Welcome to the 9th annual Fantastic fest film festival here in Austin, TX. This is my daily recap which over the next week will primarily recap the film experiences I have as well as touch on the mental and physical status of the Festival going folk, myself included. My entertainment is guaranteed but please, pray for my well being. To the fest!
Welcome to the 2013 Fantastic Fest! Day One was a great affair, a smattering of rain not halting festivities at all. This year saw a new ticketing system introduced which instills some more randomness to your viewing pleasure. You pick movies for each timeslot in order or preference of whats available and are assigned them by computer as closely to match as possible. I struck gold on day 1 with all 3 slots getting my first pick. So what were they and how were they?
MACHETE KILLS:
Ok let’s get it out of the way first, I hated the first Machete. I found it tried to hard, was very heavy handed and aspired to crowbar the character into cinematic lore. It just grated with me a lot. So why see the sequel? Because it was the world premiere and if I was going to see it this would be the place to surrounded by the most intense film lovers out there. I also believe in second chances…cinematically anyway.
Essentially, Machete Kills is a shit ton of fun, a slight step is taken back from the title character and it comes across as more of a ensemble affair. Not being hellbent of making Machete the focus so much allows the other characters to come through, who in turn bounce off Machete very effectively and do more to define him and allow the fun and comedy Danny Trejo brings to the character work. It is fast paced and just packed full of absurd kills, cheesy lines, plenty of geeky film nods (notably Star Wars) and actors cutting loose. In the Q&A Rodriguez mentioned how most of the stars used in the movie did their shoots across one or two days giving him a ability to focus on them. It shows, there were some great turns in there from Cuba Gooding Jr., William Sadler, Tom Savini and Amber Heard amongst others. The real standout for me, which I feel conflicted to admit was Mel Gibson. He really attacks the part he has with gusto and reminds people of what a screen presence he has. He also is clearly enjoying himself even having self deprecating remarks about a ‘incident’ and even allowing a Mad Max nod.
If you liked the first, you’ll flip over this one, hated the first, give it a shot, you may be pleasantly surprised.
THE DIRTIES:
This film was a curious choice, I was somewhat intrigued by the dark comedy nature of the approach to bullying but really I put it as top pick in this slot as friends were going and I wanted to ease into the first night with some good company. I am VERY glad I did. The Dirties was a very accomplished film. It felt genuine, both in the cult references and relationships within the movie. It was not forced in any way, a really genuine portrayal of a friendship in school of two kids who endure bullying. It was filmed in a actual working school in Canada with students involved which probably contributed to this. It becomes clear at a point the film is starting to walk down a darker path and it becomes more uncomfortable and yet more engrossing viewing. The humour remains, a guilty laugh can come out which is a complement to how the film works. I don’t want to say I enjoyed the film, that seems inappropriate with the direction it took, it did leave me feeling unsettled and that is how it should be. The subject of bullying and potential fallout from it can be terrible. A really impressive piece of work.
WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL?
Watch the trailer below and you will understand why I selected this film. It looked batshit crazy, it looked beautiful, it looked fun. What we got was something a little different. A Yakuza war is ongoing and one boss wants to shoot a movie starring his daughter in the middle of it all. The film struck me as a Japanese farcical comedy or perhaps a riff on the Lock Stock… style gangster movie with comedy fallout. I had issues with the tone, it was a little too farcical, all the characters seemed to be overdoing it and often in asian cinema there can be a grating character or two, here there were many and they were persistently grating. A little balance would have helped amongst the characters. There were amazing moments, a blood covered floor and girl in a white dress, stabbed men spraying rainbows from their chest, a finale that was pretty epic (although CGI blood was a little distracting). Scenes of real artistry peppered throughout. One scene with the Yakuza boss discussing his breakfast, lunch and dinner plans with women being note perfect. Are the little moments enough? Probably not, the film tried too hard to be abstract and ended up a little slapstick.
Day two’s lineup is currently Eega, Detective Downs, A Field In England, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear and She Wolf. I’ll report back tomorrow!