2017 Sitges Film Festival--50th edition and Excited for What's on Offer

While I've been lucky enough to attend Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival over the last four years, this year, 2017, I'm fortunate to be traveling to Barcelona (the seaside town of Sitges, specifically) this year for the Sitges Film Festival, one of the most prestigious and exciting horror and fantasy film festivals in the world.  So I intend to work on my Catalan and get pumped for some things that I will see here first, with one of the most densely packed and exciting schedules and screenings at 5 different venues, this festival will be intense.  Here's a taste of my excitement:

A Haunting Image from Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water (2017)

Guillermo del Toro is a true cinematic visionary, and a notorious horror geek as well.  With films like The Devil's Backbone (2001), to Pan's Labyrinth (2006), to the more recent Crimson Peak (2015), he knows how to build worlds and craft visions of gorgeous dread.  His new film will be screening several times at Sitges, way ahead of its December release date in the U.S., and frankly, why wait when I can see it with a slew of devoted fans at Sitges?  The trailer teases equal parts mystery, creature feature, romance, and quirk.  Looks like cinematic magic.

A Haunted Heroine in a Menacing Home--Turkish Director Can Evrenol's Housewife (2017)

I haven't yet had the pleasure of watching Evrenol's much talked about feature debut, Baskin (2015), but satanic gore orgies are not always my go-to film.  Still, the reviews of his first film speak to a daring new voice in horror, and his latest film, Housewife, is completely the type of film that attracts me.  A female heroine who may be encountering supernatural elements, or may be graced with madness?  Love it!  The film's trailer is riddled with gorgeous images and a very unsettling atmosphere.

Birdie's imaginative life in the convent is captured in Elizabeth Schuch's The Book of Birdie (2017)

In my continuous quest to see as many women-directed (horror) films as I can, I stumbled upon Elizabeth Schuch's The Book of Birdie, a tale of a young convent girl troubled by hallucinations who becomes infatuated with another girl who works at the convent.  With images like the one above, and the ones in the trailer, I'm hoping that Schuch will be an exciting new discovery.

Jaume Balaguero's latest film Muse (2017) shines as a riveting example of Spanish gothic horror

I've been a fan of Jaume Balaguero's work early on.  I'm an admirer of The Nameless (1999), Darkness (2001) and Fragile (2005), and the REC series is pretty awesome.  So when I saw that he's premiering his latest film at Sitges--Yes!!  Looking at the Spanish teaser, mysteries abound along with plenty of atmospheric dread.

The desert landscape houses the cannibalistic and brutal in Ana Lily Amirpour's The Bad Batch (2016)

Another woman director's latest outing, Ana Lily Amirpour's The Bad Batch (2016) has received mixed reviews, and looks quite different from her breakout film, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014).  Cannibalism seems to be the hot topic with female directors these days (see Julia Ducournau's Raw (2016)).  I like her idiosyncratic style, and Jason Momoa and Keanu Reeves do not hurt the film's appeal either.  The trailer definitely hints at a distinctive world.  Yes, I can watch it in the U.S. now, but Sitges is hosting a Q & A with the director, so I think it's definitely worth the wait.

A couple live unhappily ever after in Aik Karapetian's latest feature Firstborn (2017)

Latvian director Aik Karapetian may not be someone with whom everyone is familiar, but hopefully that status will soon change.  I first encountered Karapetian when I watched The Man in the Orange Jacket (2014) at Fantasia a few years ago. I thought his film was visually inventive and arresting, but had some rather unfortunate final girl plotting.  Nevertheless, I'm eager to see what he's doing lately, and the trailer hints at some unsettling domestic menace.  Seems like another finely wrought study of the perils of masculinity too.

Guillermo Amoedo's El Habitante (2017) looks to have some fine female performances

I'm unfamiliar with Mexican director Guillermo Amoedo, but he seems to be buds with the nefarious Eli Roth, having written the screenplays for both The Green Inferno (2013) and Knock Knock (2015).  I've decided not to hold those credits against him, because the trailer for his latest film, on which he is the director, is pretty damn compelling.  Some of the best films I've seen are ones about which I know nothing, so I'm definitely intrigued by the film's possibilities.

Coralie Fargeat's Revenge (2017) gives us a female directed rape revenge shocker

Unsurprisingly, rape revenge is not one of my favorite go-to horror subgenres, usually because there's so much graphic sexual assault, I have a hard time even caring about the vengeance part, I'm so traumatized.  Yet, I'm always looking for a woman-directed example that might settle the score.  Coralie Fargeat's Revenge (2017) premiered at TIFF this year, and the review from The Hollywood Reporter has a great tag line: "Debuting French writer-director Coralie Fargeat goes the full grindhouse with flair, channeling a female gaze and a wicked sense of humor into a rape payback thriller that churns a river of blood." David Rooney claims that the film has a "feminist sensibility," so I'll have to see if I agree with his take.

A queer young woman manifests supernatural powers in Joachim Trier's Thelma (2017)

I've seen a few too many queer monster/romances done wrong, but I'm still a sucker for a Norwegian spook story with a young telekinetic woman at its center.  The visuals from the trailer are so arresting (what is the deal with the eels, though), that I'm excited to give Joachim Trier's Thelma (2017) a try.  Hopefully, the film won't reiterate some of the most egregious "queer female monster" scenarios (I'm looking at you, Replace).

15th Century supernatural shenanigans in Lukas Feigelfeld's debut Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse (2017)

While I wasn't in love with Robert Eggers The Witch (2015), I appreciated its zeal for period detail.  I'm more inclined toward a visionary journey like Rainer Sarnet's mysterious and evocative November (2017), which I screened (and really enjoyed) this summer at Fantasia.  Here's hoping that Lukas Feigelfeld's Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse (2017) skews more toward the latter's imaginative imagery and dark fairy tale focus.  OOOh, Fantastic Fest just gave the film a terrific review and the trailer just dropped!

Maude experiences a waking nightmare searching for her twin in Luke Shanahan's Rabbit (2017)

Any synopsis that begins with "after waking from a vivid dream" provides my first clue that the film will blur that lovely line between dream and waking life, the "real" and the nightmare.  The trailer for Luke Shanahan's Rabbit (2017) suggests a woman's struggle to make sense of her troubled life, pointedly focused on her point-of-view and subjective experiences.  A must-see for my taste in horror.

Alice is the subject of her Dad's experiments in Sadrac González-Perellón's Black Hollow Cage (2017)

Another possible new discovery at Sitges, Black Hollow Cage's trailer made me immediately take notice.  An ominous soundtrack underlies the tale of poor Alice, stuck in the woods with her Dad until some other kids show up, and then things get nuts.  When is sequestering your disabled daughter and then shifting your attention to some other kids ever a good idea??  Potential evil children mayhem right here!!

Seth A. Smith's The Crescent (2017) centers on the subjectivity of a toddler

Premiering at TIFF to great acclaim, Seth A. Smith's The Crescent (2017) sounds utterly unique and enticing, and the trailer is a masterpiece of mood and atmosphere.  Frankly, the paintings that Mom creates are so mesmerizing, I could just watch a film centering on those images.  Word is out that this film offers much, and I've been fixed on seeing it ever since its positive reception in Toronto.

Beyond excited to see Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani latest Let the Corpses Tan (2017)

As far as I'm concerned, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani have yet to misstep.  Amer (2009) and The Strange Color of Your Bodies Tears (2013) are both brilliant and gorgeous, and I have been awaiting their newest film, Let the Corpses Tan (2017) for what feels like forever.  Thank you, Sitges, for playing this film this year.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  The trailer displays their characteristic sumptuous cinematography nestled in a retro mood piece, and I'm certain I'll love this film.

 

Kiyoshi Kurosawa tries his hand at the alien invasion genre in Before We Vanish (2017)

I do still long for the J-horror of the olden days, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse (2001) is one of my favorites.  I genuinely liked and was (appropriately) creeped out by Creepy (2016) last year, so I'm always ready for another Kurosawa sinister scare.  Before We Vanish's trailer looks great, sans the overly melodramatic music--which makes me fear that this film might be trying for a "star-crossed" alien love story.  Still, the film looks to have enough violence and irreverent humor to balance out the sentimental, and I'm eager to give it a try.

Angel Gonzalez's Compulsion (2017) looks to be a cautionary tale on the perils of jealousy

Quite clearly, the place to see Spanish language horror and thrillers is Sitges, and so Angel Gonzalez's Compulsion (2017) made it to my list, with a trailer that suggests that in Spanish horror, women continue to make the worst relationship choices....and that men, on the whole, suck.  I hope the film's heroine develops some much needed agency.

Irish twins, a haunted house, and ghosts delight in Brian O'Malley's The Lodgers (2017)

1920s rural Ireland, and twins residing in a haunted, crumbling estate--really, could any film be more tailor made to my specific tastes?  I haven't seen O'Malley's previous effort, Let Us Prey (2014), but The Lodgers (2017) looks so incredibly gorgeous, I had a difficult time choosing one image for this post.  Since this film is the gala closing night film, I might not get in, but fingers crossed that I get to see this luscious work at Sitges.

I had to be choosy when it came to the films that I decided to screen, since there are so many offerings at 5 different venues, some all night long (oh to be staying next door rather than taking the train from Barcelona).  Thankfully, I saw some films at Fantasia this summer, so I could focus on specific Sitges screenings, but I'm so tempted to see some of my favorites again, especially the 4K remastering of Argento's Suspiria--one of the best cinematic experiences I have ever had, and I've seen many films.  I'll be back with more in a couple of weeks!!

Fantasia 2017--The Endless--Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (2017)

Justin Benson and Aaron's Moorhead's The Endless (2107) turns the desert into an otherwordly realm

The Fantasia Film Festival can make a filmmaker's career, it's that well known and prestigious a festival.  When Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead were introducing their third film at this year's festival, the accomplished and extremely smart The Endless (2017), they thanked festival programmer Mitch Davis with heartfelt gratitude for giving their first feature, Resolution (2012) its breakout screening, all based on a "scratched up DVD" he was generous enough to watch, and love.  For those of you in the know about the indie horror/sci-fi film world, the rest is history as these two filmmakers have become the darlings of the festival world based on their high quality, deeply reflective films (be sure to see their second film, Spring (2014) too). The Endless connects to their previous films, a gift to their fans, but also stands alone as a balanced and inventive work on its own.

Justin and Aaron (co-directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead) revisit their old UFO death cult

The Endless follows Justin and Aaron (played by co-directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead), two brothers who struggle to live a happy life under their present circumstances.  They are both former "escapees" from what Justin describes as a "UFO death cult" that consisted of fun practices like castration, pedophilia, and plans for a mass suicide.  After the brothers receive a videotape from the death cult suggesting that the cult's members are far from dead, Aaron decides he must revisit this part of his childhood, and Justin unwillingly joins him.  They encounter not quite what they expect, as the cult is still pretty mysterious, but doesn't seem as "woo-woo" as it could be, and members do not seem like they are on a one-way track to mass death.  Still, plenty of weird sh** keeps happening to make you simultaneously side with both the wildly suspicious Justin and the naively trusting Aaron.

The brothers encounter strange totems and supernatural phenomena in this desert retreat

As I mentioned, there are plenty of nods to their previous films, specifically to Resolution, to make a fan's head swell with in-the-know pride.  The film employs its desolate and isolated landscape beautifully, and I haven't encountered that pervasive sense of lostness in a film for a while--an uncanny sense that you're pretty sure you passed that exact same log just moments ago.  The film is just ambiguous enough to make you trust our protagonists and yet question what they experience, and whether they are actually reliable as narrators.  Benson and Moorhead use the "don't show too much" approach to genre filmmaking, so that your imagination is triggered and fills in the blanks deliberately left open.  Nevertheless, what they do show us is pretty damn cool.  These guys know how to create a rich and elaborate world with very little money.  Will someone please give them a television show?  I believe that they could give Stranger Things a seriously competitive run. The Endless is the kind of cerebral sci-fi film that takes you along for a ride while making you feel rather smart, and is littered with surprises for those viewers who feel jaded by many contemporary examples of the genre.  This film solidifies Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's solid reputation; they simply ROCK.  See this film.

Fantasia 2017--Spoor--Agnieska Holland (2017)

Agnieska Holland's latest film Spoor (2017) combines magical mystery with cinematic joy

Fantasia just announced its winners of the festival's prizes, and best film goes to one of the best, if not the best, film I saw at Fantasia this year, Agnieska's Holland's gorgeous and thoughtful Spoor (2017).  I'm struggling a bit trying to convey my enthusiasm for this film in words, but I'll do my best without spoiling its mysteries or gushing overmuch.

Spoor is anchored by Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka's luminous performance as the vivid and incomparable Duszejko

Spoor is set in a truly magnificent but rather bleak area of the Polish countryside, where mists roll over the hills, and the mottled gray of a pack of deer, only their antlers showing,blends seamlessly with the desolate decor.  Within these challenging environs thrives Duszejko, a dog owner, animal lover, English teacher, and a woman who is much smarter and sexier than anyone else in the film.  By the way, she's in her 60s; this kind of casting would be unheard of in a Hollywood film, unless Meryl Streep starred (Oh No, Hollywood, you cannot remake this one).  The film follows Duszejko as she plays with her dogs, chastises hunters, poachers, and bad cops, and sharply eyes the sad straits of the younger generation, embodied by Dobra and Dyzio, whom she befriends.

She has suitors who admire her for her intelligence and beauty, including Boros, an entomologist

One morning, she wakes to find both of her beloved dogs missing, and soon after a handful of prominent men of the community end up murdered, with all signs pointing to some kind of "killer animal" revenge scheme, as each man is an abuser of animals in some way, and the only evidence seems to be deer tracks.  Duszejko is a lover of animals and nature, and like an animal rights Miss Marple, she decides to figure out what is going on in her rustic small town.

Duszejko respects the lives of all animals

Surprisingly, the film never veers into some pedantic, vegetarian screed against hunting or meat eating, but is more of an exploration of the importance of balance with and respect for nature.  The images of animal life, whether cowering from humans or malevolently watching their every move, are just stunning, the cinematography a delight at every moment.  Meanwhile, the procedural aspects of the film are very well done.  The film possesses a good twist, and by the time you find out how this wave of violence came about, you are so deeply entrenched by your love of the characters that drive the film, that your entire moral compass may shift.  The film questions patriarchal power and its abuses, while also shining a gentle light on anti-conformists who follow their own path, as well as what "family" really means.  How one can choose their family.  Within this context, the film's ending feels just right.

Some of the issues with which Spoor engages

A great film should transport you to another world, even if it's one familiar to you in some ways.  The film should compel you to deeply care about characters and their outcomes, forging a strong identification with them while maintaining a sense of intimacy, as if you have entered a secret, private realm.  A great film forces you to reexamine the places and people that you encounter everyday, shaping and shifting your perspective.  A truly magnificent film will take your breath away and make you feel sad that it has ended.  Spoor is that film!  I would happily pay extra to follow a franchise that focuses on Duszejko, and I hope that this performance brings Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka the attention she so richly deserves.

The film's quiet moments are just as intense as its more dramatic ones

Spoor was the third film I screened that day at the Fantasia Film Festival, and I walked out of that film not tired, but electrified, and seriously thought about screening it again the next day, I loved it so much.  Agnieska Holland's mastery of cinema and her profoundly poignant and provocative look at humanity is on wondrous display in this masterpiece, and I hope that Fantasia's award is the first of many accolades.  See this film as soon as you can, and then tell all your friends to see it.

Fantasia 2017--Bushwick-- Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott (2017)

Right-wing mercenaries turn Bushwick into a battle zone in Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott's Bushwick (2017)

When explaining to my friend Gus a synopsis of Bushwick, I described it as follows:  "There was lots of shooting, running, and hiding, and more shooting, running, and hiding, and a lot of people died.  Some of those people died unexpectedly."  While this description may not be the most charitable toward the film, it doesn't mean it's any less accurate, or that the film is not really VERY entertaining.

Lucy (Brittany Snow) learns combat survival skills PDQ

The film follows the blond Buffy look-a-like Lucy (Brittany Snow) as she arrives home with her boyfriend to visit her grandmother in Bushwick--shades of Little Red Riding Hood seem very deliberate.  Without really spoiling anything, her boyfriend is immediately killed in an explosion, and Lucy is forced to fend for herself in what has become a violent militarized zone, where teams of snipers, dressed in black, are just randomly gunning down the populace at every turn.  Meanwhile, desperate times produce a series of rapists and looters that hew a little too closely to some dangerous stereotypes, and if not for the gruff Stupe's assistance (played with stoic gravitas by Dave Bautista), she would be just another corpse littering the street.

Stupe and Lucy immersed in the shooting, running, and hiding loop

What follows is Lucy trying to find out what's happened to her family members (her grandmother and sister, respectively), while the two survivors try to figure out what the fu** is going on.  Turns out that a series of Southern states, under the influence of a charismatic right-wing ideologue, and funded by the pockets of some major corporation, are staging a military insurrection and seceding from the U.S.  The mercenaries they are using, who are merely "following orders," have been told that Bushwick is a good flashpoint for this insurgency because its a place so divided by difference, that its various factions couldn't possibly unite together to stage an organized resistance.  Of course, as right-wing fu**wits are so often dead wrong, the highlights of the film are the fierce pockets of resistance that emerge, and how people are willing to fight to the death against injustice.  Yet what the film implies, but doesn't really explore with any depth, is that folks are willing to go to the same lengths to fight to maintain bigotry and inequality.

Right-wingers are willing to "Make America Great Again" by any means necessary

While Bushwick was in production well before the results of the 2016 election, its themes are beyond timely and really resonate with the political sh**show that is the U.S. right now.  The film isn't overly pedantic, even though it certainly takes a side in this new version of a civil war.  Some characters die that you might not expect, which gives the film a bit more inventiveness beyond its shoot-em-up aesthetic and almost non-existent backstory.  Bushwick is a fun ride, but not as cathartic as I had hoped.  While the film is still way too chilling (similar to the ways in which the current adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale feels imminently possible), it feels too much like a video game to really resonate or make you care.

Fantasia 2017--Tiger Girl--Jakob Lass (2017)

Jakob Lass's Tiger Girl (2017) shows us what happens when women get angry

Watching women stop taking sh** and stand up against di**heads can be extremely satisfying, especially in a world where the differences that divide us can create a sense of overwhelming powerlessness.  Jakob Lass's gritty Tiger Girl (2017) immediately immerses you in a world where for young women, every moment of the day is laden with harassment and threat.  The film follows Maggy (Maria-Victoria Dragus), aka Vanilla, as she fails her police exam and takes the next step toward having some kind of future, training as a security guard.  Along the way, her encounters with both men and women are dispiriting, as she is mocked, harassed, and treated like garbage repeatedly.

Both Vanilla and the audience fall for Tiger's (Ella Rumpf's) charms

In the midst of this bleak situation, Tiger (Ella Rumpf) appears, a young, rough female hoodlum who takes no crap and meets adversity with a vicious kick and a kind of violent glee.  Someone blocks a parking space with her giant SUV? Knock off her side mirror so there is room.  Threatened waiting for the metro?  This scrappy young woman will take you on, even if it means she'll suffer some knocks in the process.  Certainly, the violence both committed by and acted upon Tiger is upsetting, but that's what makes her tough, mischievous demanding of payback so thrilling; her limited code of ethics, and her manic energy, keeps the character from being too unlikeable.

The baseball bat is the catalyst for a whole bunch of mayhem

After Vanilla's fateful encounter on a subway platform, the two start to hang out in earnest, two angry, disenfranchised women looking to have some rather violent fun.  The development of their friendship feels both hyper-intense and desperately real.  Their primary source of entertainment is to dress up in security uniforms, and pretend to enforce rules on the populace, wielding a small degree of authority in a world where they have little to none.  The scene where they strip search a series of male customers at the local mall is both disturbing and decidedly naughty.

Vanilla (Maria-Victoria Dragus) starts to take her violence way, way too far

Still, what starts out as some pranks against a culture that oppresses them, turns into a full-blown display of "ultra-violence," as Vanilla starts acting out well beyond her nighttime excursions, slugging people and bullying them just because she can.  Her once absent confidence transforms into a strange narcissistic psychopathy, and her ability to feel empathy is completely replaced by a malicious contempt for everyone, including a couple of droogs she enlists along the way.  In this maelstrom of female rage, even Tiger starts to distance herself from Vanilla and her extremes.

Vanilla and Tiger pose as mall security

While the film's adrenaline-fueled scenes of action and rage certainly plunge the viewer into this grim world and drag her along from scene to scene, the repetition of often unmotivated violence gets to be a little tedious after a time.  What begins as refreshing starts to feel rather pointless, and the film takes on an A Clockwork Orange relentlessness.

The cops are always eager to assert their authority

Yet, while Kubrick's film seems to have some really clear messages in its ultraviolent worldview, Tiger Girl's takeaway is more unclear.  Both young women are hungry to attain a power that is relatively absent in their lives (power that is economic, social, sexual).  Vanilla's interest in becoming law enforcement, and then part of a security force, connects to a larger wish to gain control over her life and wield authority over others.  Yet the notion of "power corrupts" is taken to an extreme, as her loss of control becomes rather tragic.  The film's ending also rings strange, as its message is not conclusive, but more a way of raising more questions of what the future might hold for these two angry citizens.  Tiger Girl is worth seeing for Ella Rumpf's portrayal of the charismatic Tiger, but overall, the film disappoints on some important levels.

Fantasia 2017--Game of Death--Sebastien Landry and Laurence "Baz" Morais (2017)

Teens end up playing the wrong game in Sebastien Landry and Laurence "Baz" Morais's insanely fun Game of Death (2017)

I've seen a lot of films so far at the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival, so I can be excused for getting my circuits crossed and going to the wrong film once, right?  Right?  While my plan was to see the Russian alien invasion flick Attraction (2016) at 1pm, I ended up (realizing too late to run across the street) attending Sebastien Landry and Laurence "Baz" Morais's nutso teen horror film Game of Death (2017) completely by accident.  To be frank, after watching the trailer, I had absolutely no interest in this film, and I thought it was going to be pretty dumb.  While the premise is ridiculous, it was so much FUN, that I have absolutely no regrets.  In fact, it has renewed my faith in horror comedies, which had solidified into granite after the previous night's abysmal Better Watch Out (2016), which I will not review for the sake of kindness.

The annoying Kenny is dispatched with truly awesome gore effects

The film opens w/ Beth snapchatting, instagramming, or whatever the f*** teenagers do in order to snarkily snipe at each other through social media, and her sarcastic quip about screwing her brother sets the tone: these kids are all annoying and relatively unlikeable, and I'm already eager for some of them to die.  They all gather together for a house/pool party on a nice sunny day, drinking and getting high, and what have you--parents who knows where.  I honestly cannot tell how old any of them are, but almost anyone under the age of 25 seems impossibly young.  They all think they are smarter than anyone, and are all dumb as stumps.  Therefore, they decide to play some electronically-assisted retro board game called Game of Death, just because.  As the trailer makes clear, the games rules are that they have to kill a set number of people (24) or they will all die.  Just to make sure they take things seriously, the game starts killing off the kids, claiming "one down" and laughing maniacally after each death.  Two of them die before the rest of the kids get a clue, and then homicidal impulses start to fly.  Oh, and the kills. The Kills!  Whether game induced or teen-perpetrated, the kills are just some of the most gory, ridiculous, and outright startling deaths I've seen in a while.  Granted, I tend to shy away from gore, but in Game of Death, you've got to revel in it.  Several times I turned to Alice, who was sitting beside me, and just said "wow."  Wow.

While Tyler and Ashley have reservations, brother and sister Tom and Beth enjoy the game a bit too much

Game of Death wears the descriptor "gratuitous" like a badge of honor.  Is there sex?  Of course!  A cross-cut scene of a woman experiencing oral sex while another woman gives an unnecessary-to-the-plot lapdance gets us started.  An incestuous make-out scene goes on way, way too long, and ends in a romantic shot of the "lovers" silhouetted in front of a setting sun.  The film features one of the most gorgeous and surprising animated sequences, stylizing the gore as a couple of characters go full-stop-massacre on a care home.

Some players, like Mary-ann, never quite accept that what is happening is real

From the first 10 minutes onward, everyone, and I mean everyone, is covered in blood (as a nice touch, Baz, one of the co-directors, introduced the film covered in the red stuff).  Just to be clear though, no dogs or little children were harmed during this film--which is a nice caveat; although, I did feel a loss at the murder of the lovely Marilyn, whose singing really added a nice touch to the overall tone.  Oh, and you find out a surprising amount about manatees over the course of the film.

In sum, a film that I would normally not give the slightest glance became one of my favorites of the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival, and I do recommend it if you are up for something gaggingly gory and over the top.  An IMDB reviewer claimed that the concept was great and the execution poor.  I would switch it up and say that the concept is beyond dumb (shades of reading the Necromicon in The Evil Dead--stupid kids), but the execution is witty, inventive, and that animation scene is a real standout.  Be sure to check it out if you are in the mood for some gory surprises.

Fantasia 2017--M.F.A.--Natalia Leite (2017)

Francesca Eastwood gives a powerful performance in Natalia Leite's provocative and divisive film M.F.A (2017)

I tend to shy away from rape-revenge films, as I find that they are often overly sexualizing and exploitative, and often too triggering in the way they represent sexual assault.  Still, rape survivors have stated that they sometimes find the cathartic nature of revenge explored in these films somewhat liberating.  Therefore, I attended the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival screening of Natalia Leite's (2017) version of rape-revenge, M.F.A., with a degree of enthusiasm and trepidation, as I hoped that the combination of women director and writer (Leah McKendrick who plays Skye in the film) would bring a necessary degree of freshness and sensitivity to the subgenre.  After sitting on, and mulling over, this film for a few days, I would say that it mostly succeeds, although I still have some reservations.  While I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews, I think some might be inevitable here, so be forewarned.

Noelle's assault brings out her burgeoning talents

M.F.A. follows Noelle (Francesa Eastwood), a young artist fulfilling an M.F.A. in fine arts at a ridiculously small arts school in Southern California.  She is shy and tightly wound, her art work uninspired and subject to withering critiques by her fellow students.  She's invited by the smarmy Luke (Peter Vack) to his house for a party, and when they retreat to his room upstairs, what starts off as a sweet make-out quickly turns into a vicious and brutal rape.  This scene is terribly hard to watch, and thankfully is one of only two sexual assaults represented in the film.  Nevertheless, both assaults are harrowing, and Leite in the Q & A states that she very carefully tried to focus on her female characters' distress and POV.  In some ways, she's in a tough position, trying not to be gratuitous, while simultaneously highlighting the brutality involved in order to make sense of Noelle's rather intense response to the ordeal.  I still think that she could have shot these scenes more carefully; I think some guys could totally read them as a turn-on.  After Noelle tries the "usual routes" for dealing with such assaults--therapy, reporting to the school, joining a survivor's group--she realizes that these types of experiences are ubiquitous and rarely find proper justice.  While I appreciate that the film shows a variety of approaches that different survivors take to their assaults, it really suggests that Noelle's take is the only one that acomplishes anything.  Once she decides to take matters into her own hands, the results are both powerful and ultimately destructive.

Noelle enacts her own form of "justice" on rapists and abusers

The ways in which Noelle achieves payback are both brutal and frequently satisfying, and Eastwood's performance makes you root for her throughout her transformation.  Yet the intensity of her response, and the specific changes that she undergoes, leave me really unsettled.  While the first murder could be seen as "accidental," Noelle starts to really get off on the blood and guts involved.  She becomes a much better artist after her assault, which is damn problematic; the philosophical discussions about art being about "truth" are kind of hackneyed and don't really fit.  Second, she also becomes a super sexy femme fatale who seduces all the guys she ultimately kills.  The fact that she becomes some sexpot that gets off on killing really undermines some of the more serious issues the film is raising.  I do not have a problem with her evolution into a vigilante, or the fact that the film rather smartly emphasizes that this type of reaction/behavior has consequences.  What I take issue with is the fact that Noelle becomes so overtly sexualized, that the film comes across as more titillating then it should.  The laughter of the guys behind me made me squirm (as it did an audience member who admitted that she too was a rape survivor).  Sure, people laugh sometimes when they are uncomfortable, but trust me--this film is NOT a comedy.

The television show Sweet Vicious tends to get the balance right between vengeance and humor, and M.F.A. at times reminded me of that series, with its combination of pitch black irony and social conscience.  Yet, at other times M.F.A. seemed to share more in common with some of the rape revenge films it is trying to critique (I Spit on Your Grave, Last House on the Left).  I still think Leite's film is a remarkable accomplishment and well worth watching, and I regretted seeing it alone because I was eager to discuss it with others, particularly female Fantasia attendees.  During the Q & A, the majority of the audience (including me) were really silent, trying our best to digest what we just saw.  I'm still chewing on the film, which I think means that it has significant impact, and also suggests that Leite and McKendrick may have some important cinematic stories still to tell.  Still, the film has some problems.  I recommend M.F.A. with a warning to be prepared to be disturbed and challenged.

Fantasia 2017--78/52--Alexandre Philippe (2017)

Alexandre Philippe's provocative documentary 78/52 (2017) explores Janet Leigh's last moments in Hitchcock's Psycho

For a film that follows in depth a rather brief 52 second scene, Alexandre Philippe's 78/52 is one of the most fascinating investigations of cinema and the horror genre that you will ever see.  Unlike the rather good Room 237, which explores fans' obsessions surrounding Kubrick's The Shining, Philippe's unpacking of the notorious shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho properly pays homage to what might be considered the most seminal film of the horror genre, and one of its most shocking murder set pieces.  Setting the stage by shooting exteriors on the Bates Hotel and house set, the film leaves no aspect of this scene unturned, yet never feels boring, or "over-analyzing" as it unfolds.

Hitch believed that the Casaba melon was most analogous in sound to the flesh bag of the human body

For horror geeks, the film provides a host of pleasures, as many luminaries of horror filmmaking (with only Karyn Kusama as the female representative of the genre) extol the virtues of Psycho, citing its influences, and performing many feats of close textual analysis.  Various Hitchcock experts (all guys) explain how Psycho fits among Hitchcock's oeuvre.  Film editor Walter Murch is one of the most exciting luminaries featured, and he gives you a real blow-by-blow sense of how innovative the film's editing was, while also paying proper respect to Saul Bass's involvement.  Bernard Hermann's score is similarly unpacked and heralded as part of the scene's achievements, and there's a marvelous scene that explains how exactly the sound of a knife penetrating Marion's flesh came into being.  What the film really emphasizes, without diminishing Hitchcock, is that this film, like many, was a collaborative effort by many outrageously talented people, and that its legacy lives on in both classic and contemporary horror works.

The guys from Spectrum wax on about their love of Psycho (particularly Anthony Perkins)

While this film is ostensibly a "talking heads" documentary, it never feels stilted, dry, or stale, as the clips used to flesh out the conversations are well placed, gorgeous to look at, and often revelatory.  I would have liked to see more women interviewed for this film (I counted seven total), and I found this dearth a sad commentary considering that two of the film's producers (present for the Q & A) are women.  Nevertheless, 78/52, funded two years ago during Fantasia's own Frontiere's program, is so beautifully crafted, that I'm super excited for Philippe's next documentary project--an exploration of the infamous chestburster scene from Ridley Scott's Alien.  For lovers of Psycho in particular, and cinema in general, this film is an absolute must-see!

Fantasia 2017--Friendly Beast--Gabriela Amaral Almeida (2017)

Inacio shores up his masculinity in Gabriela Amaral Almeida's taut thriller Friendly Beast/O Animal Cordial (2017)

Restaurants are strange places to work, full of delicate egos, macho kitchens, beleaguered waitstaff putting up with entitled customers, and crazy, penny-pinching owners who treat their workers like slaves.  So Gabriela Amaral Almeida's marvelous Brazilian Horror film Friendly Beast (2017) gloriously reveals when the rather typical state of restaurant work goes horribly off the rails.  While I still have quite a few films left to screen at the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival, Friendly Beast is the most overtly feminist film that I've watched so far, and reveals an exciting new female voice entering the horror scene.

The film takes place in a small Brazilian restaurant, where Sara (Luciano Pais) works for the narcissistic and horribly insecure Inacio (Murilo Benício)--whom the director admits is a rather well-known soap opera actor in Brazil, taking on a decidedly different role.  Inacio badgers his kitchen staff, including the queer POC chef Djair (Irandhir Santos), even taking credit for his culinary genius.  Sara waits on jerkoffs like Veronica and Bruno, entitled rich, white folk who expect the staff of color to cater to their every whim.  Things go decidedly pear-shaped at the end of the night when a couple of young thugs decide to rob the place.  Alas, this robbery isn't the restaurant's first, and Inacio is fully prepared, gun in hand, to prove that he's a "real man" able to fend off any and all threats.  He's also a cauldron of bubbling rage waiting to boil over, and when he does, rational behavior goes out the window.  The formerly avuncular owner becomes quite a different beast altogether, and his delicate ego makes everyone a target for his wrath.

Djair and one of the robbers, wait, bound and helpless, for their fate to be decided

Much of the tension of the film comes from the marvelously intimate set, as the locations are limited to the restaurant's tight spaces--the dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.  Amaral Almeida masterfully employs camerawork and sound to amplify the claustrophobic nature of the place, and even when some characters are not present for the rather gory violence underway, they cannot escape its presence, as it lurks right outside the door.  Her critique of masculinity and its perils is really smart, as she reveals through Inacio's unraveling that gender is a struggle for everyone across the spectrum of identities, and that there is no greater horror than trying to live up to certain gender ideals.

Sara's transformation over the course of the film is the film's most brilliant (and feminist) facet

The true revelation of this film is Luciana Paes' fearless performance as Sara, a character who goes through so many surprising and exhilarating changes as the action evolves.  Initially, Sara is a resentful worker forced to stay late due to some last minute customers.  Her fascination with the blond, entitled Veronica takes a significant turn, suggesting that one should be a lot more respectful of their fu**ing server, okay?  The film implies that she has a curious relationship to her boss, one that borders on a crush (and what the kitchen staff sees as "ass kissing").  That relationship also changes by degree, as tidbits of info are supplied to shift our understanding of Sara as a female character.  The events that unfold appear to liberate her in some ways, perhaps unveiling the beating heart of her primal energy just waiting for the moment of release. She combines the tropes of "final girl" and monster in truly inventive ways, and the ending of this film is a doozy--immensely satisfying.  This film also has a sex scene that is so astonishing, it will BLOW YOUR MIND.  I cannot get those images out of my head, nor do I want to!

As a debut feature, Friendly Beast is an incredibly accomplished and riveting piece of work.  It explores the intersections of race, class, and gender in an intelligent and sophisticated fashion while still being a bloody gory work that lies comfortably within the horror genre.  The film raises questions about women's desires, and the pressures on them to behave "appropriately," creating a feminist work that challenges many of the genre's common understandings of what role women should play.  I recommend it highly, and eagerly await Amaral Almeida's next film.