We wish we could do a full review for every film we watched, but there just isn’t enough time. But we also did not want to miss the opportunity to address the many films we watched and appreciated.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe is the English-language feature debut of André Øvredal (who wrote and directed 2010’s Troll Hunter). Much like The Void (reviewed here), this film was a horror highlight at Fantastic Fest. Anchored by two incredibly strong performances by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch, The Autopsy of Jane Doe keeps you on your toes with its twists and turns. Scares are a plenty as the two main characters perform an autopsy on an unknown women found half buried in the basement of a crime scene. With each layer they peel back (figuratively and literally), the mystery grows as well as the danger in which they find themselves. My only criticism was the use of cheery song that signals something creepy about to happen. It feels uninspired and derivative, and took away from the otherwise exciting and fun scares that Øvredal has crafted here.
The Eyes of My Mother, a first-time effort from writer/director Nicolas Pesce, haunts and horrifies with its stark black-and-white beauty. After Francisca witnesses her mother’s senseless murder at a young age, her life is irrevocably altered. Isolated on the farm where she grew up, she has her development stunted and redefined by her tragic past. Kika Magalhaes is a revelation with her performance Francisca. To call the performance cold and detached would be an understatement. Every expression and movement is practically inhuman, as though her character truly never had a point of reference for how people act. Over the course of the film, we watch Francisca attempt to rebuild her family. It has all the makings of a Jack Ketchum novel, but infused with class and sophistication that’ll leave viewers chilled.
The Invisible Guest is a new Spanish thriller from Orio Paulo that will ensure viewers in its puzzle. Businessman Adrian Doria (Mario Casas) is discovered in a locked hotel room with the body of his murdered lover Laura (Bárbara Lennie). He maintains he did not kill her, but there’s no way anyone else could have done it and left the room locked from the inside. Hours before he is due to be indicted for Laura’s murder, he walks through the events that lead the couple to the hotel room with top-notch defensive lawyer Virginia Goodman (Ana Wagener). Nothing is as it appears with twists coming a mile a minute. Paulo plays with expectations and smartly toys with the audience. As for the invisible guest, it’s no spoiler to say it’s the truth.
The Lure is a Polish horror musical about mermaids and it pains me to say it isn’t as enjoyable as that description promises. Gold and Silver, mermaid sisters, come ashore and join a cabaret act at a nightclub. Both film their own set of struggles. Gold cannot curb her bloodlust for human; Silver falls for a bandmate who can only really love her if she became human. The look of the film is shiny and neon, which works well to bring everything to life, but I struggled at multiple points in the film. Motivations and relationships were so unclear that I wondered if perhaps something was lost in the translation. To the film’s credit, the cast is great. There’s an undeniable sexiness to the whole affair. And the ending manages to overcome some of the murky unexplained aspects to be full of emotion and potency.
Bad Black is more of an experience than a narrative. Without background on the community in which the film is made, it would be incomprehensible to most audiences. So what is the background? Self-taught writer/director/producer Nabwana Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey (IGG) has transformed his ghetto community outside Kampala, Uganda, into a mega-low-budget film studio dubbed Wakaliwood. With budgets around $200, Nabwana churns out amateur masterpieces of action. The cast hails from the neighborhood, the sets are constructed by whatever is available, and the special effects beyond primitive. Despite all this, what Nabwana has managed to produce is packed with creativity and charm. Reminiscent of the “Sweded” films made in Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind, Nabwana’s film have a genuine heart that cannot be denied. Adding to this already fascinating story is the presence of Alan Hofmanis, a Long Island native who moved to Uganda to produce and star in Nabwana’s films. In Bad Black, he plays a doctor who is trained by a no-nonsense kid named Wesley Snipes (yes, that’s right) in order to become a commando tough enough to face local crime lord, the titular Bad Black, a woman who stole his father’s dog tags. Bizarre, laugh-out-loud funny, and utterly unique, Bad Black brought a huge smile to my face.
Chin-Yu-Ki‘s subtitle is “A journey to the West with farts.” That alone made it a must-see for me at the festival. A parody the ancient Chinese novel A Journey to the West, the film tells story of a monk named Genzo as she embarks on a pilgrimage to Tianzhu with an assassin named Taro Yamada, who she hopes to reform. Taro’s two most deadly weapons are his penis and his anus. Genzo possesses mystical Buddhist powers that allow her to unstrap bras with her mind and make bad dumplings edible. Essentially a live-action cartoon, Chin-Yu-Ki revels in its immaturity. It’s so stupid that it’s endearing.
Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses focuses on the small, dark area where demonic possession and mental illness intersect. Cut from the same cloth as films such as Requiem and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, it explores a real life story in which a women seemingly afflicted by an evil force is denied the medical treatment she needs as her family attempts to heal through their faith. In this case, it is a close-knit New Zealand community of Wainuiomata. Billed as a documentary, the majority of the film is a cinematic reenactment of the events, with talking heads both real and dramatized parsed throughout. In attempting to save Janet, her family succumbs to mass hysteria fueled by their Maori beliefs. The first third of the film can feel like a drag, but once you settle into its rhythm and the emotional toll of the ordeal becomes palpable, the film shines. It’s scary to watch, not because of the possession-plot, but seeing how all of the family becomes complicit in the delusion. The complete absence of rationality tragically leads to Janet’s death at her family’s hands.
Jungle Trap‘s history might be more enthralling than the film itself. Shot on video by James Bryan in 1990, it was never edited, scored, or released until now. Upon discovering its existence, the folks at Bleeding Skull sought to have it finished. We’re all better off for their efforts. Make no mistake, Jungle Trap is a bad film. The plot involves some academics traveling into a remote part of the Amazon to retrieve an artifact. A hotel was built in the area in the past, but was destroyed by the indigenous people. Much to the surprise of those on the expedition, the hotel is still intact and seemingly staffed. Nonsense ensues, but it’s delightful nonsense. The micro-budget charms of movie shine in every scene, from the amateur actors to the sets that look to be constructed with cardboard. What it lacks in sophistication, it makes up for in wild ambition. It’s a movie I can’t wait to show people for no other reason than hear them say, “Why are we watching this?”
Playground is the most nihilistic piece of exploitation masquerading as political statement since A Serbian Film. This first time fictional feature from documentarian Bartosz M. Kowalski wants to use cruelty and brutality to make a point about the state of Poland but falls short due to a heavy-handedness that robs the shocks from any meaningful impact.