FANTASTIC FEST 2013: Day Eight. THE SACRAMENT, TIME CRIMES, THE ZERO THEOREM and CLOSING PARTY!

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!

THE SACRAMENT:

I’m going to put out a disclaimer here, my frame of mind probably wasn’t right for this film, it wasn’t helped by technical issues causing it to be restarted three times and I also had to leave 5 minutes before the end (due to the delays) to make it to my next screening. The film is in the ‘found footage’ style, following a documentary crew following a man looking for his sister who has joined a religious commune.

The film started well. I found it pretty engrossing with early scenes sufficient to cause unease and critique of what was really going on at the compound. As they find more disturbing things under the polished veneer, events spiral out of control…quickly. I mean that. There is a rapid and sudden leap in logic and reactions of the cult group. To quote one of my favorite films, ‘things escalated quickly’. Perhaps it was the pace, perhaps its my own inability to understand/tolerate the shocking decisions some cultist/religious people will take. That coupled with the technical issues and the film not only lost me but got me pretty aggravated. The Sacrament got good buzz around the festival but I cannot press for or against it without another and complete viewing. A frustrating start to the day especially after such a promising start.

TIME CRIMES:

Each year, there are one or two films that really catch the attention of Fantastic Fest goers, back in 2007, it was Time Crimes. From Spanish director/writer/actor/FF legend/karaoke badass Nacho Vigalondo, the film picked up the Best Feature Prize and the Silver Medal Audience Award. The reputation and tales of Nacho made catching this film with a Q&A to follow petty essential viewing. He was joined by Eugenio Mira (whose excellent Grand Piano showed this year), who composed the soundtrack for the movie and the screening was to celebrate the release of it on LP through Mondo, the art-wing of the Alamo Drafthouse.

To give you a little taste, here is the Q&A of Nacho after the original screening back in 2007

Time Crimes is a low budget, clever little time-loop story, really well thought out and executed. We meet Hector (Karra Elejalde), who while sitting in has backyard with his binoculars, catches sight of a woman disrobing in the woods behind his house. Setting out to investigate, he is attacked by a mysterious figure whose face is concealed by pink bandages. He runs away (the man in pursuit) and stumbles across a research facility where he looks for refuge. He meets a scientist (Nacho himself), who urges him to hide in a chamber full of white liquid. He closes the lid and Hector suddenly finds himself climbing out. The scientist has no idea who he is. Hector leaves the building, looks in the distance and sees himself, holding his binoculars, looking into the woods. What unravels over the rest of the film involves multiple Hectors, time jumps and efforts to maintain the integrity of the timeline Hector is stuck in and avoid certain fuck-ups he creates along the way.

Time Crimes was a lot of fun and cleverly done, it’s possible to predict some of the twists and turns that take place but the pace which the movie moves at and the deftness of how everything pieces together makes for an impressive debut film. It’s available on Netflix right now so I urge you to check it out.

THE ZERO THEOREM:

After seeing The Congress a few days ago I was infused with a dystopian Gilliam vibe and lo and behold, Fantastic Fest delivers with the newest film from the man behind Twelve Monkeys, Brazil and Time Bandits. Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained, Inglorious Basterds) plays Qohen, a reclusive hypochondriac who crunches data ‘entities’ for the Mancom corporation. He lives under the belief that he will one day receive a phone call that will give him the meaning of existence. One day the ‘Management’ of the firm (Matt Damon, The Bourne Series, The Departed) offers him a new assignment, solving an equation that offers answers to existence. In return, Qohen will be able to work from home, thus making sure he will not miss his call. During his work in his home, a run down Chapel, he is visited by Bainsley (Melanie Thierry) a woman he encountered at a party and Bob (Lucas Hedges), the son of Management, both of which try to help him deal with his mental issues and motivate him in their own ways to solve the Theorem.

After a somewhat rocky output the last few years (The Brothers Grimm, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), The Zero Theorem represents a return of Gilliam to the form he exhibited in the ’80s and ’90s. Immediately you are met with visuals and character quirks that establish this as a Gilliam film. Set in a ‘near future’ London that more closely resembles a neon-lit Tokyo, futuristic but retro at the same time. The budget is noticeably not huge, but the clunky charm fits the aesthetic of the film well.

Qohen starts as a nervous hypochonridac, referring to himself in the third person, in a world where social structure is a few steps removed from our own but one you can firmly relate to. People at a party listening to music on their phones, personalized adverts chasing you down the streets, religion perverted and blended with entertainment giving you ‘The Church of Batman the Redeemer’. Above it all, big brother is watching. The corporations and higher-ups monitoring peoples behaviors and actions. It is a hot box of pressure in this world with more control then ever. It’s no wonder people start to contemplate the true purpose of it all. The core theme of the film is discovering one’s purpose and what you want to get from life. Qohen’s work on the Zero Theorem involves proving an equation to make zero equal one-hundred percent, essentially proof that life is pointless. The irony is that in the course of his work, his exposure to people intended to refocus him and help him not go insane lead to him finding purpose in things. Simple joys are once again discovered amidst a crazy world and continual pressure to prove that it is all really for nothing.

Waltz is great in the lead, admirably demonstrating he isn’t just a scene-stealing supporting actor. I developed a rather inappropriate crush on Melanie Thierry during the course of the film so I’ll say she played her role as a seductress and motivator quite well. The film was also host to a number of fantastic actors who ranged from large to small roles including David Thewlis (Harry Potter series, War Horse), Tilda Swinton (Constantine, Moonrise Kingdom)and Sanjeev Bhaskar, Peter Stormare (Fargo) and Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas, Skyfall) as Qohen’s Doctors. Gilliam’s world is a vibrant, colorful one and he pulls together a cast that fits it perfectly.

It’s not as thought provoking as some would have you believe, the messages are pretty evident, but it doesn’t make the journey any less enjoyable. Some cite it as depressing but I don’t believe that is the take home message. Watching a man live in a Gilliam-crafted world, erratic and determined to prove the futility of the universe and yet unwittingly awakening to the joy of living? It left me feeling rather upbeat. A great return for Gilliam to his pomp of old. If that appeals to you, you’ll love it.

CLOSING PARTY!:

The closing night party is usually a big deal, last year it had a Korean military theme and I did karaoke while wearing an electroshock collar, amongst other insane shit. This year one of the closing panels was Danger Gods, and as such a thrill and danger element was injected into the evening. A stunt show, rides, assault courses and men on fire jumping from the Alamo roof kicked off proceedings. After that things degenerated rapidly with drunken karaoke (cut short due to beer spillage on the equipment), tattooing, a DJ/dance party in the lobby and (as a very popular You Tube video shows) a shot fueled ‘slap off’ in the car park with some notable guests being involved.

A Fantastic week, plain and simple. If you live in Austin, your life will be enriched by experiencing this Festival. I’d like to extend a personal thanks to the rest of the Cinapse crew for throwing themselves into things with such wild abandon, Tim League, Kristen Bell, Meredith Borders and the rest of the FF team for putting together such a feat and HUGE thanks to one and all on the Fons PR team for their help and patience throughout the week. Roll on Fantastic Fest X!