Fantasia is going very strong right now, and it’s almost finished. But before I’m done with coverage (I’ve got a bit more up my sleeve still), I wanted to write about a few films that I don’t personally have time to write about since work has opened back up and I want to make sure I talk about as many films as I can. So, let’s begin, shall we?
Kakegurui
Directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa
Written by Mizuto Takano, Tsutomu Hanabusa
I’m going to keep this one simple. It’s based on the anime/manga of the same name, of a school that is kind of obsessed with gambling. The original title of the manga includes “Compulsive Gambler” so do with that as you may. The trailer for this enticed me because it felt like a proper real anime-to-live-action adaptation. It all felt like I was actually watching an anime, and it was an utter joy to watch. If you like anime (or familiar with the show), I’d suggest you watching it.
Survival Skills
Directed and Written by Quinn Armstrong
To be completely honest, this is the film that I’m the saddest I’m not able to do fully cover because it’s films like this that make me love film festivals. The ability of being able to walk into a film blindly, and being utterly shocked. And yes, I am aware that there is a trailer, but I just chose not to watch it prior to the film. To be honest, I don’t know if I had gone into the film if I saw the trailer, so just go blindly in and watch this film. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll scare you but it’s also shake you to the core a bit as it deals with the struggles that cops have to deal with and how that can effect you as you deal with cases like domestic abuse. Now, our political climate is a bit messed so of course, ACAB and we should defund the police and change how the police see and treat miniorties, and that was definitely a feeling I had during the beginning of the film where I’m not sure right now is sadly the best time to make a movie with a police officer as your protagonist. The VHS effect is a brilliant touch, so is the use of narrator and acknowledging it’s a film. I loved it.
Survival Skills is an On-Demand film, watch it now here.
Hail to the Deadites
Directed by Steve Villeneuve
I wanted to love this, I really did. Without the Evil Dead franchise, I would have never gotten into horror. And a documentary about it, and their fans sounded amazing. Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t what I was looking for. It felt like a long bonus feature for a DVD. There are some great moments in the documentary that could be its own 5-10 minute bonus features on a quadrology boxset of the series, like the wedding, or the cosplay contests, or even the cast going to a panel for the first time. All of these were great, but they were spread out throughout the doc like a television’s A, B and C-plotlines, constantly cutting back with no real focus.
Hail to the Deadites is an On-Demand film, watch it now here.
Feels Good, Man
Directed by Arthur Jones
The evolution of Pepe the Frog. Fantasia has had a tendency of having some great documentaries and Feels Good, Man is absolutely one of them. Pepe the Frog was from a comic by Matt Furie called The Boy’s Club. And since the premiere of the comic on MySpace, Pepe became a recognizable meme on sites like 4chan. Unfortunately, he became very recognizable in 2016 when Pepe started being associated with the Alt-Right movement. This documentary follows Furie as he deals with how his character now represents something that he never intended, or ever wished for. It’s a very moving documentary that also brings up how a lot of us bring our own meanings into things and that might end up being a reflection of our reality.
The UnderSCENE 