My Everything (Mon Inséparable) (2024) Venice 2024

Mother of a mentally changed young man has her world and her relationship turned on it’s head when she discovers her son not only has a girlfriend, another challenged young woman he works with, but he has gotten her pregnant.

Solid drama about a family in flux and how “normal” people see those who are challenged. It’s a film that makes clear that people are people regardless of how we see them.

Kudos to the cast who sell this film. What could have been a by the number or hackneyed affair is instead something wonderful and moving.  To be perfectly honest I wasn’t sure what I thought of the film or how much I liked it until we got to the final scene and the last shot and found myself getting misty. It’s a stunner and worth the ride.

Highly recommended.

PSYCHOSIS (2023) hits VOD today

Horror/comedy/thriller hybrid concerns a fixer who hears voices and has an internal narrator narrating his life, getting mixed up with drug dealers who run afoul with a criminal mastermind/monster and has to fight for his life and those he loves.

One of a kind film is one that is best seen with a large appreciative audience. Knowingly made, the film plays into things at times so that it will provoke the audience watching it adding to the fun. Looking like a waking black and white nightmare shot in the Academy ratio, the film feels like it should have been released back in the days when midnight movies played every Friday and Saturday night.

I really liked the film, though I wish I had seen it in a theater instead of a laptop. As I said above this is a film that would have been so much better with people reacting and talking to the screen. Even without an audience there is enough here to delight film fans who like the off beat and like call backs to cinema of old (this film might have made a hell of a serial)

Recommended.

Planet B (2024) Venice 2024

Ten years in the future a bunch of activists disappear and are transported  to a far off wold called Planet B

Feeling a film made by people who really don't understand either science fiction or political films PLANET B is full of over used science fiction and dystopian world political views. It's a film that is operating in a world that raises more questions than it answers. It is a film that feels like any number of other better films.

I'm not really going to talk about this film much owing to the fact that when we got to the denouncement, which, I kind of suspected early I simply screamed at the screen. It was a scream that was repeated when one character stated out loud what what was going on well after we knew.

While not a bad film, the truth is this should have been a B scifi film without pretensions and running a half an hour shorter.

A miss.

Quiet Life (2024) Venice 2024

When Sergei and Natalia  go to Sweden seeking political asylum they are hoping to be safe from the attacks that have left Sergei scarred, When their request is denied first one daughter then the other slips into a coma like state brought on by the stress.

Resignation Syndrome is a very real malady that is being suffered by refugee children who are under a lot of stress. The stress causes the children to go into a shut down mode as their bodies simply turn off, unable to handle the fact that they do not feel safe.

This is a good but very formal look at a family struggling to deal with a very difficult situation. Shot in long takes and often framed in tableaux the film plays out as being incredibly clinical. We are on the outside looking in.

I'm not certain that the clinical or formal approach is what this film needs. Yes the characters are largely bottled up, something that brought on the comas in the children, but they are so hard to connect to. Everyone is largely trying to but on a brave or official face and it makes it hard to truly feel for the people. There feeling of life as lived. Every thing, every moment is perfect. I felt cold and I never cared.

This is an important story trapped in a clinically formal box.

Box Up Your Gaiman or Pondering What To Do With All The Books Now That An Author Is Persona Non Grata

 This is not going to be what you expect.  Frankly this isn't what I expected when I started this. This is look at the whole disaster that is swirling around writer Neil Gaiman and how it is rattling the cages of the people who found hope and life in his writing. 

What this is is me pondering out loud if we can cut the author away and save all of the work that has, honestly and truly, saved the lives of thousands of people who found a life preserver in the words of a guy from England. I am doing this because too I have heard too many stories of how people who were considering dying or doing something worse were made better by reading things like Sandman.

This is me arguing that we should forget the author, never buy another one of his works except used, so he never makes a dime. 

I know it's stance that many of you may not like, because I am not saying burn it all down, but I have been told "I was lost until I read...." too many times for me not to argue that the work should be saved and not be tossed on the trash heap. I don't want to risk our losing people  because they did not get that "oh my god someone understands" moment.

So, what am I to make of the charges against Neil Gaiman? 

If you don't know, increasing number of women have come forward to say that they were forced into sexual situations that they did not want by the award-winning author.

My initial thought was to wait and see what the real story was because of the source of the initial charges from two women, Tortoise Media, had a reputation for going after and trying to take down people who were trans-friendly or just opposed to their conservative way of seeing the world.

Things became complicated when it was clear the Tortoise story was, if not on target, definitely close to it. Gaiman, then said something did happen, and it wasn't what was being reported. He would explain soon. While some people I know tried to bend the stories as they waited for Gaiman's side of the story, things became infinitely more complicated with additional women coming forward, and questions about things that are alleged to have happened appearing.  As people pointed out we should be taking Gaiman's own words and simply "believed the victims".

The additional charges effectively broke much of his fan base and social media was full of people saying they were going to junk all of their Gaiman materials.

Personally, I was never a big fan. While never a member of his fan base I was close enough to it because of friends that I might as well have been part of it.  I have friends who were close to him, and they are shattered. A rock of their existence was now gone.

I drifted into the fringes of the Gaiman fans through friends. They loved his work and they dragged me along. While they would go to all the local events  I would stay on the outside. The closest I ever got to actually meeting him was pushing two programs from the New York Film Festival in his face when Princess Mononoke played.

I was jokingly banned from ever meeting Gaiman because since I was on the fringe I was hearing all sorts of stories. Actually, people were afraid I would ask him about Scientology...  

Scientology? Remember when that was the big bugaboo regarding Gaiman? No one wanted to have to worry about his possibly secretly putting Scientological messages into his comics  and thus turn every one into followers of Xenu. 

Why did people think that? 

Through it all Gaiman's public stance was always for the underdog. He championed free speech, women and trans rights. He did benefits for survivors of sexual violence. Gaiman was always on the right side of history, always insisting we need to believe the victims.

More importantly through it all he was turning out work that connected with people and brought them hope. He showed millions of people that there was place for them and that they were never alone. His work saved countless lives by showing people where they belonged was somewhere out there. For many people Gaiman was the guy who "got" them.

Neil Gaiman was the best of the best...until recently when he suddenly wasn't.

The revelations sent shock waves through his fandom. People don't know what to do because the guy who "got" them has turned out to be a not so nice guy. In response people are purging their collections... most of the fans I mentioned above are looking to get rid of their Neil Gaiman books and memorabilia.

What troubles me about this is that Gaiman's work was the literal lifeline for many of them. Over the years I have heard how the words of Neil Gaiman saved lives. I have been told numerous times over the years how his work was what people turned to when things got bad. Reading Sandman or one of the novels centered people and gave them the ability to go on.

Because of that I have to ask "Now that Gaiman is on the outs, can we save his words?" Not the man, but his words and stories.

I'm going to be honest and say I have no dog in this fight.  Whatever happens is not really going to affect my feelings toward his work because I was never that invested. All I know is that Gaiman's words and stories kept people alive and I want to keep that going. 

For me, any work of art exists as its own thing. The creator be damned once they give it birth and it's out in the world it has its own life and becomes its own thing regardless of what the creator wants... and most importantly regardless of what the artist does after that. The work exists on its own.

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The question everyone is asking is how am I to feel about his stories when he is a bad man? 

My response is the same way you always have - just kill the notion of their creator and just see them as standalone stories. Let the stories still fill you with joy, just stop thinking about the man who wrote them. The stories aren't about him anyway they are about you and how they make you feel.

The stories stand, even if the man who created them has fallen. The stories are not the man.  The stories are the stories.  Nothing in them changed when Gaiman was revealed to be less than a saint. Indeed most people I know came to their first Gaiman story without knowing the man and so found hope with the tales with no figure head. They only knew the stories. The stories spoke to them.  The stories healed them when they were divorced from the creator.

The stories are still those magic touchstones that saved lives. They are still these wondrous stories. The author doesn't need enter into it- the stories now exist on their own in the world. 

Why not put the stories away for a while and wipe your memory of Neil Gaiman.

I know some of you are going to be upset. you want them all gone because of what he did and I respect that. Hell my attitude is not to buy his works new anymore but buy them used or better yet trade the existing books. That way he makes no money. He has no power and he will eventually fade away. I know this will complicate the TV series and films, but perhaps bootleg them?

It is not an easy to figure out what to do with those who have fallen from grace and their work. How are we to handle their art. This is an important question since  ultimately no one is a true angel.  

For me I look to see if what they did is reflected in their art. If their art is connected to what they did I cut them off entirely.  JK Rowling's tirades against trans people make it hard  to deal with her Harry Potter books where we are supposed to be accepting of everyone. Likewise, I can't watch the work of filmmaker Nina Paley whose Seder-Masochism said that everyone should be free to be who they are, and who said the divisions are the work of the patriarchy spews hatred concerning trans women. While I never liked Louis CK his material which often concerns the same subjects he got in trouble for, made it easy to cut him off. 

As for people who spread hatred like Dave Chappelle I just cut him off and wish him well and hope the door hits him on the way out.

I'm not going to lie and say that I can shut everyone out for bad behavior, largely because I am human and I waffle. Much like my gay friends and family who will go to Hobby Lobby Lobby and Chic-Fil-a despite the owners of those stores pathological stand against anyone being gay. “Yes I know they want to kill me because I'm gay, but I love their chicken” is what they say as they give money to their potential murders.

As for the work of people like Eric Clapton and Van Morrison whose racist tirades about people of color and of differing religions, I find that I am okay with what I grew up with  but I will not give them any more money. The same with actors like Kevin Spacey predatory behavior makes it hard to watch many of his films.

It’s hard to go back and undo the past. Gaiman's books are part of people's lives and it will be hard to remove that so I’m again saying don’t.

Box up Your Gaiman

Now that the mask has been removed from Gaiman, I know many of you want to take all your books and burn them. 

Stop wait don’t.  

I’m going to suggest that instead of just doing it, that you box them up put them in the back of the closet and wait a year or so. Seriously put all the books and DVDs into a box tape it shut and put it in the back of the closet and think no more of this Gaiman person. 

And then in a year or so, when you are looking for that great pair of shoes you can stumble on it and figure out what you want to do with his shit.

No seriously, give it some time before you do the grand purge.

Why am I suggesting this is simply because odds are that the writing in Sandman or in the novels means something. I suspect that if you are reading this the words really do mean something deep and meaningful to you and are in fact etched upon your soul. I’m guessing the words, which you probably discovered before you knew who this Neil person was, touched you in ways that no other words ever had.  It’s entirely possible that the words prevent you from doing something stupid and kept you among the living. (This is why I am what I am saying)

These words matter to you do not throw them away without careful thought and reflection. These are words that you may need again.

You need to really be sure you really want to remove part of you before you throw them away – which is why I am saying  don’t throw them out in a fit of emotion.

The first thing you need to remember is that the words are not the writer. Yes, the words came from him, but they are not him. The words once published and out into the world are now something else entirely. They are a living and breathing thing that are now part of you. They live in your heart and your soul and as such the words belong to you as much as they once belonged to the writer. I say this because as the words get adapted into other forms our feeling change – that is not how we saw it- that is not what I would have done. Why do you feel this way? Because the story is now part of you.

The writer doesn’t enter into it. Indeed, when you think of the stories you think of the characters and situations you don’t think of this writer person who is oh so far away.

The words are not this shadowy person who you barely know but they are instead something you carry with you in everything you say and do and are.

Words matter because they move us. They, in the right hand make us better. The words have power to change the world- which why people try to ban them- and you must remember, that outside of this mess, that the words I am arguing for you not to lose are the target of people who want to keep you small and dull and stupid and in their control.

Words are the key to freedom.

The words in Sandman and the other works opened doors, broke down walls and showed you and other people that there was life and community outside your and their darkness.  The reason that you are hesitating in throwing away the words is that Sandman opened these doors for you.

In the case of the fandom it gave you each other. Friendships that would not exist if not for the words.

Embrace the words and the stories and use them to reconnect to the friends you have made along the way. Use the words to be together without the writer. Throw the writer away and keep the stories & friends that are now part of you

Remember the words are going to live on well past the writer’s demise – so you should be connected to them and not that other person.

Untold: The Murder Of Air McNair (2024)

 First of three new episodes of the Netflix Untold series focuses on the death of quarterback Steve McNair.

This is a look at the death of the well liked McNair who was supposed to have been killed by his girl friend. However there are a lot of questions. It a film that covers both the life of McNair and his death.

To be honest this is probably the least episode of the Untold series. I stumbled on the series last years some time and I fell in love with it's exploration of the dark side of sports. WHile some episodes were better than others, all were satisfying. This film on the other hand is not.

Rambling through the events of McNairs life and death things don't feel focused. Why are we seeing this? It's not really clear. Things kind of collapse at the end when the film begins to discuss questions in the police investigation ... and the end credits roll. 

I was disappointed.

A miss.

Scared Shitless (2024) Fright Fest 2024 Fantasia 2024

A plumber and his germaphobic son end up having to battle a monstrous beast that is loose in the plumbing of an apartment building. Traveling through the pipes, the genetically created beast is tearing apart the residents.

This is a perfect example of what happens when clever filmmakers take a story similar to one we've seen before and decide to be clever with it. Sure, the basic story of a beast loose in an apartment house has been done many times, but turning it into a wicked comedy where the tropes are turned on their head and it has practical effects with tentacled monsters is just too wonderful for words. It's everything that long-time monster movie lovers want in their lighter films.

I had such a blast with this film that I had to go back and watch it a second time with my brother, just to be able to laugh and react with someone of a like mind. This is a film that needs to be seen in a theater with a big audience, so that everyone can react to it together.

In all seriousness, this is a blast. It's scary at times, gross in others, and perfectly funny in others. This is a film that both takes itself very seriously and knows that it's also bat-shit crazy, and it manages to not just walk the edge of the razor but dance on it without falling down.

Highly recommended. This is one of the most delightful finds of 2024, and I highly recommend it..

Merchant Ivory (2023)

Stephen Soucy‘s look at the filmmaking pair of IsmailMerchant and James Ivory.  A collection of clips, interviews and behind the scenes footage it takes us into the lives and work of the filmmakers in a way that opens up our eyes to their films and makes us want to go back and watch their films again.

When this film world premiered at Doc NYC last year I ran into director Soucyoutside the theater. He was pacing around nervously worried his screening was going to fail. I had no idea who he was and we fell into a brief conversation. When I discovered who he was I began to gush se condhandedly because all of my friends had seen the film prior to that nights screening and were insisting that I see the film.  Now that I’ve seen the film I understand why people were speaking so highly about it. It really is a wonderful film.

To be honest the only thing that is remotely wrong with the film is that the timing of the release close to the film on Powell and Pressberger so even though this film is as good as, and wonderfully completely different, than that film it may suffer in some people’s minds.

This is wonderful film and a must see, especially if you love cinema.

Bangkok Dog (2024) Big Bad Film Festival

Under the radar government organization sends an agent to Thailand to to take down a crime lord.

Destined to spend eternity in direct to video hell, BANGKOK DOG is a very by the numbers action film done in by poor fight sequences. I turned off immediately and kind of disconnected.

Yea, this is an action film where the action looks terrible. It seems to all follow a similar pattern of blows and almost all of it seems to involve our hero, DY Sao, leaping in the air giving an angry Bruce Lee face. Okay yes he doesn't do it all the time, but enough that you wonder why he's doing it when there is no call for it. The blows don't really seem to have weight, to the point you wonder why the bad guy went down. 

I don't want to pick on the leads but they have no charisma, or at least not enough to carry the film and I'm certain that DY Sao won't have been picked except that he did the fights and is a producer.

The less said the better.

Nightcap 8/25/24 Why I preach about small films, the annual Hong Sangsoo rant and stuff

I posted the following to Twitter:

Why do I write reviews of smaller films? Why do I care less about the big Hollywood films? Because I am bothered when other people don't look at the films and because I occasionally get emails that say this: "You are the only one who wrote the review for us"

The email that excerpt was part of kind of gutted me.  Actually any time I get an email like that- and I get a few a year- I am crushed because always it’s in regard to a film that if it was actually seen would lead to big things- but there isn’t anyone out there beating the drum and blowing the horns.

People need to see this films and get word out.

Because people the people who should be searching out the small and off the beaten path films, say critics and big festivals, I get angry. I get angry because the one who should be celebrating the  whole world of cinema are only looking at a small part.

Which brings me to my next topic…..

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 "The festival’s ambition is to reflect the state of cinema in a given year, which often means also reflecting the state of the world.” ..."The most notable thing about the films in the Main Slate—and in the other sections that we will announce in the coming weeks—is the degree to which they emphasize cinema’s relationship to reality.” ..."[These films] in the Main Slate are reminders that, in the hands of its most vital practitioners, film has the capacity to reckon with, intervene in, and reimagine the world.” - Dennis Lim, NYFF Artistic Director #NYFF62

The New York Film Festival  is doing it again and programming the 19th and 20th films in 20 years (the 7th and 8th films in just the last 4 years) from director Hong Sangsoo for this year’s festival.  For those keeping score the previous darling of the festival, Jean Luc Godard, has had 25 film in 62 festivals.

What is pissing me off  about this is that there are so many people who are out there making great films but NYFF won’t play even one because they need another two slots for  Sangsoo films. What is particularly galling is that Dennis Lim said he wants o highlight filmmakers re-imaging the world and yet he insists on playing every film he can from a man who has said himself that he is basically making films that are simply variations of the same story. Hong Sangsoo's world is only as big as a severely diminished navel.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

Once the titles were announced most people I know groaned- not so much at a Sangsoo film being included but rather this being the fourth year in a row with two films in the festival.

In all seriousness – no one- and I do mean no one is so good as to get two films in each of four consecutive festivals.

What is puzzling is that some of his recent films don’t feel like films but more like sketches. They are short pieces of a tale, not a whole thing. They feel like he was working on something and just filmed the workshop. (I’d say which one but I can’t tell his films apart any more)

While I can forgive the fact that the festival is focusing on name directors and films in order to butts in seats (Last year at a screening of Planet Janet Dennis Lim said that the only reason the film was at the festival was that director Annie Baker was a name- with her standing in the wings waiting to come out) I really can’t  see playing everything he does – especially since he isn’t like say director Jee-woon Kim who for the longest time was trying not to revisit the same genre or Spielberg or Scorsese who vary  up what they are doing, he is just remaking the same film over and over again

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Bitching aside the announced tiles for NYFF are pretty good and I’m shaking my head because I don’t know if I’m going to get to everything I want to.

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What of Unseen in the next few weeks?

I am technically on a semi-vacation. I’m only picking the things I want to cover. No offense to any PR people and filmmakers I’m fried. Where last year I wasn’t aware of what was going on, this year I am and so its working to prevent me just walking away.

While the Big Bad Film Fest and Fright Fest coverage winds down there will be coverage of some new releases.

There will be coverage of Venice, Toronto, NYFF, Fantastic Fest, Camden and a few others. I’m not sure how things will shake out because there are some wild card things involved.

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I have written a piece that is, nominally, on the mess with Neil Gaiman, but it really seeks to ponder if we should just flush all the art disgraced artist create instantly or wait to put some distance to it before we decide.

I’ve gotten some great feedback on it, and one question was raised about something in it that is making me want to revisit it before I post it.

Big Bad Film Festival Shorts

PROM CAR 91
On the night of the prom  a couple of kids are finally going to have sex in the back of the mini van- thats when two psychos show up and kill the prom queen outside their car. 

How has this glorious and damn near perfect short  off my radar. A perfect marriage of comedy, horror and action this is as good as  movies get. It's a perfectly modulated short that hits every beat dead perfect. I can't recommend it  highly enough.

PHANTOM QUARTZ
An Agent is called back to service to recover a stolen piece of quartz. 

Forget the plot, this is all about the action.  This is essentially beautifully executed chase scene. I know a couple of the shots involve okay computer effects,but it doesn't matter,  the suspense is there and the CGI is fleeting.  I want to see what these guys can do with a feature budget.

Recommended.

BLEAK SALVATION
A not too clear soldier in the future continues to fight.

A solid fight scene that feels like it was cut out of something longer. This film sets things up but doesn't go anywhere or add up to much and will leave you wondering where the rest is.

FURY HAS AN ANTHEM
Young woman goes on a date and runs into some dudes on the way and way home.

This is a one of a kind film. One part romance, one part social commentary and one part action film it's a film that makes you wonder where it's going. I wasn't sure what I thought of the film until we get to the denouncement and I was delighted. This is the rare short film that sticks the landing.

HOW TO FEEL FULFILLED AT WORK
A nebish goes to work and gets into a fight.

A small distraction of a film. It's fine within a collection but I can't see tracking this film down. 

NOT AN ORDINARY MECHANIC
Some bad guys make a mistake and try to rob the title character.

Truly wonderful  action film  that is a pure bone crunching joy

SKUDAAR 2024 (on screen title)
A woman  is kidnapped... and fights back.

This looks to be a Proof of concept film that looks so good and gives us so much in a few minutes that you are going to want to see what happens next. 

LAVE TES MAINS (Wash Your Hands)
Two men fight in a bathroom over fight over washing their hands.

A funny battle in a confined area.

I was not given access to KINGS OF TRIAD. I have seen the short film that was made as a proof of concept and based on that I'd like to see the full film.

I also was not given access to either SUBJECT 13 or 4 GRAVES FOR XIMENA however based on the trailers I'd like to see them.

100 Yards (2023) Big Bad Film Festival

When you see 100 YARDS just go with it. Give it time to set the table and get going. I say this because the plot, about the son of the head of a martial arts school battling the first apprentice who now runs the school for control of it has been done to death in martial arts films and other genres as well. You've seen this a thousand times before. However the setting in 1920 Tianjin city and the vast array of characters are something new.

Playing at times as a jazz age western in modern dress 100 YARDS is truly something special. A one of a kind film that takes a well worn plot and makes it into something you've not really seen before. I say this because despite the film having a plot line I knew, I had no idea where this was going to go. I mean I really had no idea where this was going because the film is so filled with characters I've never seen before that I couldn't make a guess what was going to happen.

If you need an example of how different this film is consider the women in this film. There are four vitally important roles for women in the film and every one is not what you expect. One is the cross dressing spokesman for the The Circle, the martial arts group controlling the city's schools, whose back story is unexpected. Another is another member of the the Circle and while seemingly minor plays a key role several times. As for the two romantic partners for the men at the center of the tale... let's just say you aren't ready for who they are, so don't even try to guess. The women are seemingly not important but the truth is not for them most of the story wouldn't happen.

The action sequences are wonderfully atypical. The fights are compelling and culminate in a battle that runs the better part of the last 45 minutes. Amazingly it also advances the plot because of the things that happen during it. While a couple of people do die over the course of the film, their deaths are not the result of the fights.

To be honest I was ready to hang it up ten minutes in,certain this was a form over content film with a plot I'd seen before, and five minutes later I was staring at the screen gob smacked because I had no idea where this was going. Characters and situations were changing before my eyes.

I need to see this film again.

If you can give yourself over to the film and let it work its magic I think you are going to have a great time.

Highly recommended.

I'LL CRUSH Y'ALL (2023) Big Bad Film Festival 2024

Dark comedy about a paroled felon known as Nuthead who ends up back home. When his brother gets in trouble with the mob, he and his slingshot shooting partner to make things right.

Amusing little film made me smile and never really clicked with me. Part of it is the humor wasn’t to my liking, but also the way the film was shot never made me forget it was film.

It’s not bad, and I’m guessing you may like it, but it never worked for me.

That said there is enough here to make it worth trying

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ADDENDUM
A couple of weeks on the film still haunts me so there must be something there. Do give it a try.

EYE FOR AN EYE 2 (2023) Big Bad Film Festival

After her brother is trampled to death by some very bad men a young girl gets hooked up with a blind bounty hunter and asks him to get revenge for her.  

When you go into EYE FOR AN EYE 2 you have to understand a couple of things. First is that while there is a bunch of action, the film is largely about the relationship between the two main characters. Things are focused on the two characters interacting. Yes some of it is expected, but some of it is not. And even the expected stuff some times has a sting in the tail.  As a result the plot line is related to the pair interacting and getting to the point where the final show down with the bad guy happens...

...and about that bad guy, he's fricking evil. Not only does he trample a young boy to death (graphically),  he kills a dog by kicking it to death (mostly off screen). Since he isn't on screen much the filmmakers want you  hate him and you do. You will be chomping to see him die.

The action is stunning. Yes, its stylized, but it works. I love that is not rapid-fire close ups but full figure clashes. Sure, there are cuts, but it's not rapid-fire pieces of action. You feel everyone is actually engaging and not just fighting for that one shot.

And that's another thing I love about the film- the use of the frame. The images are both natural and deliberate. You can see how they the framing gives you more information. I didn't realize it at first but there was a moment where suddenly the Lieutenant literally went over to the girls side and I realized the film had been doing it all along. The film also uses split screen to great effect a couple of time.

How is the film over all? I really liked it. To be certain it does play as a kind of Zatoichi meets Lone Wolf and Cub at times, but you really won't care because the the two leads are so strong. It's absolutely a variation on a theme, but its so well done you won't care. I think this is going to play best on a second and third viewing when you see the film for itself and not what you think it should be.

One of the great finds of 2024

Life After Fighting (2024) Big Bad Film Festival 2024

All hail Bren Foster. LIFE AFTER FIGHTING is a bold announcement that there is a new martial arts action hero on the block.

The film tells the story of a martial arts instructor who ends up tangling with human traffickers after a couple of his students are taken. Not one to idly sit by while kids are carried off, Foster wades in and kicks ass breaks bones and crushes trachea. 

Okay, let me address the elephant in the room. this film is way too long. Sure it is full of fights, but the listed run time of 126 minutes is a bit too long and there is a point where you feel overwhelmed. It's far far from fatal, but  there is a point  where you feel if this had been trimmed it would be hailed as one of the best films of the year.

The over length aside this film kicks serious ass. Foster is a big bad martial arts machine and he is fun to watch as he kicks ass  and breaks heads. The fights are beautifully staged and you can feel every bone crushing blow. This is one of the few recent films with hand to hand combat where you end up wincing with the strikes. How it it that the people on the receiving end Foster's blows are in one piece?

This is popcorn action cinema at it's most enjoyable.

Watching the film alone on a screener I was kind of saddened that I didn't see this at the Big Bad FIlm Festival with an audience of action film lovers.  This is an audience film and needs to be seen where a bunch of people can react to it together.

I had a blast and as such LIFE AFTER FIGHTING is highly recommended.

Secret Art of Human Flight (2023) starts today

Off kilter film about a man mourning the death of his wife who gets hooked up with a guy who says he can fly. This is a charming film with its own bent sense of reality. If you can take  it on it's own terms (it took me two tries) you will have a good time -hell I watched it twice.

BROKEN BIRD (2024) Fright Fest 2024

The official synopsis is as follows ”Sybil works at an undertakers. It's a lonely job, with few perks. So she takes solace where she can.” I’m not going to say any more.

Rebecca Calder shines as Sybil a prim and proper young woman looking to find a place to call home. With her hair pulled back and erect posture she radiates an oddness that gets creepier and creepier as it goes.  She is an interesting person who is clearly slipping and Calder keeps us watching even when we think we should look away.

She is so good that along with director Joanne Mitchell’s sense of story and of image that we are willing to go along with  the story where ever it goes.

This is a super little thriller. Sure odds are you are  going to know where this is going to go, but at the same time how the story unfolds and the craft of the film is so top shelf that you are happily going to ride this film into hell.

Highly recommended, especially if you love gothic horror.

Go buy some popcorn and go.

BROKEN BIRD just World Premiered at Fright Fest. It hits UK theaters August 30

Spook WHo Sat By The Door plays BAM Aug 23-Sept 5:

With THE SPOOK WHO SAT BEHIND THE DOOR playing BAM this week here is a repost of my NYAFF review from 2020

 I am behind in talking about The Spook That Sat By The Door.  When I found out a restoration was playing at the New York Film Festival I went to dig out my DVD and got lost in trying to actually find it. As a result I missed the play dates of the film.

The film is based on the book by Sam Greenlee and  it has been rattling cages for half a century. It is the story of a black CIA agent who takes what he learns about over throwing governments and destabilizing regimes and teaches it to other you black men so they can work to bring about change. The politics didn’t sit well with the studios.  It was pulled from theaters when United Artists freaked out at it’s overt political message and feared what the film could do. They later buried the film by putting in the vaults  under another name.

Ivan Dixon’s film is a stunner. While it is a time capsule of the time that it was made, it is also a celluloid scream that shows us how little we have moved since then. Dixon captured a moment and feeling that for a large portion of America is still echoing across the land.

That the film is still relevant is a extremely sad. We should be looking at the film as a something that we moved beyond. If you need to know how far we haven’t come consider Steve McQueen’s Small Axe Anthology, which deals with many of the same themes in Dixon’s half century old film. Filmmakers should not be making similar films decades apart.

The Spook Who Sat By The Door is a vital living masterpiece. It is a living  historical document and something you must see, especially if you are watching the Steve McQueen films at NYFF or later on Amazon

BOUTIQUE: TO PRESERVE AND COLLECT (2024) Fright Fest

Ry Levey looks at preserving and collecting films, in particular B and independent films of all sorts.

In a year which has had two films on films that are going to be in my best of the best list for the year, there is now going to be a third. This look at film lovers and the boutique is magnificent. It not only speaks about the process of saving and collecting films, but it also speaks volumes about why people love these and any they are so important. As is made clear by several people,  seeing the B and inde films  of the past is  getting to see a vast array of view points that are unique and different. It’s not the same point of view, but something different from each filmmaker.

On a personal level this film is celebration about why I love the movies. It’s a glorious emplanation of what makes the films not just important but so damn entertaining and eye opening.

I can’t really say much about the film, I have no notes, other than this truly is one of the best films of 2024 and one of the best films on films I’ve seen.

Highly recommended.

Catching Dust in theaters and VOD 8/23

An artistic young woman living in the desert with her criminal husband is looking to get out. When a couple from the city shows up she talks her husband into letting them stay and it results in unexpected turns.

Unexpected is the best description for this film. While nominally a kind of noir relationship drama, the film takes turns that you probably won’t see coming. I know I didn’t see some of them which absolutely delighted me. I say that because so many similar films follow the expected paths that I tend not to gravitate toward seeing them because I’ve sorted it out ten minutes in.

The real reason that the film works are the performances. Erin Moriarty and Jai Courtney, in the leads are truly dynamite. They give their characters a grace and depth that you don’t usually see in films like this. We feel the weight of their actions and we feel their emotional connections in ways that give the finale a real kick. I did not expect to be moved as I was. Honestly Moriarity and Courtney are so good they make this a must see.

Recommended

I WILL BE YOUR MIRROR (2022) aka blood

 After the death of her husband Chloe travels to Japan on a photo assignment. There she reconnects with Toshi and his young daughter. 

This is a sweet little romance which originally had a poor choice for a title (blood, all lower case). It's a lovely story about nice people who find each other. It's a beautifully shot to the point that you will want to disappear into the landscape. Rarely has Japan ever felt so inviting.

I love this film a great deal. I love that it doesn't reinvent the wheel, it simply does what it does extremely well with the result being a film we want to curl up with.

If there is anything wrong with the film, aside from a poor choice of a title, it's that the romance between Chloe and Toshi is pretty much a done deal from the first frame. We know it's going to happen; we just have to wait for the inevitable, however, it's so well done you won't care.

Recommended 

Other Laurens (2024) opens Friday

The niece of a private detective asks him to investigate the death of her father, his estranged and rich twin brother. He supposedly died in a drunken car crash but the girl insists that her father had given up drinking. Getting to the house he finds things are odd with his American wife, bikers and assorted unsavory people wandering around.

Good looking off kilter thriller is a cinematic ride that is going to keep you guessing about what is going on to the very end. That last statement I mean in both a good way and a bad way. I mean it in a good way because this multilayer thriller has a lot going on. There is so much going on regarding the mystery and the themes the film is exploring beyond that that it takes a good chunk of the film before things begin to come together. The problem is that by the time the end credits roll I’m not sure they’ve explained everything. When I got to the end I wanted to watch the film again because I felt like I had missed something.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure there is enough there to make it worth a second viewing. While I enjoyed the ride, I didn’t care about the destination.  I don’t think I was really satisfied at the end.  Part of it was some of the digressions along the way specifically the speeches, and thematic explorations of who we are/rich vs poor really never lead anywhere. I also don’t like the way the film works overtime making things obscure for our hero only to give us a just okay resolution. Much of my dislike is how people speak in ways that people really don’t. It might just be the subtitles but at the same time some of the English dialog feels artificial as if it was written by someone who can speak American English but not in a way that Americans actually speak.

Forgive me if this review seems more negative that it should. There is so much in OTHER LAUREN I like, say what you will it has style to burn, and it made me really lean in and want to see where it was going, but I am really disappointed it didn’t stick the landing.

Reservation aside if you want to take a really good cinematic ride whose parts are better than the whole give this is a shot.

Close Your Eyes (2023) starts 8/23 at Film Forum

Víctor Erice’s fourth film in fifty years is glorious. An ever changing tale it s a celebration of life and the movies.

The film follows a once up and coming film director who is brought on to a TV show to talk about his friend, an actor who went missing 20 years before. They were in the middle of making a film but the actor simply vanished. People thought he was dead, others weren’t sure. The show kicks off a search and to say more would be telling.

A film told in kind of chapters (Sequences from the film, the making of the show and the search) the film grabs us from the first moments and drags us to the very end. Actually it’s not drags but it acts as a pied piper and causes us to follow where ever it goes. We fall into the film because not only do we want to know what the tale of the mystery is but also because be care deeply abut the characters on screen.

And at this point I need to mention José Coronado as the missing man. Giving what is quite simply one of the greatest performances I have ever seen, he should be up for every award under the sun. He isn’t acting, he is inhabiting. That’s an absolute rave.

I was moved by this ways I’m still discovering. Indeed the film is so magical that I don’t have words to describe it except to say that the film is now part of my DNA.

I also think the film is near perfect, with only the closing sequence of the film within the film being awkward in execution- though it’s spot on for what it is.

I can not say enough good about this film, except to say that I and several others at the the screening I attended were of the opinion that this should have been the opening night film of the NYFF instead of the latest Todd Haynes. Nothing against the Haynes film, but the opening night film should be highlighting a truly special film and CLOSE YOUR EYES is exactly that.

Highly recommended this is going to be on your best of the year list.

To Kill A Wolf (2024) Edinburgh 2024

There are a lot of films about how people running from things who come together and heal. It's a whole subgenre and frequently you know how it's all going to play out. The trick to making a film in the genre is to give us characters we love and enough coloring that we don't care about the framework because we are lost in the details.

TO KILL A WOLF is so good, er great, that we don't notice the framework or the characters or the details, but rather we are lost in the lives of the people on screen.

After Dani runs away from home she ends up in the forest where she meets a woodsman. The woodsman agrees to take her to her grandmothers house.  Along the way they connect and begin find the strength to confront the things that haunt them.

All hail Ivan Martin and Maddison Brown. Giving performances for the ages, the pair raise this film up to something truly special. Seemingly to inhabit their characters they make you forget that they are actors and in other films. I say this because when the film was done I had to see what else they had been in, and then I realized I had seen them in multiple films- but this film had wiped all of that away. Sure the rest of the cast is equally as good but Martin and Brown are on screen for the whole film and as such they grab us by the heart.

What I love about the film is that the story feels real. Normally films like this suffer in that you can feel the hand of the filmmakers who move everyone around to get the characters together and the plot moving. Here it just feels real.

I love this film. It's one the great finds of the year. Hell, it might also be one of the best films I've seen in 2024 as well. 

See this film. You will love it.

Torched - The Story of the Austin Torch (2024) hits VOD August 20

 

This is the story of the Professional Womens/Nonbinary Ultimate Frisbee Team the Austin Torch during the 2022 season.. The film follows the team  as they struggle to make a go of the season.

This is a good and very breezy (it runs just over an hour) look at what it takes to make a go of it in a professional fringe sport. It’s the sort of thing I could see playing on ESPN.

Filled with interviews and game footage the film carries us along  as we fall in love with the players and want to pull up a stool and have a drink or two with them.

While unlikely to rattle the pillars of heaven, it does entertain and put a smile on our faces and as such is recommended.

For more information go here

Drive Back (2024) Popcorn Frights 2024

Newly engaged couple are heading home after a big party. Getting lost in the wood after an encounter with a hitchhiker the couple slowly realize that they have crossed into a different reality.

This is a really weird film that plays all sorts of games with reality. There are lots of questions about what is going on. I was, for a much of the film completely locked and loaded, willing to go anywhere the film was taking me...

And then suddenly the film lost me. It didn't do anything.  It just stopped being compelling being compelling because it didn't seem to be going anywhere.  Sure I wanted to see where it went, but all of the tension was gone. It seemed like it was just going on to reach feature length rather than having a definite ending.

While the conclusion is fine, it doesn’t recover from the loss of suspense.

Quadrant (2024) Premieres on August 23rd, on Amazon Prime, Full Moon Features, and Tubi.

QUADRANT is the name of a VR helmet designed to help people overcome their fears and phobias. Things go wrong when a girl named Erin, with a pathological obsession with Jack the Ripper is triggered to become the ripper.

This is an entertaining little film.

If you are a decades long fan of the Full Moon films of Charles Band you will know that this is exactly like many of their films, small little genre films that operate in their own world (don’t think too much about the plot) that move along at a good clip and leave you smiling at the end. Sure they may not rock the pillars of heaven but they stick with you as part of a body of work that was the perfect accompaniment to a big bowl of popcorn.

For me this is the sort of B movie that we don’t get any more. It’s a film with no aspirations beyond being a good time.  This a throw back to the days when the golden age of the drive-in moved to home video and producers like Roger Corman and Samul Arkoff were replaced by Charles Band.

While I could quibble about the plot mot emaking sense in a few places, there really is no point because the whole thing is just so damn fun you don’t care.

Recommended.

LORE (2024)

LORE tells the story of a group of friends who go into the woods in order to tell ghost stories.  Once they are at the spot their host tells them to tell the scariest story they know.

The wrap  around story is called campfire and it sets everything up, though it’s sting ties into one of the stories.

Shadows is a solid little thriller about a man who is being pursued by collectors of a debt. He takes them into a not so deserted ware house. It’s a nice beginning to the film.

Hidden Woman is a haunted house tale about a mother and son moving into a new house. It has some truly creepy moments

Cross Your Heart follows a couple who get involved with swingers a small remote inn. It’s a creepy folk horror tale.

Key Chain Man  is the final film. It’s a meta exercise as a serial killer is loose in a multiplex. Its good but a little too jokey for my tastes.

I really enjoyed LORE. While the segments are not all the same level of good, they all are good, which is rare. They are all close enough in quality that you don’t get whiplash while watching it nor is there going to be a segment you skip when you rewatch the film.

Recommended.

Lore will be available to stream exclusively on the IFC Channel from 26th August, in Select UK Cinemas from 27th September and then available on Home Entertainment from 21th October

The Japan Cuts 2024 Gakuryū Ishii Interview

I have been a fan of Gakuryū Ishii (formerly Sogo) for decades. When I was getting into Asian film I was constantly being told to try and track down copies of his films CRAZY THUNDER ROAD, BURST CITY, THE CRAZY FAMILY, ANGEL DUST and anything I could get my hands on. This was back in the days before the internet, before the ability to get things at a click of a button, so I had to buy various magazines and try and get VHS copies from places like Video Search of Miami. Ishii’s films, I was told, were rewriting cinema as we know it. And while that may sound insane, it’s true. Ishii’s films were being seen by various filmmakers who took what he was doing and used it either as template or an inspiration for their own films. Ishii was making films that made me lean into them. I didn’t always like the film as a whole, but I always took something from them and they always changed the way I saw the world and cinema.

Back on July 13th I was allowed to spend some time with Ishii. The occasion was the screening of his latest film THE BOXMAN at Japan Cuts. The film was based on a book by Kobo Abe and had premiered a short time before at Berlin. What follows is the majority of the conversation we had together, minus the occasional word salad (the result of my going absolute fanboy for a moment here or there). You will forgive me I am a film fan first and the chance to talk with one of the people responsible for my love of cinema was occasionally overwhelming.

I want to thank the Japan Society and Sylvia Savadjian for allowing me to spend 20 minutes with the great man, I want to thank Tomoko for translating, John DiBello for doing the final edit and I mostly want to than Master Ishii for putting up with a crazed film fan.

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STEVE: It's a pleasure to meet you after all these years. I have been following you since the late 80s or early 90's when I was getting into Japanese film. You were always the person whose films you had to see. I had to try to get them via imports and bootleg on VHS tapes. Forgive me you've been in my mind for 40 years. Now that you are making bigger films, do you miss the early days of what always seemed to be more guerrilla filmmaking or do you like making big films like THE BOXMAN?

ISHII: Actually, the films that I am currently working on don’t have big budgets. So Samurai period dramas are costly, but the other types of films I work on actually have a smaller budget. Yes, my recent films are all low budget.

STEVE: They just look so different from your earlier stuff, it's much more polished.

ISHII: I get to work with professional teams creatively. Because the shooting period is so short that everything needs to be planned out in a very, very precise way. I get to work with a professional crew of workers familiar with the very precise and economical terms of shooting.

STEVE: I know it took you years to do THE BOXMAN. Was that because it wasn't the right time, or was it just financially you couldn't put the film together?

ISHII: The biggest reason is that financially we didn't get to raise enough money. I have been getting requests to use idols and celebrities or make this story a little easier to understand. I had gotten many requests that I couldn't meet.

STEVE: Is it the film you wanted to make? Is it the film you envisioned when you started 27 years ago?

ISHII: The film I envisioned 27 years ago was a big budget film working with a German team, so it was more of an entertainment film, more of a slapstick entertainment film. And then Kobo Abe died, and the rights for the novel of THE BOXMAN were given to his daughter, and then her request was that you need to be faithful to the novel, otherwise we wouldn't get the rights. So yes, that's why I had to adjust the script all together. And that's why the story lines became really complicated, as is the novel. That's why we didn't get to raise enough money because it was too difficult to understand. And then there was a period of time where Hollywood held the movie rights for seven years. Then it came back to me, I knew it would come back to me, and it did eventually come back. Abe's daughter didn't like the direction the Hollywood version was heading so that's why I was given the chance again. And during that time the technology for filmmaking advanced so I could have a smaller budget, but still achieve what I wanted to achieve.

STEVE: Do you think the film is better now than what you would have done originally?

ISHII: I think it's apples and oranges. We can't compare it, but now that I am older and I had the time to process the original novel, the interpretation of it has changed. I had the time to think it through and now everybody has a personal device cell phone and so it's almost like the time has caught up to the original novel and it makes sense. Society now suits this piece. I think that this original novel really predicted our current society. We are all in our own information bubble.

STEVE: I wanted to ask you how you decided on the music in the film, because it's so spot-on perfect?

ISHII : As a filmmaker... it's almost like filmmaking is composing and I have a composer that I have been working with for a very long time (Michiaki Katsumoto). But you know the creation process for me is... sounds and the story, music and the story, so they're inseparable. Currently it's understood that the basic smallest unit of everything exists in this world is a wavelength. How it manifests itself in the world thus it can be the sound, the visual, the movements, but the smallest units that exist in the world is universal. So something that is wonderfully, excellently expressed, is inherently musical. So I pay close attention to the rhythm that something has.

STEVE: Since you worked with the same composer, did you talk about the music before you made the movie? Does he give bits or does he wait for you to finish the film and then you get the music?

ISHII: In my process of filmmaking, I create my own sort of soundtrack with existing pieces of music. I created my own soundtrack of the film along with a visual storyboard - usually paintings of imagery. I need the whole thing to kind of understand the film I’m directing and so that's part of my creation process.

STEVE: The other thing I have to ask you about is how you cast. Going back to the earliest films of yours, you always have these great actors, and I can never imagine anybody else playing another role. I couldn't see you swapping in somebody else in any of the roles, especially with THE BOXMAN, which I think it's probably the best thing you have ever done. The cast is just so good they sell every moment. Do you know who you are going to cast, or do you just see who comes in?

ISHII: Yes definitely, casting is very important in my work, and it's also very difficult. I take a great amount of time and effort in casting every single role. First of all, the actor needs to be perfect for the role and the character that they're playing, obviously. And they need to fit the theme of the film that I am making, and the core essence that the actor has need to synchronize with it. And if I can't find anybody that's perfect for these requirements, then I will find new actors; I just need to find the right person so it's a painstaking process for sure. And I did have a thorough discussion with the actors about the role and what is going on with the characters.

STEVE: Would you prefer to adapt something, or do you prefer to write your own story? THE BOXMAN comes from a novel. Would you rather create something entirely on your own when you are making the film, or do you want to just follow another source?

ISHII: I’m interested in both. But I don't read as a hobby that much and I tend to read something just to see if it can be adapted. It’s really hard to say. I also like comics.

STEVE: So do I. Just a quick question, because I know we're out of time. With many directors going back and redoing or changing or tweaking their old films, would you ever consider something similar?

ISHII: I wouldn't do it just out of my own volition. I would volunteer if somebody pressed me then I might consider it. For THE CRAZY FAMILY, Hollywood actually asked me to do it, but I said I would do a sequel. I said I can make the sequel, but I didn't want to do a remake.

STEVE: I know I'm out of time. Thank you very much. Thank you, it's been a pleasure. It's been a joy as I have wanted to interview you for years.

The Bunker (2024) Popcorn Frights 2024

Scientist is put in a bunker  deep in the earth all alone in order to work on a biological weapon to fight an alien invasion. However there are complications such as the aliens being able to scan for location.  As time goes on things begin to seem not what she was told.

This alien invasion story, is for the most part, a tense little thriller. It’s a film firmly grounded in a world of it’s own devising. This is thanks to a some truly wonderful visuals which set the mood and the place. It also score highly by never slipping into a place where we are certain how it will all turn out.

This is a film that you can get a bowl of popcorn and beverage and hunker down on a rainy Saturday.

I do want to give you a bit of a warning, because of the nature of the film, most of the character interaction is on screens and it’s largely in one location, the film can seem a little static.  Realize it going in and you’ll be fine. I suspected that was going to be the case and I just went with it. If you want a big film with big epic panoramas you are going to be disappointed.

Ultimately THE BUNKER is a neat little scifi tale and recommended.

Dark Intruder (1965)

Feeling like a pilot of a busted TV series (which it is) but with big screen aspirations, Dark Intruder is a really good supernatural thriller about a killer possessed by a demon and the detective, Leslie Nielsen, trying to work out who or what is behind the killings.

Moving like the wind the film tears through events as a breakneck speed leaving us little time to think or breath. It is a perfectly compact thriller that leaves you wanting more. I would have loved this to have gone to a series, either in the movies or TV. (Though to be honest by the time this was released to theaters the ability for an old school series was nil).

The discovery of this film was an absolute unexpected delight. It was so good that as soon as I finished it I watched it again.

Highly recommended.

Fugue (2024) Edinburgh 2024

A Saor returns the body of his lover Valentina to the small village in the mountains they were from for burial. Along the way he has to face the trail of violence that the rebel group Shining Path has carved through the country.

Told with non-actors all telling stories based on their own lived FUGUE is a film of quiet power. Close to being a documentary, the trappings of the narrative form keep it from falling across that arbitrary line.

This film is best seen with no distractions, with your full attention focused on the screen. I say this because I started to watch the film and twenty minutes in I realized this wasn’t working for me. I was going to restart with nothing around me. The result was night and day. The measured pace of the film, the dream trip up into the Amazon  hooked me and the film stopped being a film but a trip with Soar to a place where he could deal with his grief. It wasn’t just a movie but a trip where we get to commune with all of the people on the screen.

There is both not a lot  going on  and a great deal. It’s a film where what we are seeing is not as important as the weight of everything that has gone before. The past is not gone but still living and producing ripples in the moment at hand. We are all scarred by what happened before and those scars influence what we are doing now.

As I said above this with is a film of quiet power- it is a silent earthquake that moves your soul via the accumulation of life’s events.

Recommended.

HAUNTED ULSTER LIVE (2024) Popcorn Frights 2024

In 1998 a film crew goes to a haunted house on Halloween and does a live broadcast. As the presenters talk to the home owners and the ghosts things begin happening and the lives of everyone in the house wind up in danger.

Walking into the same territory as the infamous GHOSTWATCH which was a presented on the BBC with only a word of warning that it was fiction at the very beginning, HAUNTED ULSTER LIVE  ends up being a very good little horror film that wobbles a bit in that it breaks its conceit as a live broadcast.  It’s a film that lulls us into thinking it’s all a bit goofy before slowly turning up the screws.

I really liked this film a great deal. The point at which the film got into trouble for me was when the focus of the film shifted from being a straight on broadcast to showing us outside what the camera sees. While it is necessary because of what is going on, the films strengths is the copying of the broadcast. By jumping away from that the spell or the sense of this happening right before us is broken.  It’s far from fatal but it makes what should have been a truly great film into a really good one.

My desire for a scary film to be even scarier this film has chills and as such is recommended.

THE CEREMONY IS ABOUT TO BEGIN (2024) Popcorn Frights

I go into most films at festival kind of blind. I don’t want to read on them extensively. I just want to have an idea that I want to see them. With  THE CEREMONY IS ABOUT TO BEGIN I read the festival description and then let it fall out of my mind. When I sat down to watch the film a few days later I was five minutes in and was thinking to myself that “hey this is a really good documentary”.

Then it changed and I realized this wasn’t a documentary but a really good mockumentary/horror film.

The film is nominally about a weird cult based around ancient Egyptian beliefs but where it goes is unexpected, though not so much because, well mummies. It follows the comings and goings of members and how the belief system changes. It’s a wild ride that hooks you at first because it’s so well done you believe it, and then once things go weird because you don’t know where it’s going to go.

Say what you will it’s one of the great thrill ride films of Popcorn Frights that get bonus points for making you really think about the weird cults like Scientology that people join.

Highly recommended.