. The strain on the Guatemalan workers Ariane was hired to “coordinate” is immense and many of them had borrowed money to make the journey. The work environment is abominable. Steadily, the minutiae of injustice mounts. Reaching far beyond the specific area where the film is set, we are asked to open our eyes to an international situation with wide implications. If greed is the only way of the world, any lie goes, and dread reigns supreme, humanity’s future is sealed.
Aporia
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| Aporia Photo: courtesy of WellGoUSA |
A strong central idea gives Jared Moshe’s science fiction fable a different take on the consequences of messing with tiime, but it’s really the performances which bring this indie gem to life. Judy Greer, in particular, is superb as Sophie, a widowed mother whose life has fallen to pieces since the death of her beloved husband Mal (Edi Gathegi). When she learns that he and his best friend, Jabir (Payman Maadi), were working on a machine which just might be able to bring him back, she’s willing to sacrifice anything to make it happen, and at first the results seem too good to be true. Of course, there are complications, but rather than retreading familiar ground, Moshe focuses on the human and moral costs in a story which explores the grieving process and the complex patterns of experience which bind us to other people. The result is a film which focuses on the way that the glamour of new technologies gives way to something different when they emerge into the real world.
Empire V
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| Empire V |
Since Vladimir Putin’s army invaded Ukraine there has been a tacit agreement amongst festivals not to screen any Russian films, but this one is a little different. Based on the best-selling book by Viktor Pelevin and with a cast which includes the rapper Oxxxymiron, who was recently labelled a foreign agent for speaking out agaiinst the war, Empire V is banned in its homeland, and it’s not hard to see why. Blending colourful fantasy with razor-edged satire, it tells the story of a cartel of immortal vampires which, with the aid of acquisitive mortal puppets, secretly tuns the whole world, draining its peasants of rather more than just their blood. Turning the tables on anti-Semiticic conspiracy theorists, it points its boney finger in a different direction, whilst also lampooning the egotism of the billionaire elite. Glossy wish fulfilment reveals an unabashedly political undercurrent and no-one comes out of it looking good.
Fantasia stars this Thursday, 13 July, and runs until 2 August. We’ll be bringing you news, reviews and interviews throughout.
