Another film that I was super excited for, but also, a film that seemed to miss the mark, not by much, but just a bit.
Fantasia Festival
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?
A lot of the time, when something is scary, its because of how tangible it is. But making a film or its scenarios unrealistic, you no longer have anyway of relating to what’s happening on screen. That’s not the case with Alone. We’ve all had moments where we swore and were under the impression that someone was following us. Whether it may be comedically as I’ve taken bus routes to the exact same destination at a random place in the city, or in the case of the film, having a car drive up right behind you and find you in the smallest towns possible.
Watching Alone made me realize, I had no idea that I needed this film, but throughout its entire run time, this was exactly the type of adrenaline I needed.
The Oak Room proves that a great and solid script can absolutely make the movie on it’s own. On top of that, that we also need a lot more play adaptations.
I don’t remember the last time I actively found a documentary be so exhilarating and electrifying as much as I did with You Cannot Kill David Arquette.
Sometimes, finding the right opening film for a film festival helps set the entire mood for the whole festival. So, yes, the opening night film helps do that because it’s a statement on the tone of the festival – but not everyone always starts with that opening film. So while I will be seeing The Reckoning, The first film I got to see was Detention, and it was phenomenal. It makes for a perfect opener. At least for me.
Also, I recently wrote about how Scott Pilgrim was one of my favourite Video Game adaptations, and how it’s not actually accurate, I’m going to start mentioning Detention in its place instead.
I had the incredible pleasure of being able to talk to the director of one of my favourite film’s coming out of Fantasia. John Hsu directed the absolute hell out of Detention. Detention was the first film that I saw out of the festival, and it set the exact mood and feel that I wanted for the rest of the festival.
It’s only playing once during the festival, and that is tonight (August 24th) at 7 pm. So read my interview, buy a ticket (it’s only 8 bucks, cheaper than Cineplex – and safer than Cineplex) and enjoy a truly great film.
To say that I loved this feels strange and wrong but the film is absoltutely wild in the best way possible. Which again, revenge films always make it hard for you to admit that you loved it, but this is a genre festival we’re talking about, they know the demographic. I’m also positive I couldn’t be the only one.
Modern day addictions are an interesting topic of a film. If someone had a gambling or sex addiction, that person would have to get dressed and go to a casino, or a back-room poker game. Or find other variations of it. And they’d have to find an escort. All these things where sometimes to make those decisions aren’t as easy as clicking a button. In PVT Chat, we’re reminded how far we’ve come. With online poker hands, and private sex chat rooms (and even OnlyFans), it’s easy for someone to input their credit card number and just click subscribe from the comfort of their own bedroom.
If you’re at Fantasia, and you feel the need to watch a loveletter to punk, I hope someone has told you that the film for that, is Dinner in America.
The UnderSCENE 