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Fantastic Fest 2019: KNIVES OUT is Practically Perfect in Every Way
Rian Johnson stuns with the best of the festival
Sure, Knives Out looked like a fun romp with an amazing cast coming from Rian Johnson, a writer-director with absolutely nothing to prove. Yet somehow I just wasn’t expecting this closing night film to become my very favorite of Fantastic Fest.
Knives Out is that rare bird of a studio film that is not in any way based on a pre-existing intellectual property and which was produced for what would likely be considered in the “mid-budget” range. Relying on Rian Johnson’s name in his first post-Star Wars outing, and banking on an absolutely stacked cast full of both A-list and up-and-coming talent, Knives Out has plenty going for it. Add to that the fact that the film is very much an old-school murder mystery that, while remaining an original property, wears its admiration for Agatha Christie mystery novels on its sleeve, and you’ve got a film that will almost certainly appeal to a broad demographic of moviegoers as well. These are all observations one can make of the film from a distance or based solely on the trailer. And these were all elements I counted as appealing when assessing my own excitement about the film.
The beauty of Knives Out, however, is in the script and the execution of said script. Snappy and witty from moment one, Johnson proves that he’s one of Hollywood’s greatest modern assets by penning an absolutely stunning screenplay. Knives Out balances quite a wide array of characters seemingly effortlessly. Johnson himself said this plot featured more characters than he was used to writing for in the Fantastic Fest Q&A. But even with such an expansive cast, everyone feels vital to the complicated murder mystery plot. And about that plot. Sure, it takes place in a grand old mansion and anyone can be a suspect. It’s familiar and comfortably falls into the murder mystery genre. But this thing twists and turns at a rapid pace and is virtually guaranteed to surprise even the most avid mystery solver.
Just as important, Johnson effortlessly builds in societal commentary that burns with relevance even as it celebrates old school tropes. Amidst this very broad array of talent, the cast is still very white and loaded to the brim with privileged and wealthy characters, mostly members of the Thrombey clan, the patriarch of which (Christopher Plummer having a blast as Harlan Thrombey) has been discovered dead of a suspected suicide. Yet the central character of the whole narrative quickly proves to be Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas, Blade Runner 2049), Harlan’s personal nurse and, by all accounts, a “part of the family”. It will be Marta and private investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig continuing the hot streak of playing southern characters he began with Logan Lucky) who take center stage and star in this ensemble.
Blanc has been brought in to investigate Harlan’s death, but even he is unsure of who has hired him. It was an anonymous payment that brought him to the Thrombey estate. The brilliant script quickly introduces us to a huge array of characters and catches us up on the details of Harlan’s death and final days through a series of police interrogations in which we meet Detectives Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield) and Wagner (Noah Segan), as well as Blanc. It’s here where the nuances of each character begin to shine through, and the script also quickly begins jumping around in time with breathtaking ease. Harlan had hosted an 85th birthday party and been found dead the next morning. The interviews begin the following week. And we’ll bounce around in time routinely as Knives Out’s delightfully twisty and complex narrative play out.
De Armas turns in a star-making lead performance and its through her plotline that Johnson builds in some of his most incisive commentary. Harlan Thrombey dearly loved Marta and confided in her as a true friend. With his blood family, however, relations were not so good. Knives Out comments on old money versus new money, white privilege, and even occasionally veers into outright political commentary as some Thrombeys hold very right wing views, others left wing views, but all privileged beyond belief and varying degrees of insufferable as a result. The subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which Marta is made to feel “other” or “less than” are many, but de Armas’ performance is filled with dignity and Marta is written with a fair amount of agency and pluck.
The entire cast turns in brilliant work as befitting a script that allows each to shine. It’s too much for one review to lay out each actor and character and communicate how they’re related, what makes them tick, and what motives they may have had for ending Harlan Thrombey’s life, but let’s just say that no one is above suspicion and Johnson is going to keep you guessing until the very end. He uses his post-Star Wars clout to assemble an absolute dream cast, lets them all loose to have fun with their characters, and makes every last dollar spent show up on that screen. It’s almost too hard to even single out a few actors as shining especially brightly, but Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Toni Colette, and Don Johnson are pretty unforgettable. And the various ways in which [Rian] Johnson keeps you guessing feel fresh and new even in a dusty genre that’s been selling airport paperbacks since before there were airports.
Knives Out truly has it all. Wildly entertaining from start to finish, with a mystery that keeps you guessing, a cast for the ages, and a wickedly smart sense of humor that skewers the aloof and privileged, while ultimately also having a heart of gold that celebrates goodness and human decency — this isn’t simply fantastic entertainment, it’s one of the very best films 2019 has to offer. Now we must all support this film in hopes that Johnson will pen many more adventures of Benoit Blanc in the future.
And I’m Out.
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Fantastic Fest: THE LODGE is a Beautifully Bleak Horror Film
Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s second feature is some ice-cold, nerve-shredding cinema
A family succumbs to madness after a blizzard traps them in their mountain hunting lodge. It’s a classic horror premise, with variations employed to great effect by directors from Stanley Kubrick to John Carpenter. The Lodge is the latest entry in this chilly canon, but what sets the film apart is how writer-directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala and writer Sergio Casci involve The Lodge’s unwitting audience in an unbearably tense game of confirming and subverting expectations.
Grace (Riley Keough) just wants things to get better. She’s engaged to Richard (Richard Armitage), the psychiatrist who not only helped Grace move on from her childhood in a suicide cult, but turned her experience into a series of bestselling books. Their relationship, however, had its hand in the tragic end of Richard’s previous marriage — which Richard’s children Aidan (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh) still resent Grace for. In the hopes of patching things up, Richard drops the new family at his hunting lodge for Christmas. Richard plans to come back and join them once he takes care of some work in the city, and Grace looks forward to finally bonding with Aidan and Mia. But this idyllic stay soon becomes a nightmare when a blizzard hits and the family’s clothes and food go missing. Is Grace having a relapse? Is this just one of the children’s games? Or is there a more sinister presence hiding within the shadows of the lodge?
From its shocking opening scenes on, The Lodge is a film that plays with the contextual clues an audience feeds on to form opinions about characters. Alicia Silverstone appears to be the main character — until she isn’t; it’s actually a film about Aidan and Mia, who dread Grace’s delayed arrival. Until the film arrives at its titular location, Grace is seen at a distance, through frosted windows and archival footage of her involvement with the cult. Before we even meet her, Grace is as much of a villain to us as she is to the children who hate and fear her. To that end, the children’s passive and intentional cruelty towards her feels oddly justified — until it isn’t. It’s a film whose perspective is endlessly shifting, leaving its audience on tenterhooks throughout each scene until the next subtly climactic action that reorients our worldview.
It’s a strange effect — even though The Lodge invites us to invest ourselves in the three leads (and boy, do we), there’s a sinister undercurrent that nothing they say or do can be trusted. It’s one aspect of the film’s stellar performances by Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, and Lia McHugh. All three are tasked with the challenge of portraying characters that must come across as both victims and masterminds, a fine line which all actors walk well. Keough arguably has the most difficult job of the three, given how the film’s first third is so heavily biased against her. But once she’s actually on-screen, Keough imbues Grace with a fragile resolution reminiscent of Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby. Grace comes across as a woman who’s salvaged some humanity out of weathering the unspeakable, and must suddenly contend with being a part of a family that wants nothing to do with her. As much as they engender our sympathy, Martell and McHugh are wonderfully insidious as the children — in the wake of tragedy and clearly forced to grow up faster than others, there’s the sense that Aidan and Mia are capable of doing whatever they can to survive, no matter who or what may get in their way.
As The Lodge ratchets up the tension, perspective shifts once more from unpredictability to an unstoppable feeling of dread and anxiety. Rather than save its reveals for the last few minutes, The Lodge telegraphs its reveals early on, reveling in the later consequences of the characters’ hidden motivations. As a result, The Lodge goes from deeply unsettling to truly terrifying…not because we don’t know what might happen next, but because we do — as much as we wish we didn’t. One might argue that’s a sign of how The Lodge really respects its audience: it never presumes to know more than its audience, instead mining its horror out of the slow confirmation of the audience’s worst fears, becoming a gut wrenching watch long before the film’s final act. Even more so than the directors’ previous film Goodnight Mommy, The Lodge is an unapologetically, relentlessly bleak as hell watch, one made all the more memorable by the commitment of the talent both behind and in front of the camera.
The Lodge had its Texas Premiere at Fantastic Fest 2019. NEON will release the film in theaters February 7, 2020.
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Fantastic Fest 2019: IRON FISTS AND KUNG FU KICKS Interview With Director Serge Ou
Scott Adkins is discussed, as is Cynthia Rothrock, break dancing, gun fu, & more
It was one of those screenings where you sit down with one set of expectations and come away with a whole different perspective. Iron Fists And Kung Fu Kicks is an up and coming documentary about kung fu cinema and the Hong Kong film industry that played Fantastic Fest 2019 and will hit Netflix within the year. From the producers of such titles as Machete Maidens Unleashed and Electric Boogaloo, this documentary makes a surprisingly emotional argument for the world-changing impact that kung fu cinema has had on pop culture. With action cinema being my favorite genre, and the movie having such an impact on me, I was thrilled to get the opportunity to sit down with director Serge Ou (all the way from Australia to be at Fantastic Fest this year) and talk kung fu movies. I hope you’ll enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
Ed Travis: I knew going into Fantastic Fest, “I’m going to check this movie [Iron Fists And Kung Fu Kicks] out.” When [Cinapse] did our most anticipated lists this was up there. But I really was just expecting a nice little educational film. Like I’m going to see things I love because I love kung fu movies and I’m going to learn a few things. But I just thought the film was very emotionally impactful. I was like “I’m not expecting to be feeling this emotional in this kung fu movie documentary”. So I just thought, man, let’s sit down and chat.
Serge Ou: That’s so nice of you. And such kind words. Because filmmakers just want to connect with an audience. That sort of feedback is priceless. It gives me absolute warm fuzzies. Because that’s why you do it. You know what I mean? And if you can find that, that’s so rewarding. So thank you.
Ed Travis: I looked up your IMDb and it looks like mostly Australian and New Zealand kinds of projects. How’d you get involved in this project?
Serge Ou: Pop culture is a really big thing for me. A couple of years ago I made a doc called Stranded about the influence of Australian punk on the global punk scene. That’s a big thing for me because I was a first wave punk rocker back in the day. Punk has been really important to me. But what I loved about that was the subculture thing and how it seeped into the mainstream and it’s affected the mainstream in peculiar ways. And this film… look, I’ve always loved the [kung fu] genre and this to me does a very similar thing. And that’s what really turned me on. We had this opportunity and it was like, yes, I really want to tell this story. And I kind of knew the story I wanted to tell. It was just a blessing. The stars aligned.
Ed Travis: So this was a package that was presented to you, like, “Hey, this movie’s going to be made and we’d love for you to direct” or can you talk about how that all worked out?
Serge Ou: The producer, Veronica Fury, has made several films in this space. Machete Maidens Unleashed, she produced, about the Philippines. And Electric Boogaloo, which is about Cannon films. She’s my business partner. So we talk a lot about what we’d like to do so we came up with this and the opportunity arose. We spoke to XYZed… sorry, Z.
Both: Laugh
Serge Ou: They were keen, and Netflix were keen. So we had the opportunity to kick it and to go. The Melbourne International Film Festival is also really important for us because they came in as a partner and we premiered there just about a month ago.
Ed Travis: So if Netflix were partners, does that mean this is going to be a Netflix film?
Serge Ou: Yes. In December it’s on Netflix.
Ed Travis: And is that global?
Serge Ou: Yes, I believe so. I think only Australia and New Zealand is not on the list because we’ve got a distributor in Australia.
Ed Travis: Great, so it’s going to be widely available for people to check out before too long. Very cool. In the film you follow some really interesting threads. I found the movie to be structured like “this inspired this, which inspired this, which inspired this”. It’s like never ending inspiration. That’s why I think I got so emotionally invested in it. So I’m learning some things like I assumed, but to see it all put together in this “A leads to B leads to C” structure was just really engaging. So can you talk about some of the thematic elements that, for you, really had to be in this movie? What were some non-negotiables?
Serge Ou: I really wanted to talk about the breaking scene in New York. Because the rap component of the hip hop evolution is widely known. You’ve got Wu Tang and the RZA and that whole story is out there. But I wanted to share the connection to dance throughout the whole thing. Cheng Pei-Pei (Come Drink With Me) brings dance to the action. And Bruce Lee brings dance to his schtick. And I’m not saying that kung fu cinema was, you know, the origins of breaking. But there was this amazing influence that was happening there. And that’s something I really wanted to talk about. There’s a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to talk about but we couldn’t for different reasons.
Ed Travis: What are some of those things?
Serge Ou: Gun Fu. And the connection of John Woo and Chang Cheh. And this idea of bringing that operatic influence from Wuxia to create Gun Fu. It never panned out. We couldn’t quite get that all happening. And it was a duration thing. The Last Dragon was also really important to me because it kind of wrapped up that whole African-American New York thing. And how that sort of kicks into the mainstream. I love that idea, that subculture becomes influential on the mainstream and off it goes. We take that for granted. So that was unfortunate to have to leave out. And “girls with guns” was the other thing I really wanted to talk about. What’s interesting about that is that it’s really empowering for women. Then it gets co-opted and exploited. But I couldn’t get to those things. There’s a hundred things! Where do I begin? You know the genre. You could make a six part series on it.
Ed Travis: Well… you know… please do!
Both: Laughter.
Ed Travis: You got a ton of really fantastic talent in your film. There are some obvious folks and some less obvious folks. It was really fantastic seeing people that I know and love pop up. Can you talk about some of that? Who was the toughest to track down? Who did you miss?
Serge Ou: Andre Morgan was someone I really wanted to talk to. He doesn’t do a lot of press. He was one of the executives at Golden Harvest — the American with them. He was tight with Bruce Lee. He was actually formative in Bruce Lee’s career.
Ed Travis: And he’s not someone I was really familiar with.
Serge Ou: Totally. And he doesn’t do a lot of press. He lives in the mainland now. I reached out and he said, you’re not going to believe this but I’ll come to Hong Kong when you’re in Hong Kong. I wanted that perspective because Run Run Shaw is gone. I wanted someone who was part of that Bruce Lee story and he was an integral figure in that story. So he gave us that insight into what Bruce was going through, which was really good. Another one was Alan Hofmanus from Wakaliwood. Alan is in Uganda, you know. He has electricity about one day a week. Very poor internet, you know. He tries his best. He and I were talking for ages and we met when he was coming to New York so that aligned. It was a fortuitous thing. So they were a couple of the hardest interviews to secure.
A couple of people couldn’t do it because of scheduling issues. I almost had Yuen Woo-Ping in Hong Kong. We were a day out. Which was kind of unfortunate because I would have loved to have spoken to him. But I didn’t pursue people like Jackie Chan or Donnie Yen or anyone like that because I think there’s the front of house story and there’s the back of house, sort of sloppy story. And that’s where I wanted to stay. And give some oxygen to some people who have done some incredible stuff and are doing some really cool stuff.
Ed Travis: Yeah. I’m like the internet’s Scott Adkins cheerleader. I review all of his stuff and he’s been here at Fantastic Festival.
Serge Ou: Scott is such a dude, you know? And he doesn’t get the kind of kudos he deserves. I don’t know if you agree with that.
Ed Travis: Well actually that’s a question I was going to talk to you about. I grew up with action cinema. It’s just kind of what I’ve stuck with. Part of why I’ve stuck with covering it and writing about it on my own time is that I’ve felt like since the 2000s rolled around that action cinema hasn’t really gotten its due. I’m curious what you think some of the factors are culturally that have made it to where we are today. Like if Scott Atkins was born in, you know, the 50s and he was making the movies he’s making today in the 80s, they would be opening worldwide at megaplexes everywhere. I mean he’s kicking ass and he’s incredible. But his movies aren’t opening all around the world. What are some of your thoughts on the state of action cinema today?
Serge Ou: That’s a really good question. It’s about timing. Like you said, if it was straight to video days, Scott would be Van Damme. He would be the guy. And not only that, but Scott can act. His work ethic is incredible. He can act and he’s really good at what he does. He should be a superstar. That’s what I’m hoping Ip Man 4 does for him. Because he deserves it. He so deserves it. But it’s really hard because a lot of stuff just doesn’t get any oxygen anymore with the Marvel universe out there. It’s just the sort of Marvel universe and a lot of a lot of stuff doesn’t get any oxygen anymore. That’s why fantastic Fest is the bomb. It takes risks. It shows films that are not going be able to fight in the multiplex scenario. But why isn’t Scott bigger? Why isn’t action cinema big right now? Let’s talk about John Wick. Explain that to me. Is that the most successful thing right now in action cinema?
Ed Travis: Yeah! John Wick 3 is going off. And so you never know. Is that going to reignite something?
Serge Ou: Maybe, you know, you see all these little pockets, right? It’s a kind of tough because I think in some ways it’s become more mainstream than ever. It’s always been mainstream, but it’s become more so. If you don’t get a gig in the Marvel universe, where do you go? Where do you go? Unless you’re someone bankable like Tom Cruise or Keanu, I don’t know what happens anymore. You know what I mean? Where there’s that kind of progression? Is that a bad answer?
Ed Travis: No! I’ve thought often myself about CGI. I think CGI replaced the thrill of “Hey, we can see these people doing these fantastic things with their bodies on screen”. Now we can just do anything with CG so we have swung the whole pendulum to the other side. But I feel like we’re starting to get tired of CG and so someone like Tony Jaa, or Scott Adkins, who can do incredible things, are starting to come back. Part of why Keanu is so huge is that he’s doing this stuff. Audiences are starting to crave that reality again.
Serge Ou: And isn’t that the beauty of the cinema? You look at it and it’s visceral and it’s real and it’s authentic. I really wanted to do this in the film, but looking at the Lethal Weapon fight with Gary Busey and Mel Gibson on the front lawn with the water going. It would have been interesting to dissect that, take it apart, show what the actors were doing and what they weren’t doing, and then put that against The Matrix. Why does The Matrix resonate? It’s because in Lethal Weapon they’re stunt guys half the time. Back then they didn’t have the commitment to learn that stuff. The Matrix did. There’s an authenticity that comes through. When you look back to the old kung fu stuff, they’re doing 40 moves in one shot. You can’t fake that.
Ed Travis: I’ve been burning to ask this one. You got Don “The Dragon” Wilson in your film. That was great. And someone like Don or Cynthia Rothrock are perfect examples for this question. Wilson made nine Bloodfist movies. That’s a franchise that was popular enough at a certain point in time to get 9 installments. And yet I can’t get those movies in America today on home video. It makes me crazy. I’m wondering if you have a sense of what is going on there?
Serge Ou: I don’t know. Because Roger Corman put those original films out. It’s a funny thing. China O’Brien is really hard to get.
Ed Travis: I’ve been able to track down China O’Brien but I’ve never seen Yes Madam. I see it all over the internet in terms of memes and GIFs. It looks incredible. But why can’t I buy these things legally?
Serge Ou: I think what happened in Hong Kong was a lot of these kind of films were made with shell companies. They popped up for a week for a film. And what I found in trying to license stuff was that a lot of times people didn’t know who owned what. So these companies have disappeared really quickly. They might have been made through Golden Harvest but as an independent. And they were doing 300 films a year, churning this stuff out. It kind of all got lost in the mix. I talk to some directors and they’re like “Sorry, I don’t remember that one”. For them it was just gig to gig to gig. They were into it, but that was just what they did. So a lot of those films are lost. You saw the quality of Yes Madam in our film was not great but that was the best we could get after months of searching. And the Bloodfist stuff is just rubbish quality. You need a Criterion to come in here.
Ed Travis: I know. It just seems like a piece of the market that’s DOA. I just don’t know what’s going on there. You have Shudder, this super cool curated horror channel. Where is the action version of that? Let’s treat these things like royalty. The audience is all still around. Even the actors are still around doing their thing. Did you see VFW here at the festival? All those guys are kicking ass.
Serge Ou: You’ve got some people that are picking up some bits and pieces. Isn’t Vinegar Syndrome doing some of that martial arts stuff?
Ed Travis: Warner Archive just announced like a new Mister Nice Guy that’s going to be the original cut. There’s a company I’ve never even heard of before that just released this obscure John Woo movie Heroes Shed No Tears that looks gorgeous and I was able to buy it. It’s amazing, but I’d never heard of this company.
Serge Ou: You’re right. You need a kind of curator that’s going to say “bang, we’re going to do these”. There’s a market! But it was really hard to find a lot of stuff. We all look at these films as treasures but they just made them and moved on.
Ed Travis: Another thing that was really inspiring to me was just towards the end of your film where you started getting into what’s happening today, right now… the never ending chain of inspiration. You hinted at Wakaliwood and YouTube as possible futures for where this is going. Do you have any other thoughts on where you see the kung fu influence trickling out next?
Serge Ou: It’s hard because looking at what happened in Hong Kong… it’s all moved to the mainland. The market is the mainland. And they’re very prescriptive about how things should be. So a lot of the Hong Kong filmmakers who are making martial arts films have to work on the mainland now because that’s where the money is. And so the films have kind of changed tone. They’re strangely political but in a different way than they used to be. And there’s some great martial arts in there, but it’s kind of a baton toss. We give it to you, we give it to you. What’s on the internet today is the exciting stuff.
In the nineties we had the rogue independent filmmakers, you know, the Robert Rodriguez’s and the Quentin Tarantino’s who came out of that “Let’s make a film for five grand” framework. And now we’ve got the next wave, which is “let’s make a film for 800 bucks. On our phones”. The relay is happening and people are asking, what can I bring to it? And I think that’s where it’s going. What do you think is next?
Ed Travis: That’s a great question. I love how you, in your film, communicate that kung fu is a catalyst and that it translates across any culture. In your film you had a moment talking about how there’s a fan somewhere in India today being inspired and who will make the next big action movie. And there are action guys in India doing some amazing stuff. Like there’s this movie Commando that I caught here at Fantastic Fest that featured this mind blowing guy who was doing his own stunts. So I do think it’s fascinating that this can come from any country.
Serge Ou: It’s universal. You don’t need the dialogue. The stories are simple morality tales. Everyone gets it. And it’s expressed through kung fu, which I think is awesome.
Ed Travis: Thank you very much.
And I’m Out.
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Blu-ray Screen Comparisons: THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART 2 (1985)
How does Arrow’s pristine 2K restoration stack up to Kino’s prior 2012 disc?
This article contains image comparisons which contrast Horizon Movies/Kino Lorber’s 2012 Blu-ray transfer with the new Arrow version. The frames aren’t necessarily exact matches, but should give a solid indication of the visual differences.
The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (the Wes Craven original, not the sequel to the 2006 remake) has been re-released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video featuring a new 2K restoration from original film elements.
While certainly the most deluxe Blu-ray edition of the film, it’s not the first. Kino Lorber previously released it in 2012 under their Horizon Movies label.
There’s a world of difference between the two transfers which have different aesthetics down to the color palettes, aspect ratios, and grittiness.
Kino’s release sported a grimy yellow palette, murkiness in low light scenes, and a high-contrast look that added pop while crushing colors. It was also slightly pillarboxed to 1.66 (the OAR is listed as 1.85 on IMDb).
Arrow’s release opens the width of the frame back up to 1.85, adding more field of vision while also slightly cropping the top and bottom of what was seen in Kino’s release (surprisingly even implementing a slight letterbox effect, which I find puzzling and unnecessary). Colors are much more natural looking overall, mitigating the yellow/green palette; darkness and contrast are pulled back, and some cleanup has been implemented. And while the film looks rather soft overall, you can absolutely make out the increased resolution and fine grain in Arrow’s image.
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow 
While the overall color correction is an improvement, at times it tips the scales into the red — fleshtones often carry a deep pink hue.
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow This shot does a pretty good job of highlighting the difference in aspect ratios: In this frame you can clearly see how Arrow’s image shows more image to the left, but is cropped tighter at the bottom.
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow I don’t know if the Kino and Arrow transfers share a common source, but I did notice that many instances of dust and scratches are either corrected or not present in Arrow’s release. it’s difficult to pinpoint specific examples of this, but here are a couple:
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow 
The harsh darkness and contrast of Kino’s release is reduced in Arrow’s restoration, which has much more subtlety, color gradation, and overall visibility.
The best showcase of this I found is the window behind Michael Berryman below. The older release is blown out to white, but in Arrow’s restoration you can clearly make out the translucency of the curtain.
Another example with a stark difference:
Visibility is greatly improved in dark scenes:
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Kino Lorber // Bottom: New Arrow
Despite the skintones often registering as strawberry red, the new transfer is overall a marked improvement in many respects: resolution, clarity , and low-light visibility. The older transfer does have a certain merit for its very claustrophobic, surreal appearance. I have a feeling that some viewers who are used to seeing the film look jaundiced and grindhouse-gritty will prefer that aesthetic, which, to be fair, perfectly complements this movie. But in nearly all conventional comparatives, Arrow’s restoration is a major improvement.
Contents / Special Features (Limited Edition)
- Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues
- Blood, Sand, and Fire: The Making of The Hills Have Eyes Part II — brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with actor Michael Berryman, actress Janus Blythe, production designer Dominick Bruno, composer Harry Manfredini and unit production manager/first assistant director John Callas
- Still gallery
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- 6 Postcards
- Reversible fold-out Poster
- Limited Edition 40-page booklet featuring new writing on the film by Amanda Reyes and an archival set visit from Fangoria
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
Further reading:
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The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 Ltd Ed Blu-ray — https://amzn.to/2ndKp57Except where noted, all 16:9 screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and Medium’s image system.
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Fantastic Fest: SYNCHRONIC is a Trip Worth Taking
The latest from Benson & Moorhead is an inventive, if uneven, time-travel tale of armchair physics and mysterious pharmaceuticals
When it comes to low-budget sci-fi/horror, necessity is the mother of invention — and the last few years have proven how inventive writer-director duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead truly are. With Resolution, Spring, and The Endless, Benson and Moorhead have displayed their ability to create horrifying and fantastic worlds that feel both intimate and cosmic in scale with the micro-budget means at their disposal. Synchronic sees Benson and Moorhead take a stab at a similarly-designed mind-bender of a story but with a much bigger budget — one with the clout to hire its stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan. While the film’s increased resources do highlight some of the screenplay’s narrative shortcomings, Synchronic is very much a step forward for the creative team. Synchronic isn’t just a welcome new approach to time-travel films or a film that showcases why Anthony Mackie should lead more movies — it does its damnedest to create a slick, no-frills sci-fi story that’s grounded in the intimacy and realism that sets Benson and Moorhead apart from the rest.
Mackie and Dornan play Steve and Dennis, two New Orleans EMTs who must reckon with major rifts in their personal lives. Dennis’ relationship with his wife teeters on the rails after the birth of his second daughter; Steve learns the source of his painful headaches is a giant brain tumor. As the two friends struggle to talk about their personal lives with each other, they’re dispatched to multiple bizarre deaths resulting from Synchronic, a new designer drug hitting the streets. When Dennis’ teenage daughter Briana disappears after using the drug, Steve intervenes, buying up what supply of the drugs he can to help solve Briana’s disappearance. Steve gets more than he bargained for when he realizes the most potent effect of Synchronic — the ability to travel back in time for seven minutes per pill.
Anthony Mackie’s performance is half the reason why Synchronic succeeds as much as it does. Steve is an honest, blunt guy with a practical, noncommittal approach to the world — a worldview that requires some serious reevaluation when he’s diagnosed with a terminal illness. As the film progresses, it’s clear that such a guy is a great fit for such a limited means of time-travel, forced to figuratively and literally make each minute count with each dose of Synchronic. It’s even worth it to imagine a version of Synchronic that’s completely Mackie’s, as his practicality and frustration at figuring out the rules of time-travel results in turning an often-repeated trope of the genre one of the film’s most engaging sequences. Benson and Moorhead’s approach to time travel also revels in the process of figuring out the limitations of their premise while also preserving as much mystery as possible.
While this approach does manage to set Synchronic apart from other time travel films, it does place unfortunate limitations on their screenplay. The filmmakers clearly prize the relationship between Steve and Dennis, but it’s when the film makes it personal by involving Dennis’ daughter that it starts spinning its wheels. The two actors wander the streets of New Orleans with urgent matters on their mind but with just as much aversion to discussing them as possible — making the moments when they do take action feel slightly rushed and unexplored. The decision to bench Dornan for much of these sequences (it’s stated that it’s literally impossible for him to help) is a questionable one as well — as he’s frequently interrogated by his wife for being an unhelpful and helpless character to begin with.
The biggest issue, though, is that Synchronic is a film with so many intriguing jumping-off points that it doesn’t commit to fully exploring any of them. The film breathlessly tumbles from Steve and Dennis’ worsening friendship to understanding how Synchronic works to Brianna’s disappearance without ensuring that these myriad subplots have enough of a narrative or emotional payoff by the film’s conclusion. It does, however, allow Mackie the chance to carry the film squarely on his shoulders, creating a strong enough character to invest our interest in throughout the film.
Despite these narrative shortcomings, Synchronic is a propulsive next step forward for Benson and Moorhead. It’s a well-directed film, and it finally feels like the duo have amassed the budget and talent their ideas are worth. This alone makes Synchronic not only worth a watch, but worth watching out for what these guys will do next.
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Fantastic Fest 2019: DOLEMITE IS MY NAME And Fuckin’ Up The Oscars Is My Game
Triumph of the DIY spirit
Rudy Ray Moore and his friends made a movie. Dolemite was its name.
And the story of the making of that wild-ass movie just shot directly into the conversation about the best films of 2019.
Eddie Murphy brings his career best game to the role of dreamer, entertainer, and entrepreneur Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name. We open with Rudy hustling to get his records some airtime on the radio and getting absolutely nowhere. He’s working a day job at a record store and MCing at a nightclub to introduce his friend’s band. Nobody seems to want what Rudy Ray Moore is selling. But it’s not long before Rudy’s tenacity and ingenuity shine through and he ends up crafting a character based on the prison humor of some homeless gentlemen that he befriends. Dolemite is born, and starts to pick up steam. Unfortunately, none of the record companies want to buy his comedy album. So Rudy sells it out of his trunk. Then a record company comes calling when Rudy’s hustle proves successful. Rudy can’t stop until the whole world knows his name, however… so next he wants to make a movie. But nobody wants to fund the movie, so he gets a loan from his record label against ownership of his records, and he sets about making his own damn movie his own way. Unfortunately, nobody wants to BUY Rudy’s movie, until Rudy hustles again and… you know what? You get it! The system has absolutely no place for someone like Rudy Ray Moore, but through sheer force of will Rudy will push against that system to see his dreams realized.
One simple element contributing to the greatness of Dolemite Is My Name is the kindness and genuine friendship on display. Far from a movie about vanity or ego, this is a film about a unique and determined guy who wants to prove his abusive father wrong by making something of himself in the world. And dammit if he won’t bring his friends along and provide a hand up to a number of new friends along the way. The most potent and touching of those friendships is found in Rudy’s collaboration with Lady Reed (Da’Vine Joy Randolph in an absolutely stellar breakout performance). It’s Lady Reed and Rudy’s friendship that provides the film with its most emotionally potent moments as the two spur each other on to bigger and better things. Reed provides Rudy a female co-star for his acts and Da’Vine Joy Randolph injects the raw feelings of a black woman taking a risk to provide for her family. Their interactions feel genuine and Lady Reed’s humanity really shines through the film and provides an emotional argument for the importance of inclusion in such a way that feels organic and never forced.
But Rudy also taps into the strengths and resumes of all his friends to bring them along for the ride. And what a cast it is that makes up this coterie. Craig Robinson is Ben Taylor, who will do all the music for him (and who will take orders from no white man). Keegan-Michael Key is the respectable playwright Jerry Jones who will get past his incredulity and jump on the Rudy train. Mike Epps’ Jimmy Lynch will provide wardrobe, and Tituss Burgess’ Theodore Toney will handle accounting. A chance encounter with established star D’urville Martin (Wesley Snipes in a full-on Oscar worthy scene-stealing role) will provide the crew a little star power and handing him the director’s reins is the final dangled carrot to force his hand. Martin never quite buys into what the rest have, but through his drunken, detached stupor, he does offer Rudy the occasional wisdom and galvanizes the crew with a “fuck him” spirit after he leaves the set for good. As all cinephiles know, movies don’t get made without a team, and Dolemite Is My Name gets down to the business of depicting the communal aspect of filmmaking in an entertaining and rewarding way.
That spirit of kindness that shines through Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski’s script (they also wrote Ed Wood) also carries over into the hard-R rating of the film. Yes, the word “motherfucker” is used hundreds of times, but it’s with a poetic flare. Yes, there are breasts and strip clubs and sex scenes, but all of that seediness becomes fodder for inspiration. A playing ground from which Rudy can find material for his character and talent to fill out his crew. Perhaps Dolemite Is My Name sidesteps any deeper dimensionality or complicated motives that Rudy may have had, but it’s all in service of a film that chooses to inspire and act as a love letter to the indomitable spirit of DIY filmmakers, not to mention that same spirit found in people of color. And as an intentional goal, that feels timely.
Director Craig Brewer keeps this film feeling energetic and propulsive throughout. It’s kind of astonishing how well this white man is able to tell African American stories and collaborate to create iconic and fleshed out black characters. But he does it again here with an effortless feel. And the production design flawlessly recreates a time and place any fan of Blaxploitation cinema will recognize and love. Oscar winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter might very well find herself in contention for another Academy Award as well. What I’m trying to say here is that Dolemite Is My Name weaves a fantastic narrative and is backed up by a top notch crew. This is a feel good film about filmmaking (the Academy loves those stories) on a collision course with fuckin’ up the Oscars.
And I’m Out.
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DOGTOOTH and ALPS: A Yorgos Lanthimos Double Feature
The Greek director’s early films are as hilarious and horrifying as ever on Kino’s new Blus
I love how much Yorgos Lanthimos loves lists.
In Lanthimos’ films, the overly specific and usually unprovoked details listed by his characters are the means by which they deal with the inscrutabilities of human nature. The Lobster’s characters choose mates for life based on these trivialities, their hobbies and features defining them rather than the other way around. The pawns making up Colin Farrell’s social circle in The Killing of a Sacred Deer garner a waning sense of security in the superficial details of the everyday objects that surround them. And in the overall opulence of his latest, The Favourite, the wealth and splendor of Baroque period drama serves as an ever-crumbling mask for the emotional rot and hunger for status within.
The approach may come off as something like sentient Wikipedia articles attempting to engage in conversation with each other. The overall effect, though, is just as deeply hilarious as it is deeply unsettling, as Lanthimos exposes our own willingness to imbue and infer meaning in emotionless objects…as if by some transitive property we’ll gain some sense of meaning in ourselves.
With a re-release of 2009’s Dogtooth and the stateside Blu-ray debut of 2011’s Alps, Kino encourages a new wave of American film watchers to indulge in the meticulous absurdity of Yorgos Lanthimos with the two films that first garnered the Greek director international attention. In Dogtooth, lists of objects — and their absurd redefinitions — become a conduit for understanding the rationality behind the parental decision to raise one’s children free from society’s corrupting influences. In Alps, lists of favorite foods and entertainers provide key context into creating an imitation of a human being — if only for a temporary amount of time. In these two films, lists compartmentalize overwhelming and dangerous emotions, giving abstractions like grief or desire a tangibility that makes them easier to repress or overcome. As also shown in his later films, such a rational strategy often builds to a violent and torrential breaking point.
The Oscar-nominated Dogtooth features three adult sisters and a brother who have been isolated from the outside world since birth by their parents. Over the course of the film, the siblings are raised to strictly adhere to random, senseless rules and beliefs. Housecats are carnivorous beasts; an unseen brother they’ve never met lives just over their garden fence; and once they lose their titular canine teeth, they’ll be free to live in the dangerous outside world. Their parents supply the bizarre rules and objects that define their children’s lives, possibly believing that redefining the inherently random rules imposed by society may lead to a better way of life for them all. However, the repressed emotions of their adult children eventually build to an inevitable series of contradictions that threaten violent conclusions.
Alternating between uncomfortable hilarity and bemused terror, Dogtooth sees Lanthimos take a sledgehammer to social niceties altogether. Whether it be the parents who must find some consistency in their bizarre redefinitions of the world in order to maintain control, or the children who take their parents’ rules and explanations at face value, each member of the family grows increasingly confined by a prison of their own making. It’s the Lanthimos film that revels most in stripping everyday life of the context we give it, as well as in our ever-increasing frustration with how the slightest skew in perception can undermine the identities we’ve created for ourselves.
Video: Dogtooth is presented in 1080/24p using the same master as Kino Lorber’s previous Blu-ray release. Preserving the film’s intentional washed-out, sanitized look, picture quality is stark and contrast heavy while also featuring a welcome amount of original film grain.
Audio: Dogtooth is presented in 5.1 surround and includes a 2.0 mix that was not present on the film’s initial Blu-ray release. Sound design is vibrant and clear, with a sterile ambient quality that lends itself well to the detached nature of the film.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Angeliki Papoulia and Christos Passalis: In the first of two new features for this release, two of the film’s leads provide an illuminating English-language look at the mostly-improvised scenes of the film, their experiences working with writer-director Lanthimos, and divining the overall motivations for their characters over the course of a film shoot that proved to be both mundane and bizarre.
- A Conversation with Yorgos Lanthimos: Recorded in 2019 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York Film Festival Director and film critic Kent Jones interviews Lanthimos about his film career, especially regarding his most recent film The Favourite.
- Archival Interview with Yorgos Lanthimos: Ported over from Kino’s previous release, a 12-minute interview with the director on the origins and production of the film.
- Deleted Scenes: Three brief excised moments from the film, Father Sings, Fly Me to the Moon, and Bathroom Dance.
- Trailers for Dogtooth and Alps
- Reversible Cover Art
Alps follows a quartet of unnamed individuals who, for a later fee, dress up as and imitate deceased loved ones in order to aid in the grieving process. One of the four, a night nurse nicknamed “Monte Rosa,” finds her roles increasingly more fulfilling than her outside life, and her growing unwillingness to detach from her roles quickly earns the building rage of those who are ready to move on from their grief.
This was my first viewing of Lanthimos’ follow-up to Dogtooth, and I was struck by how much of a thematic and stylistic twin Alps is to its predecessor. Monte Rosa, whose real name we don’t know, is almost as lacking in identity as Dogtooth’s three siblings (and is played by Lanthimos staple and Dogtooth’s eldest sister Angelika Papoulia). She is equally reliant on the information those around her feed her, but to diverging ends. Where Dogtooth’s older sibling struggles to reckon her inner beliefs with the contradictory and fictional advice of her parents, Monte Rosa uses her given facts about the deceased to retreat from whatever individuality she possesses. In doing so, she hopes to find a new, fulfilling existence through permanently filling the gaps of other peoples’ lives. It’s one of many interesting thematic reversals throughout this weighty and engaging film, as the grievers in search of comfort and the woman who seeks to give it both seek to rationalize and purge the memories that cause them mental anguish. With both Alps and Dogtooth, it’s striking that in worlds of such prized rationality, all of the characters do everything they can to calm their inner storms except the most rational decision of all: to confront and embrace their frenzied nature.
Video: Alps is presented in 1080/24p, using the same master as Kino Lorber’s 2012 DVD release. Picture quality is high when scenes are brightly lit, especially in shots with a greater depth of frame, but in sequences of low light there are instances of slight ghosting — perhaps due to artifacts in frame rate conversion. Such moments, however, are few and far between.
Audio: Alps is presented in 2.0 and restores a 5.1 surround track missing from Kino’s original DVD. Lanthimos’ choice to forego a traditional soundtrack means Alps’ sound design rises in importance, and Kino’s mixes here highlight the sparse soundscapes of the director’s film.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Amy Simmons: In the disc’s only extra of note, the British film critic and historian analyzes Alps’ larger themes of loss and self-psychotherapy, both within the context of Lanthimos’ filmography from origins to The Favourite, as well as in modern Greek society. Simmons’ track is remarkably in-depth, and provides illuminating facts about Greek life and practices (such as the three-year maximum allowance of burial plots before exhumation) that then warrants a repeat viewing of the film.
- Trailers for Alps and Dogtooth
Dogtooth and Alps are each available on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.
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Fantastic Fest 2019: VFW: Silver Screen Legends Assemble, Battle Mutant Punks in John Carpenter…
A cast for the ages
Surprises are one of the very best elements of film festivals. And let me tell you, there’s no greater surprise than to be seated for a film you know very little about and to learn that Fred “The Hammer” Williamson is in the cast.
Filmmaker Joe Begos is having quite a Fantastic Fest, what with the world premiere of VFW screening along with a 35mm print of his other 2019 film Bliss as a potential double feature for the Fantastic Fest guests. Having finished and tech checked VFW on Wednesday, it is safe to say that he and his team were coming in hot to this world premiere screening. It’s also fairly safe to say that VFW blew the lid off the festival as a major contender for the most crowd pleasing screening of the year.
The references and homages of VFW are worn right on Begos’ (cut-off, tattooed) sleeves. This is Assault On Precinct 13 for the opioid crisis era. It’s Rio Bravo with a cast of so many legends you’re almost obliged to reference The Expendables. And with those descriptions, it’s pretty easy to categorize and ingest exactly what Begos was going for with this hard-R action comedy gore fest.
But the movie also has a genuine heart. And that’s what makes the difference. The major players and denizens of this VFW outpost include Stephen Lang, Fred Williamson, William Sadler, Martin Kove, David Patrick Kelly, and George Wendt. For no less than a half an hour, we’re treated to an opening act of these friends tossing verbal barbs at one another, reminiscing about their glory days, and generally causing us to fall in love with them. They’re ornery old soldiers, and Max Brallier and Matthew McArdle’s script does a great job of distinguishing each of them, giving them stories and personalities and shining a beaming spotlight on these actors that film fans absolutely know and love. Each screen legend is treated with the utmost respect to their own legends and given iconic hero moments that most of them probably thought were behind them as far as their careers are concerned. But just as importantly, their off screen personas serve as fodder for building up the on screen characters. Not only do we care about these guys and want to see them live through this siege, but several of their characters have actual arcs or at the very least they have some substance to them beyond mere cameos of silver screen legends. Look, there was a lot to enjoy in the Expendables films, but very frequently the legends assembled for those films simply played themselves, winking and nodding at the camera. VFW side steps those issues and its greatest accomplishment is in being a love letter to its cast, but also to its characters.
I’m no chest thumping patriot, but I do love the simplicity of the heroism our veterans display in VFW. When Lizard (Sierra McCormick) rushes in the doors of our heroes’ VFW outpost with drug addled mutants on her tail, our heroes shoot first and ask questions later. (Mostly because the punks are mid-murder right through the gates). As the audience has seen, but our heroes don’t know, next door to our outpost is a Hype dealer with an army of mutant users dying for their next score. Hype is the fictional drug outlined in the on-screen text which gives VFW an even more Carpenter vibe along with a mild sci-fi angle as this drug turns its users into mutants and turns this society into a bit of an apocalyptic wasteland. Lizard steals the villains’ supply of Hype when she finds her own sister dead at the hands of the villainous dealer. Once Lizard holes up in the VFW, our heroes take it upon themselves to defend her. Lang’s character Fred is celebrating a birthday, is the proprietor of this outpost, and serves as a de facto commander for this ragtag platoon. He’s tough as nails and keeps our heroes on the narrow path even as their ranks thin and the temptation to give up or trade out the drugs heightens. He’s the absolute hero of VFW, but even he needs reminders of who he can be at his best as he forms a sweet, paternal friendship with Lizard.
There simply couldn’t be a more “feels like it was made just for me” film at Fantastic Fest this year. I’ve seen truly dozens upon dozens of the films this cast has starred in. I’ve probably seen 20+ Fred Williamson movies alone, and this dashing, cigar chomping, octogenarian strides through this film with unflagging charisma and charm. The Warriors is one of my all-time favorite movies, and there’s David Patrick Kelly saluting a bunch of mutant punks with a defiant middle finger. Martin Kove is having a moment as he stars in the excellent Cobra Kai series and digs his teeth into this role as a former soldier turned wheeler-dealer car salesman. William Sadler takes on the best friend role as Fred’s right hand man and foxhole friend. It’s just the stuff of movie magic when legends like these are treated with the respect they deserve and when an entire feature film is crafted around them to shine a light on them.
It’s not all roses as there can occasionally be a style over substance feel to Begos’ projects. It’s a distinctive, unapologetic, heavy metal kind of vibe he injects into his projects. And while that’s a vibe I very much connect with here, it can occasionally overpower the other ingredients. The action direction could also use a little polish. Where the script does a phenomenal job of giving the cast hero moments, the actual battles and fights could have used a more assured hand. There’s practical gore and deliciously fun violence, to be sure. Everything from axes to machetes to barstools with nails protruding are used to great effect. It’s just that Begos, while paying homage to Carpenter or John Ford, doesn’t quite yet have the mastery of those legends. These concerns do not sink this project in any way because this cast and crew have assembled an incredible recipe and baked in enough high quality ingredients to produce something absolutely special and endlessly watchable.
And I’m Out.
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Fantastic Fest 2019: RIDE YOUR WAVE is a Soaringly Sentimental and Spiritual Romance
Director Masaaki Yuasa’s latest is a deep-dive into surfing and the supernatural that’s unafraid to wear its heart on its sleeve
In Ride Your Wave, surf-loving oceanographer Hinako is saved by dashing firefighter-in-training Minato, and the two embark on the kind of whirlwind romance often seen in the best of romantic comedies. When their romance is cut tragically short, the two lovers find themselves struggling to overcome the newfound metaphysical distance between them. This latest feature from Night is Short, Walk On Girl, and Lu Over the Wall director Masaaki Yuasa is also sure to be the latest in a series of successful anime exports stateside. Very much a film in the vein of recent animated tearjerkers like Your Name, Ride Your Wave is a slice-of-life that captures the magic of a budding love that manages to transcend the limitations of time and space.
The art of Yuasa’s world does a remarkable job of toeing a fine line between the magical and the ordinary, treating both the real and fantastic with an equal amount of wonder. Yuasa’s dazzlingly fluid cinematography tracks against the lines and curves of whatever objects and people lay in his path, infusing each setting with the same adrenaline rush Hinako feels when catching her latest wave. While the leads’ chemistry does most of the heavy lifting, Yuasa’s energetic direction also performs the dual job of quickly investing the audience in Hinako and Minato’s relationship. A first act montage of dates and exchanged gifts feels like a deeper exploration of the infamous prologue in Pixar’s Up, showing not just the deepening connection between two characters, but how that connection and longing can bitterly linger in the objects that outlast their relationship. It’s one of many details Yuasa focuses on that saves Hinako and Minato’s relationship from feeling too maudlin or overhanded — a key conceit as Ride Your Wave drifts into another genre entirely. It is a Fantastic Fest selection, after all.
While it may have an Orphic story told more than a few times before, what sets Ride Your Wave apart is Yuasa’s continuing focus on keeping his story grounded in the consequences of the world of the living. Without getting into spoilers, Hinako and Minato’s actions attract more than a few bemused points and stares from passersby, and the supporting cast rightfully voice their concerns and offense as the film’s story increasingly veers into the fantastic.
For the most part, Yuasa’s evenhanded approach allows for two satisfactory readings of the film, based on whether the audience accepts the events of the film as proof of life after death or simply as the way the characters of Ride Your Wave choose to cope with loss. This second option gives Ride Your Wave much of its heavier thematic underpinnings, as the characters find themselves forced to navigate their own ideas of how they allow themselves to grieve. It’s an aspect of the film that doesn’t last for long, though, and at times finds itself at uncomfortable odds with the energetic whimsy that Yuasa brings to his material.
The two rapidly-diverging interpretations of the film feel like they must reckon with each other at some point, and it’s hard not to read Hinako and Minato’s refusal to come to grips with their situation as a sentiment equally shared by the film’s director. This narrative delay may allow the audience to further empathize with the film’s characters, but it can Ride Your Wave to feel like it’s avoiding an inevitable and well-telegraphed conclusion.
On the other hand, it’s this refusal to wholly give in to depressing reality that lends Ride Your Wave much of its magic and appeal — and to allow such seriousness to creep in too early would detract from the charming reverie that makes Yuasa’s film such a joy to watch. The film’s conclusion may lean too much into a confirmation of the supernatural — but the fact that Yuasa is willing to take such a risk only makes Ride Your Wave a truly memorable and touching experience. It’s anime that isn’t afraid to lean into the bombastic and over-the-top emotions and events that make ordinary life worth living–and for that reason, Ride Your Wave is well worth multiple revisits.
Ride Your Wave had its US Premiere at Fantastic Fest 2019. It’s slated for release by GKids in 2020.
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Fantastic Fest 2019: Claustrophobic Creepiness Abounds IN THE TALL GRASS
The latest from Canadian Cube director Vincenzo Natali is among the better recent Stephen King adaptations
Canadian director Vincenzo Natali is no stranger to self-imposed limitations. His debut feature, Cube, crafted a wonderfully tense sci-fi thriller out of six actors trapped in two multi-colored rooms. His follow-up, Nothing, put two of Cube’s actors in front of a white backdrop and made a hilarious existential comedy out of the whole ordeal. While his later TV and film projects have widened in scope, it’s still a blast to check out whatever Natali’s working on next. My favorite of this later bunch, Splice, reveled in how it could fascinate and repulse its audience at the same time. When I heard that the next Natali flick would not only be playing at Fantastic Fest, but that the film was an adaptation of Stephen King and Joe Hill’s ultra-claustrophobic novella In the Tall Grass, the film quickly earned a place on my most-anticipated list. The wait was worth it — In the Tall Grass is a chilling combination of Natali’s confined style and King and Hill’s expansive love of the bizarre.
The film follows sibling duo Cal (Avery Whitted) and Becky (Laysla De Oliveira) as they road trip through America’s heartland for San Diego. Becky, six months pregnant, is still reeling from being abandoned by her boyfriend, Travis; overprotective brother Cal, though, seems a little to eager to swoop in and save the day. When the pair stop by a roadside field, though, Cal and Becky hear a little boy (Will Buie Jr.) and his family scream for help, trapped within the tall grass. Becky and Cal immediately rush to their aid, but they quickly learn that everything — time, space, life, and death — works differently in the tall grass.
Much like how Natali created a seemingly endless labyrinth out of two Cube sets, it’s impressive how Natali pulls off the same trick using a small (or is it?) grass field. Here, though, Natali has that Netflix money to widen the scope of his vision, and In the Tall Grass is able to pull off some truly creepy sequences within its titular setting. Though very much landlocked — a character remarks that they’re in the exact center of the continental United States — the cast are frequently shown as small specks in an infinite-looking sea of green, imbuing In the Tall Grass with an isolating atmosphere that’s as expansive as it is claustrophobic.
Also a delightful surprise is the film’s production design — the field itself is menacing and wild, and the few signs of civilization the characters come across are fittingly decrepit. At the same time, there is a timelessness to some of these structures — as if at some point, thanks to the work of what lurks in the field, they reached a level of peak abandonment before plateauing into immortality. A key set in the center of the field (“The center of the center!”) also manages to look both futuristic and wholly ancient at the same time. It’s a simple yet effective extension of how the field plays with its endless looping of time, and is one of many creative extensions Natali uses to flesh out his source material.
Another is his expansion of the original novella’s cast. Natali retains much of the story’s original lineup, but a new character is Harrison Gilbertson’s Travis, the runaway father of Becky’s unborn baby who goes looking for his ex after she fails to make it to San Diego. The slow, time-twisting nature by which Travis joins those trapped in the field is a gut-churning blossom of storytelling plants by Natali’s script, as is the ever-tempestuous triangle between Travis, Becky, and creepy-as-hell Cal. Both cast and director are clearly having a blast with the material they’re working with — none more so than Patrick Wilson as Ross Humboldt, the scene-chewing, dad-joke-spewing father of the boy trapped in the tall grass. Wilson’s Ross has a perpetual grin plastered on his face, with a wildly unpredictable villainy and sincerity at each turn. It’s refreshing to see Wilson in such a role after decades playing more straight-laced characters — and he delivers much of In the Tall Grass’ creepiest moments as he does the comedic ones.
As with similar extrapolations of Stephen King short stories, some of the film’s additions are less successful than others, particularly as the film veers into the truly bizarre in its second half. While there are moments of total creepiness in these sequences, one can’t help but feel that the emotional beats they hit would have landed better if Natali stuck closer to the reserved and confined nature of In the Tall Grass’ first hour. Part of what makes King’s books, and horror novels in general, such thrilling reads is how much our imagination can take over for us — an electrifying and personal sense of ambiguity that often struggles to transition well to the big screen. On the whole, though, Natali sticks to the sparse, dread-driven storytelling that makes his films such effective and evocative watches, making In the Tall Grass one of the better recent King adaptations.
In the Tall Grass had its World Premiere at Fantastic Fest, and will be released on Netflix October 4th, 2019.
