I think I've written one of these curtain-raiser articles in my twenty years or so of blogging about movies, mostly because in the days & weeks leading up to a festival I am desperately trying to make sure I'm ahead at my day job and not leaving a bunch of blogs I want to write in limbo while I let my thoughts on them get (in this case) three weeks fuzzier. Plus, for festivals especially, I often enjoy having just the vaguest idea of what a film is about and allowing myself to be surprised. Also, I'm not really sure how much of my mostly-not-in-Quebec readership is going to drop everything and make a trip north of the border or be especially eager for my coverage.
This year is a bit different - my day job has gone through some changes, the chances that I'll be able to show up at the last minute and stand a good chance of getting in look a bit lower, and I'm more at peace with just dropping a quick reaction on my Letterboxd page and not writing another four paragraphs, so I'm not really "behind" most of the time. And, let's face it, it's not like I don't spend a week or two before this festival looking at the website, trying to figure out what I can see and where the tough decisions are going to be.
I once wrote a preview about how to form a plan of attack for a film festival (now, sadly, only visible on the Internet Archive); so instead of highlighting the obvious stuff every other curtain-raiser will, let's look at the toughest places where I want to see multiple films, but can't. Your conflicts, even if you're up in Montreal for the festival, will likely be much different, as I am able to make full use of the weekday afternoon screenings in the smaller de Seve theater, and will dismiss some genres that others may not - but then, this is at least partly a preview for what I'll be covering here, as opposed to the entire festival, so it's perhaps only right that I highlight the stuff I'd like to cover, but can't.
(I am, sadly, going to mostly ignore the Fantastiques Week-Ends programming at the Cinéma du Musée and much of the repertory material at the Cinémathèque québécoise; both are often more than my meager French can handle!
Round One: 4pm vs The A-Frame vs Confession
4pm plays Thursday, 18 July 2024 at 9:30pm in Hall
The A-Frame plays Thursday, 18 July at 9:30pm in de Seve and Friday, 19 July at 5pm in de Seve
Confession plays Friday, 19 July at 6pm in Hall
4pm presents a Korean take on a Belgian mystery story, with the sort of problem that seems like a weird irritant (a neighbor comes to call at 4pm and will not leave until exactly 6pm) that escalates into something unnerving and possibly dangerous; The A-Frame starts with high-concept science as quantum tunneling seemingly allows a woman in danger of losing her hand a chance to be fully healed; and Confession has a friend who thinks he is about to die in a mountain snowstorm confess to a horrible crime, only to have things become more complicated when they are able to find shelter.
All three are thrillers, but you can only choose two, itself a thriller-like conundrum. Even though it is quite short, Confession potentially bumps up against Carnage for Christmas; on the other hand, director Nobuhiro Yamashita has a strong track record (Linda Linda Linda) and a nice cast. The A-Frame is a small indie, but the festival has enough faith to give it two slots, and English-language films are easier to find on North American streamers later.
I will probably go with 4pm on Thursday and Confession on Friday, even if The A-Frame is the sort of indie sci-fi thing I'd like to see more of.
Round Two: Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons vs International Science Fiction Showcase 2024
Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons plays Sunday, 21 July 2024 at 1:50pm in Hall
The International Science Fiction Showcase 2024 plays Sunday, 21 July 2024 at 2pm in de Seve
Last year, Fantasia played a classic animated version of the Ramayana; this year, it's a new one, with Mantra Warrior coming from Thailand and, like Kalki 2898-AD earlier this year, extending the story to the far future, with this version including battle mechs! The annual Sci-Fi Shorts program, meanwhile, has seven short films from six different countries, and if the order listed on the website holds, it looks like it will start with high-concept comedy, push through satire, and finish with a visual knockout that references Soviet fantastik cinema.
I missed the animated Ramayana last year, so I'd really like to catch Mantra Warrior, but the Sci-Fi showcase is a must-see, and I'm actually glad to see it playing early enough in the festival this year that I'll be able to write it up without my brain being full!
Round Three: Ghost Cat Anzu & Dark Match vs Not Friends & The Old Man and the Demon Sword (vs Mike Flanagan)
Ghost Cat Anzu plays Sunday, 21 July 2024 at 4:15pm in Hall
Not Friends plays Sunday, 21 July 2024 at 4:35pm in de Seve and Tuesday, 23 July 2024 at 12:15pm in de Seve
Dark Match plays Sunday, 21 July 2024 at 6:30pm in Hall
The Old Man and the Demon Sword plays Sunday, 21 July at 7:15pm in de Seve
Mike Flanagan's Artist Talk is at 5pm in the Cinéma du Musée
Ghost Cat Anzu is an anime about a young girl dropped off with a relative in a seaside resort, with said cousin a giant anthropomorphic cat spirit. Not Friends is a Thai coming of age film with superficial similarities to Dear Evan Hansen - an opportunistic teenager tries to use the recent death of someone he barely knew to his advantage - but promises a twistier story. Dark Match has the Wolfcop crew team with former WWE champion Chris Jericho for a tag-team matchup with the fate of the world in the balance. The Old Man and the Demon Sword is a micro-budget film from Portugal where the town drunk winds up bound to a demon sword and must defeat monsters. Mike Flanagan is a talented filmmaker who first came on my radar at Fantasia with Absentia and has gone on to bigger things, from being the go-to guy for Stephen King adaptations to streaming reimaginations of horror classics.
It's not, strictly speaking, a tag-team match; Not Friends overlaps Ghost Cat Anzu and Dark Match, but you could pair Ghost Cat Anzu and The Old Man and the Demon Sword and have time to sit down for dinner in between. Ghost Cat, it's worth noting, is co-directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita, who also directed Confession and Swimming in a Sand Pool at the festival this year. If one of the things you really like about film festivals is seeing filmmakers, then it's a bit of a shame Flanagan's talk and Dark Match overlap, because the latter has a ton of the cast and crew scheduled to be there, including Jericho. Myself, I figure on doing the full Yamashita slate and am more interested in Old Man than Dark Match, and will catch Not Friends a couple days later.
Round Four: Frankie Freako vs Things That Go Bump in the East 2024
Frankie Freako plays Wednesday, 24 July 2024, at 6:45pm in Hall
Things That Go Bump in the East 2024 plays Wednesday, 24 July 2024, at 7pm in de Seve
Frankie Freako is the latest bit of madness from Steve Kostanski, in which a dorky man desperate to prove himself cool to his wife and boss accidentally throws a party with alien monsters. This years "Bump in the East" collection has seven films representing six different lands, half animated and half live-action, including oft-neglected areas like Mongolia and Sri Lanka.
This, I can't lie, is a tough one! A package like "Bump in the East" is part of what I go to film festivals for, an hour and a half of short films movies that have unique styles and satisfy my curiosity about what creeps people out around the world. On the other hand, Kostanski, working with a lot of the old Astron-6 crew even though they have officially all gone solo (and will probably bring friends even if he's the only guest listed), makes films that kind of demand to be seen with an audience ready to scream and shout, and while I suspect there could be another chance for that at the Boston Underground Film Festival in March, that's an awful long time for a film to stay on the festival circuit in the 2020s. I'll probably see whether Frankie is sold out and head across the street if it looks like I'm not getting in.
Round Five:Don't Call It Mystery vs Hollywood 90028
Don't Call It Mystery plays Friday, 26 July 2024, at 4:30pm in Hall
Hollywood 90028 plays Friday, 26 July 2024, at 5:15pm in de Seve as part of the book launch for Heidi Honeycutt's I Spit on Your Celluloid
Two very different crime stories overlapping here: Don't Call It Mystery is an adaptation of a popular shojo manga with Masaki Suda as a college student who is pulled into a family conflict by a young woman who sees he has the makings of a great detective. Hollywood 90028 is a transgressive serial killer story being given a new restoration and re-release for its 50th anniversary.
Given that I have already passed up two opportunities to see Hollywood 90028 closer to home - it has has midnight screenings at the Coolidge and also played a multiplex - I'll almost certainly go for Don't Call It Mystery, which sounds like its' very much my thing.
Round Six: Penalty Loop vs The Dead Thing
Penalty Loop plays Friday, 26 July 2024, at 7:15pm in Hall
The Dead Thing plays Friday, 26 July 2024, at 7:15pm in de Seve and Sunday, 28 July 2024 at 12pm in de Seve
Penalty Loop comes from Japan and has a man trapped in a time loop as he tries to kill the man who murdered his girlfriend, with the latter having enough deja vu to fight back, and even more going on behind the scenes. The Dead Thing follows a couple who, after a blind date where the man ghosts the girl, reconnect only to discover that there is something dark underneath. They may be in similar genres, but they seem to have different vibes.
Though The Dead Thing has a second screening, it's got its own overlap issues. This one feels like it could be a toss-up decision at the time.
Round Seven: Killer Constable vs Capsules 24 vs From My Cold Dead Hands vs Heavens: The Boy and His Robot vs Out of the Shadow vs KIZUMONOGATARI: Koyomi Vamp vs Steppenwolf
Killer Constable plays Saturday, 27 July 2024, at 1pm in de Seve
Capsules 2024 plays Saturday, 27 July, at 1:30pm in Hall
From My Cold Dead Hands plays Saturday, 27 July 2024, at 3pm in de Seve and Sunday, 4 August 2024, at 9:20pm in de Seve
Heavens: The Boy and His Robot plays Saturday, 27 July 2024, at 3:35 in Hall
Out of the Shadow plays Saturday, 27 July 2024, at 5;05pm in de Seve and Tuesday, 30 July 2024, at 12:30pm in de Seve
KIZUMONOGATARI: Koyomi Vamp plays Saturday, 27 July 2024, at 6:15pm in Hall
Steppenwolf plays Saturday, 27 July 2024, at 7pm in de Seve and Friday, 2 August 2024, at 3pm in de Seve
Killer Constable is a new restoration of a Shaw Brothers classic with Chen Kuan-tai as a swordsman who gives no quarter tasked with recovering a treasure only to find both his men and the criminals are pawns in a larger game. Capsules 2024 is a collection of six animated shorts from China and its Billibilli platform. From My Cold Dead Hands is a documentary on American gun culture. Heavens: The Boy and His Robot is a Singabporean sci-fi adventure about a young man tasked with piloting a mecha during a war between Earth and a now-independent Mars. Out of the Shadow is one of the recent waves of Hong Kong flicks featuring a new wave of stars, in this case showing a young masked avenger just starting out. KIZUMONOGATARI: Koyomi Vamp reconstructs a tough-to-find anime trilogy into one film about a teenager who rescues a dismembered vampire woman and may come to regret it. Steppenwolf is a Kazakh action thriller that pairs a bone-breaker cop with a traumatized mother to find her missing son.
Though this looks like a Saturday battle royale even before you get to the awards presentations, panel discussions, and repertory/locally-focused screenings at other events, this is more frightening on the schedule than in reality, at least if one can make the secondary screenings. The big conflict is Killer Constables and Capsules - the former will likely be easier to see later via a new Arrow Video release but it's made for the big screen and will probably be a blast with a kung-fu loving crowd, while the latter is made for small screens but might be hard to find outside China aside from the festival. I'll probably hit Capsules and stay in Hall all day but look longingly at the folks lining up across the street.
Round Eight: Teasing Master Takagi-san vs Brush of the God
Teasing Master Takagi-san plays Sunday, 28 July 2024, at 1:30pm in Hall
Brush of the God plays Sunday, 28 July 2024, at 2:30pm in de Seve
This slot is particularly tough, offering two apparently-light-hearted features from Japan: Teasing Master Takagi-san is a romantic comedy where a man must deal with the return of the best friend he had a crush on in high school after ten years abroad, who still knows how to push his buttons. Brush of the God is a love-letter to kaiju adventures where the teenage granddaughter of a recently-departed movie modelmaker must travel to a mysterious island and prevent a dragon from escaping and destroying humanity. That one is made by a long-time artist in monster-movie costume departments directing his first feature at 88.
Awfully difficult choice for fans of Japanese film here! A lot of us are absolutely ready for a cute romantic comedy by this Sunday (usually the festival's midway point, but a little closer to the end this year), but Brush certainly sounds charming! I'm going to try and punt my choice until the day, although the early second screening of The Dead Thing (which just clips the start of Teasing) may play into it.
Round Nine: Born of Woman 2024 vs The Umbrella Fairy
Born of Woman 2024 plays Sunday, 28 July 2024, at 4pm in de Seve
The Umbrella Fairy plays Sunday, 28 July 2024, at 4:15pm in Hall
Born of Woman is the festival's annual shorts block that showcases female filmmakers, this year including 8 films from 5 countries. It should be noted that this is far from a means of ghettoizing these films; since the program's premiere, I've noted that most Fantasia short programs run pretty close to 50/50, and these are often films that are more specifically focused on having a woman's perspective The Umbrella Fairy is an animated film from China which takes the spiritual belief that every object develops a soul and follows the two that sprang from a sword and an umbrella made from the same piece of jade.
As much as I often want to catch Born of Woman, it's often in challenging slots and attracts enough guests that I know it will run long; and that's why I will probably catch The Umbrella Fairy, because otherwise I may not make it across the street to A Samurai in Time, uh, in time.
Round Ten: Baby Assassins: Nice Days vs Cube
Baby Assassins: Nice Days plays Tuesday, 30 July 2024, at 6:45pm in Hall
Cube plays Tuesday, 30 July 2024, at 7:15pm in de Seve, including an award presentation to Vincenzo Natali
Baby Assassins: Nice Days is the third entry in a series that is kind of sensibly being cranked out fast, before its young stars no longer pass for teenagers/recent high school graduates, this time sending them on a vacation where they wind up competing with another assassin on a job. Cube is a Canadian sci-fi/horror classic with a number of people inside a metallic environment where each room will attempt to kill them in spectacularly bloody fashion, with director Vincenzo Natali on-hand to receive the festival's Canadian Trailblazer award.
It's not as tough a call as if Natali had been presenting a new film - I'm sure that someone like Vinegar Syndrome or one of their partner labels will have a really spiffy 4K disc out later this year and the new restoration will probably play a local theater - but I'd have liked to see him talk about it. Still, the Baby Assassins series is a ton of fun with an audience, with the second film better than the first (this one promises to be even better) and the bursts of outstanding fight choreography between slacker comedy are top-tier, so I will likely go with that.
Round Eleven: Timestalker vs In Our Blood vs A Legend
Timestalker plays Wednesday, 31 July 2024, at 7pm in Hall
In Our Blood plays Wednesday, 31 July 2024, at 7:10pm in de Seve and Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 3:15pm in de Seve
A Legend plays Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 4pm in Hall
Timestalker is a dark romantic comedy where a woman's pledges to love a man in her next life and they keep dying horribly, written by/directed by/starring Alice Lowe (Prevenge). In Our Blood is a thriller in which a documentary filmmaker goes to meet her estranged mother, only to have the latter vanish in a city known for people disappearing and turning up dead. A Legend reunites Jackie Chan with writer/director Stanley Tong, playing an archaeologist with a dream connection to a previous age, which blurs as he and his team explore a glacier and the finds preserved within.
How is this Alice Lowe's first feature as a director since Prevenge? At any rate, that jumps it to the top of my list. On the other end, I'm a little leery of A Legend - it was delayed from a Lunar New Year release - but I also suspect that Well Go or someone else will get it in American theaters soon after this screening, so I will likely go for In Our Blood during the Saturday slot.
Round Twelve: Jour de chasse vs CineMaposa 2024
Jour de chasse plays Thursday, 1 August 2024, at 7pm in Hall
CineMaposa 2024 plays Thursday, 1 August 2024, at 7:10pm in de Seve
Jour de Chasse is part of Fantastiques Week-Ends but also a film that played SXSW earlier this year, with Nahéma Ricci as a sex worker left alone in the woods who meets up with some men on a bachelor's weekend who subject her to hazing to remain with them and get back to the city, even as things go completely sideways. CineMaposa is a program of four South Korean genre shorts, from a girl meeting someone online with the intent of committing suicide together to a woman who buys a robot replica of her late father.
It's kind of a tough call - it's great to support the local filmmakers and there are English subtitles listed, but some of the South Korean films look slick too. The local showcase is usually a pretty raucous good time, though.
Round Thirteen: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In vs Collective Delusions 2024
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In plays Thursday, 1 August 2024, at 9:15pm in Hall
Collective Delusions 2024 plays Thursday, 1 August 2024, at 9:30 pm in de Seve
Walled In is the latest from Soi Cheung, with an all-star cast including Louis Koo,Sammo Hung, RIchie Jen, Philip Ng, and more in a period gangster epic taking place in the Kowloon Walled City. Collective Delusions is a collection of 13 underground/outsider films from 7 countries, likely the oddest shorts program of the festival.
It is, in that way, sort of a litmus test on what one is here to see - the big mainstream Hong kong action movie a week before it's scheduled to release in North American cinemas or a sampling of short films from singular voices you might never hear again? Not going to lie, in this case I'm going with Walled In; Cheung's last couple, Limbo and Mad Fate, have been highlights of recent eidtions of the festival.
Round Fourteen: Azrael vs Self Driver vs 100 Yards
Azrael plays Friday, 2 August 2024, at 7pm in Hall
Self Driver plays Friday, 2 August 2024, at 7pm in de Seve and Sunday, 4 August 2024, at 12:30pm in de Seve
100 Yards plays Sunday, 4 August 2024, at 1:35pm in Hall
Azrael is a nasty-looking bit of action/survival horror, taking place in a post-apocalyptic world where many have gone mute and a woman played by Samara Weaving must escape plans for her human sacrifice and rescue her lover; it's directed by E.L. Katz and written by Simon barrett. Self Driver is a thriller about a man who takes a job driving for a secretive rideshare company, getting in way over his head. 100 Yards is the new film from Xu Haofeng, a maker of meticulously-researched and obsessively-detailed martial arts flicks, in which the son (Jacky Heung) and the greatest student (Andy On) of a martial arts master confront each other on who takes over his school.
On the one hand, Well Go has picked up 100 Yards for distribution, but it's the sort of niche thing that can fall through the cracks if it's a busy week, especially since Xu can be an acquired taste. Azrael also has distribution, but Republic isn't great at getting things into theaters all the time. Self Driver is super-indie and thus this may be the only chance to see it on the big screen. I suppose it depends on my mood come the 2nd, but I'll probably go for Azrael and Self Driver.
Round Fifteen: House of Sayuri vs Black Eyed Susan
House of Sayuri plays Friday, 2 August 2024, at 9:30pm in Hall
Black Eyed Susan plays Friday, 2 August 2024, at 9:35pm in Hall
Here we have two thrillers suitable for a late night slot: House of Sayuri is a J-horror comedy where a family moves into a haunted country house, and much to the teenage son's surprise, his grandmother seems most effective in confronting the supernatural. Black Eyed Susan is an edgy thriller about a man hired to push a sophisticated BDSM sex-doll with impressive AI capabilities to its limits (or would that be his). Scooter McCrae's first movie in two decades is shot on 16mm film and has a soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi.
Personally, I'm kind of squeamish, so I'll probably be in House of Sayuri.
Round Sixteen: Hanu-Man vs Sunburnt Unicort
Hanu-Man plays Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 12:30pm in Hall
Sunburnt Unicorn plays Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 1pm in Hall
Hanu-Man is a big Telugu-language action-comedy that played theaters back in January, starring Amritha Alyer as an minor rascal who winds up with a gemstone that gives him superpowers and attracts the attention of both criminals and the city's local superhero. Sunburnt Unicorn is a Canadian animated adventure about a kid stranded in the desert after a terrible automobile accident. It looks like the kind of thing that's made for children but is, in retrospect, really freaky.
The last Saturday matinee of the festival feels like a good time for either of these things. I'm wary of getting drawn into another Indian movie universe but may choose Hanu-man over Unicorn if it looks to be sold out ahead of time.
Round Seventeen: Circo Animato 2024 and Love & Pop vs The Killers
Circo Animato plays Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 5:30pm in de Seve
The Killers plays Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 6:45pm in Hall
Love & Pop plays Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 7:30pm in de Seve
Circo Animato is the annual animation program - well, the main one! - this year featuring 17 short films from 9 countries covering all manner of subjects and genres in all manner of styles, whether traditional, digital, or stop-motion. The Killers is a South Korean anthology film with four tales of murder from up-and-coming filmmakers. Love & Pop reaches back to 1998 for Hideaki Anno's first live-action feature and one where the animator played with what new digital cameras could do.
I want to see The Killers badly - the structure reminds me of another Korean animated film I saw at the festival early on and which I still bring up regularly (The Neighbor Zombie), but in a genre I like much more! But Circo Animato is a cornerstone, and the description of Love & Pop has me very curious.
Round Eighteen: Wake Up vs Me and My Victim
Wake Up plays Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 9:45pm in Hall
Me and My Victim plays Saturday, 3 August 2024, at 9:45pm in de Seve
Wake Up is the latest film from the makers of Turbo Kid and Summer of 84, the former in particular a huge hit at the festival; this one has six activists looking to deface a premium retailer by sneaking in after hours, only to discover that they are trapped in there with a monstrous, murderous security guard. Me and My Victim is an entry from the Underground section whose makers use it to chronicle their odd relationship that started online and remains rooted in that sort of virtual acquaintanceship even as they become collaborators and lovers.
I know myself by now - I am not going to stay awake through an Underground film at 10pm near the end of the festival; it's never happened and I always feel like I'm taking the seat of someone who wants it. So I'll be across the street seeing how RKSS applies their manic energy to the slasher genre.
And then, a surprising number of repeats on Sunday the 4th, the final day of the festival. There may, of course, be other screenings added whether new, more showtimes, or the like, or announcements, but even on a slightly truncated schedule this year, these 40 films and short packages are just a part of what's on offer.
So Bon Cinéma, and if any of you are in MTL over the next three weeks, hope to see you at the festival!
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