FFF Review: RUBBER

Surrealism has come a long way, slipping into the obscure, hiding in the form of third class horror films in the lower cases on the shelves of rentals, residing on hardly frequented websites as fainted VHS copies or occasionally making an appearance as a supporting genre in films by arthouse directors such as David Lynch. There hasn't been a mainstream film that could be attributed a work of a surrealist in decades. Maybe there's never really been one to begin with... up until now.

Up until Quentin Dupieux, aka. Mr. Oizo, took up directing and made RUBBER. A film about a tire who can kill due to his... powers. And falls in love with a girl. And is chased by the police.

To tell you anything else about the plot would be to spoil the movie and the experience of watching it. If you intend to watch RUBBER, then do so with an open mind and without a clue what it is about, apart from including a killer tire as the protagonist. Because, most of all, RUBBER is a film about filmmaking. A film about nonsense, a film about the poetry of sheer silliness and about the surreal. A film about clichés, both of films and of life.

RUBBER could also have been labeled UN CHIEN ANDALOU 2. To be honest, if it would have been, it would have only improved its grandeur, because most of all, the film does introduce us Quentin Dupieux as one of the greatest artists of our age, placing him next to Artaud or Bunuel.

So if you watch RUBBER, do so in a cinema - the visuals are stunning. Take some friends and alcohol along, and prepare to laugh a lot!!! As the closer of this years Fantasy Filmfest, RUBBER allowed its audience to gaze one last time at the grandeur that is filmmaking aside the norm, aside of such boring productions like "The Sorcerers Apprentice" or "The Forgotten". Aside of everything logic and sane.

And thus, I leave the filmfest with one big question in my mind - to quote the film I have just seen:

"Why does the guy from Roman Polanski's THE PIANIST have to hide and live like a bum if he can play the piano so well?"

You think you know the answer? Oh, you have no clue...

Rating - 9.5/10

FFF Review: THE SILENT HOUSE

In my last review, I ranted a bit about the problem of novelty in the horror-film genre. Well, consider the film I saw right after CAPTIFS to completely blow my prejudices away. THE SILENT HOUSE, this quiet and only secretly hyped ghost-house film from Uruguay (!!) is everything you can wish from a horror film and more.

Get this: THE SILENT HOUSE was shot in one single take, without any cuts!! From beginning to end, there is no pause. It's all one long shot!!

The film opens as a girl and her father approach a run down house. Why there are here is a unknown, a second man reveals that they will do work in the house, but what kind that is remains a mystery to us. So the second man leaves as father and daughter get inside the house and try to take a nap. However, the daughter is woken up by some strange noises from upstairs, and wakes her father. The old man tries to calm her down and then goes upstairs to take a look. The daughter stares at the ceiling in horror, as all she hears is her fathers scream and a loud thud.

THE SILENT HOUSE manages to convey the sense of dread and doom as the girl further searches the house for her father or for clues as to what is taking place around her. With minimal dialogue (and no subtitles, as those ran 20 seconds before their actual position in the film, causing the entire audience to ignore them), the film manages to suck us into the house - there are no cuts, no moment of rest or of re-assurance that all will be well - it's one long shot of creepy situation after creepy situations, with dozens of jumps and plenty of opportunities to calm down scared girls.

THE SILENT HOUSE is a masterpiece in its own right that will surely receive every bit of hype it has deserved. One of the most unique and atmospheric horror films in years, it has to be seen to be believed.

Rating - 9/10

FFF Review: CAPTIFS

It's hard for French horror these days. Sure, they get a lot of funding, some of the best actors and technicians in the country and a wide release with good promotion. But if we leave those technical achievements aside, almost every film that came out after MARTYRS looked and felt like a bit of a let down. Maybe that is due to the quality of films like ILS, MARTYRS, FRONTIERS and INSIDE, but maybe it's also due to the one big problem the horror genre has suffered from for decades now: that of expectations.

A horror audience knows all great horror films of the last few years - at least those that are considered the recent classics. Hence, there are only two ways left to go - either you make a great film out of a plot constructed around clichés and well known genre-moments, or you come up with something completely new (you can also come up with something old and present it in a way it's never been presented before). CAPTIFS - or CAGED - settles for the former.

So here's our plot: a few nice doctors in the the Kosovo try to get from point a to point b. On the way, they are ambushed and taken into captivity. They try to figure out why the are held captive, until the scheme of the the kidnappers is unveiled. The rest of the film pretty much uses the same plot devices like most of those genre films (one in particular I don't want to spoil). So yeah, if you've seen this kind of film, you know what's coming.

However, CAPTIFS is quite well made. The highlights of the film are the first three minutes as well as a dream sequence, that prove that director Yann Gozlan is better at generating suspense than go for mindless horror territory that others have tread before him. If this is one of your first films of this kind, you will surely be amazed, due to the great actors, great cinematography and suspense in some scenes, but the film does leave a bit to be desired. However, for the aforementioned qualities of the film, it still holds up pretty well.

Rating - 7.5/10

FFF Review: AMER

Like me, you'll be staring at those pictures here right now. That looks cool, doesn't it? Somehow, this would have been my summary for AMER, but I feel obliged to say some more about the film than just post pictures out of it.

AMER is most of all an homage to the Giallo-genre. If you have no idea what a Giallo is, just follow this link. If you do know what a Giallo is, you might be drooling all over your keyboard right now. But AMER is not a straight Giallo - it also includes elements of avant-garde cinema, reminiscent of the works of Kenneth Anger, Luis Bunuel's UN CHIEN ANDALOU or Alejandro Jodorowsky's EL TOPO. Most of all, it is a coming of age drama, and a film about sexuality.

Amer is the brainchild of two belgian artists: Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani. The film is loosely cut into three acts: the first is centered on Anna as a little girl and both looks and feels very much like Dario Argento's classic gothic horror film SUSPIRIA, including some supernatural elements.

The second act concerns Anna as a teenager, rather resembling Lucio Fulci's early Giallo, such as LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN, than SUSPIRIA. Less colorful than the previous part, but with a great original 60s/70s soundtrack, this was my favorite part of the film. We really see the world through the eyes of a teenage girl, and feel what she feels.

The third act concerns Anna as a woman, inheriting the house she grew up in as a child. This one feels a lot like Argento's PROFONDO ROSSO, and is the act that is closest to the straight Giallo genre. This was in my book the weakest part - it still wasn't bad, but it was overtly cryptical and came quote out of nowhere. I'm not really sure if this is in synch with the other two parts, as it shows a side of Anna that has been obscured for the viewer and that isn't thoroughly explained.

Amer does belong on the big screen, even though it isn't a usual film. It follows nothing but its own rules, as the directors try to make us see and feel what Anna experiences. Close ups, silent sounds and subjective shots with mostly no dialogue set the atmosphere, and boy, is it a gorgeous atmosphere.

In the end however, the film leaves a bit to be desired. The ending is quite strange (as is the entire third act), and even though it's all quite easy to analyze and to understand, the background to the world of Anna is never fully supplied, questioning what else it is this woman has experienced in her life. We know her experiences - but we don't know her story.

But maybe it is this elusive plot that creates the magic of AMER, one of the most unique and thrilling films in recent years. I will re-watch this film as soon as I can, because I can see myself appreciating it a lot more the second time around, focusing a bit more on analytical subtext - but even without a second viewing, I am sure that this is a cult film in the making, pleasing both arthouse and horror fans!! There's nothing like it - really!!

Rating - 8.5/10

FFF Review: OUTRAGE

After 10 years of poetic arthouse lyricism (DOLLS), blind swordfighters (ZATOICHI) and a trilogy of self-demontage-comedies, Takeshi Kitano is back at the genre he loves and helped to re-create - the yakuza film!

With films like HANA-BI, BROTHER, SONATINE and BOILING POINT, Kitano can be billed the master of the japanese crime-drama. All of these films are precise, sensual portraits of men closer to death than life. Kitano once reported that out of the gang that he was a member of as a teenager, only 8 of the 10 are still alive. Maybe it is a cynical life view, maybe it's just realistic, but Kitano knows that almost no gangster will end up on the top, and those that do stand on the dead bodies of their former friends.

Hence OUTRAGE is a bitter and realistic story: because the "chairman" doesn't like an underboss, he asks another underboss to start a fight with him - for no apparent reason. Even though the two are friends, the gangster agrees, and what starts out as a small fight soon becomes a blood feud with dead bodies, dismembered fingers and drilled teeth everywhere. The various gangsters all see the downfall of their direct opponent as a chance to rise to the top, and so they quickly start to scheme who could be erased by whom, and who could be set up against which foe.

Even though the film doesn't add anything new to the genre, there's a lot of substance and entertainment in OUTRAGE. However, Kitano's newest feature is by far not as sensual or playful as his earlier film (maybe that is an attribute of the previous trilogy of hysterical comedy films), but the bleak realism of OUTRAGE never fails to entertain. In the end, the film might be another stepping stone to something else, something bigger and more glorious, but as of now, it proves that Kitano is still one of the best directors worldwide.

Rating - 9/10

FFF Review: THE SCOUTING BOOK FOR BOYS

This seems to be the right moment to mention a few things concerning this years filmfest. First of all, the FRESH BLOOD category was absolutely outstanding this year. There was no film I disliked, and according to the organizers, there was only one film that on a scale from 1 to 6 hasn't had a 1,x ranking (the irony being that FOUR LIONS, which I skipped, seems to take away the audience award is proof of just how good this year was).

Second of, this year was a great year for british films. Whenever I see an independent film from the UK, I can be sure it at least has something to it that makes it worth paying money for.

And last but not least, this years filmfest managed to pull some of the most stunning and brilliant independent films out of nowhere. Seeing that some actually criticized this trend to arthouse cinema, I can only wonder what they were anticipating, since most of these films were a lot more thrilling and shocking than the horror films that aired.

And with this, we are at SCOUTING BOOK FOR BOYS, the debut feature of Tom Harper, that tells a tale of two teenagers, living in a british seaside resort.

The film opens with Emily and her best friend David jumping over some trailers, with David falling off of one. The two know each other since childhood, being the only two kids in what is a tourist infested spot near the seaside - there's not much there but trailers and their parents, who in turn aren't very great when it comes to their parental duties. Emily, who slowly grew into a young woman, is sick of being under her mothers thumb, and so she comes up with a scheme - David must help her in retreating to a nearby cave, hoping that by disappearing, she could force her mother to love her.

However, David has other ideas. As Emily is very uncomfortable with living in a cave (well, who would like it?), the young boy comes up with new ideas to care for her - he brings her food and clothing, and tries his best at proving to her that he could be - maybe - a perfect boyfriend, able to take care of her - kudos to Thomas Turgoose and Holliday Grainger for delivering powerful performances as the teenagers in question. They are both believable and likable.

In the outside world, things don't go that easy as they do in the cave: Emily's mother panics after the sudden disappearance of her child (well, who wouldn't?) and calls upon the police, who start a huge investigation, and gradually come up with some raunchy facts about Emily, which slowly undermine David's sympathy for her, providing various reasons why she could hide in a cave that are much darker than parental abuse.

Shot in an aesthetic remarkably close to that of directors as Sofia Coppola or Shunki Iwai, THE SCOUTING BOOK FOR BOYS is a calm, haunting and beautiful film about the pains of growing up and the everyday problems of both teenagers and the british lower class. There was some discussion about the ending of the film (in short - those who found it realistic loved the film, those who didn't hated it), but all in all, this is one more remarkably well made and engaging british independent drama that I'll surely add to my DVD collection.

Rating - 9/10

FFF Review: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED

There is an unwritten rule for young filmmakers that is as logical as it is dull: if you shoot your first film, see that it is cheap. In fact, see that it is so cheap that it costs almost nothing.

Of course, in a time in which Christopher Nolan proves that 160.000.000$ are a worthy investment and in which Gaspar Noé takes some four years to shoot a film, this clause becomes all the more a painful obstacle for artists to re-create their vision. Trust me - coming up with a story including less than five actors in less than five locations is hard. Very hard.

So all I can do is applaud J Blakeson. He hasn't only managed to keep the budget down to a minimum, he also directed a well paced, stylish, engaging and - most important of all - suspenseful crime thriller, starring the absolutely stunning Gemma Arterton.

The film opens with the title-giving disappearance taking place. Alice Creed, a young woman with a rich father, is kidnapped by two crooks. They cuff her to a bed, rip off her clothes and shout at her. Now, telling you anything else is a spoiler, hence I leave it at that and rather concentrate on what is more important than the story: the actors.

Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan are absolutely great as the clever, yet clueless and clumsy kidnappers. As the story unfolds, we both feel resentment and sympathy with those two, as the situation really seems a bit much for them. But the film wouldn't be the film, and I wouldn't be me, if the biggest advantage wouldn't have been a lot more interesting and captivating than those two - and that is Gemma Arterton.

Arterton manages something truly unique here. We don't know anything about Alice Creed as we see her the first few times, and the british actress manages not only when it comes to conveying her terror and fear. She's one to fight back, to look for a way out, an advantage to get free. So Arterton does everything to convince both the kidnappers - and the audience - of what she is capable of. At one point helpless victim, in the next a tough negotiator and after that a raging fury, Alice Creed doesn't just give the title to the film but also its heart. Seeing as many actresses might have failed the part, one can only applaud Arterton for this achievement to act both convincingly and arrestingly well, turning the film into a one-girl-show.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED is not a perfect film though - which doesn't mean the film does have flaws. However, it is limited in space and money, and isn't creating the next DIE HARD as it is creating the next SLEUTH. But for what it is - a crime thriller set in an apartment with only three actors, one of it a naked woman (most of the time), the film is a stunning and suspenseful examination of three characters under pressure. You won't find many thrillers this year that thrilling.

Rating - 8/10

FFF Review: TETSUO 3 - THE BULLET MAN

Let's all take a minute to let the idea of a third Tetsuo film sink in. That's right, a third entry in the avant-industrial-horror-saga by Shinya Tsukamoto. Let's all remember how awesome Tsukamoto's VITAL - his best work to date and one of the best films of all time - is, how disturbed SNAKE OF JUNE left us in our seats, how shocking HAZE explored our most inner fears, how utterly scary and beautiful GEMINI was... and let's remember, that NIN are doing the OST for TETSUO 3.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

This is awesome...

And as I sat down in my seat, opened a box of Sushi and started to eat, no way could I have ever imagined this to be the most painful film of the festival.

It's not that TETSUO 3 is bad. No, it isn't. If you get over the (intentionally) ridiculous plot, it's a lot of fun. Seizure inducing, messy, autism like fun.

But after some 50 minutes, I had to run out of the cinema. Screaming.

TETSUO 3 is one of the most over the top films I have ever seen. The action sequences are eardrum shattering, the visuals seizure inducing (you can't mention this one enough), the plot completely clueless of what it is or what it wants to be. Tsukamoto may have had fun with this, but it comes off like the work of a person suffering from autism - the director doesn't care what ends up on screen, he just does whatever he thinks is right in his head. Belonging rather in a museum of avant-gare video art than into a cinema - TETSUO 3 is a baffling, loud, messy and maybe even pointless affair, a techno DJ-set in film form, or something. It can be enjoyed, but the same goes for getting a tongue piercing. Personally, I would rate the film a 7, but the experience of watching it a 3. Maybe I will like, or "understand", this when it comes out on DVD, but as of now, I am deeply disturbed.

Rating - 5/10

FFF Review: THE APE

A man wakes up. He seems in shock. His clothes are stained in blood. He washes himself, puts on new clothes, leaves the house. He mounts a bicycle and drives to work - he's giving driving lessons. His speech is aggressive, he suddenly snaps and shouts at his driving student. Shocked by his reaction, he leaves the car and walks away - not minding the disturbed woman he just gave the shock of her life.

He walks empty streets, stops by a car, kicks and punches it, then runs away. What's left for him to do? Sport - why not some sport?! He goes to play some tennis, trying to take his mind off of something, but soon he's shouting at a formless opponent. As he goes under the shower, he tries to make contact to a young boy. "Can you lend me some shampoo?" The boy throws the bottle at it, and another one, and another one. "Clean yourself" he cries out, "and then go home! Go home to your family."

Our protagonist cleans himself, puts on some clothes, and then goes to a mall to buy a saw.

THE APE is a sober and unforgiving piece of filmic realism. In contrast to films like L'ENFANT (which I regularly trash due to its clueless and underwritten plot and unbelievable characters), the film holds up pretty well. Most of the time, it is an intense, bleak and disturbing watch, but the film indulges so much in its aesthetic it hardly entertains or enlightens. Which makes the second half of the film a bit of a painful experience - all that is left for the audience to do is wait for a resolution, whilst our protagonist stumbles through his day.

So in the THE APE is a nice small arthouse film, slow, bleak and quiet as realist filmmaking is - sadly, it would have made a much better short film due to its own emptiness. However, the best moment of the film occurs in its last minute, nicely tying the plot together, and saving the film from itself.

Rating - 7/10

FFF Review: CHATROOM

The Fantasy Filmfest this year came up with some pretty impressive highlights from the Cannes program - Kaboom, Outrage and The Silent House among others. One film however stood out, both due to its inclusion given the Cannes reception and due to the decision to make it the Centerpiece of this year. This film is Hideo Nakata's CHATROOM - according to various people on twitter "the worst film ever to be shown at Cannes" or "the worst film (the user has) ever seen)".

Given that the film was an adaptation from a play by HUNGER-writer Enda Walsh (and the script was also written by him), directed by Hideo Nakata - the guy who brought us RING and DARK WATER - and starred a variety of promising up an coming actors, it was almost unimaginable that this was the worst film to ever be shown at Cannes, let alone the worst film ever made. But it was even more curious the film was shown as the Centerpiece (maybe due to all the previous bad mouthing that went on). And oh boy...

As the film opens, we are introduced both to a setting and to a set of characters. So first the setting:

Nakata has decided to show the internet a a corridor with various side-rooms - each of them a chat room of its own. The surprising thing however is that Nakata - or rather the script - leaves most possibilities of the setting unused. We don't really see much of it apart from the aforementioned chat rooms - some of them may be darker and more morbid than others, but the ideas aren't explored in a wider context. Most of the time our protagonists sit around in their own Chatroom, talking to each other about rather superficial things. And there, we are with the characters...

All of the actors are great actors, and they all act well - with one exception: Aaron Johnson is truly terrible once he dons his Chatroom persona. He is the one that sets up the Chatroom and the one who tries to manipulate all the other characters, sure - but does he have to overact as "Mr. Evil" all of the time?

So anyways, William (Johnson) sets up a Chatroom called "Chelsea Teens", and the above cast joins rather quickly (Hannah Murray, Daniel Kaluuya and Imogen Poots are by far the most memorable here). All the characters are likable and realistic, aside from our protagonist. As the teenagers talk with each other, we become accustomed to their everyday lives, their dreams and their problems. Nothing wrong with those, apart from the fact that some of those are rather superficial. But then, after a good 30 minutes, the film shed aside all of the cast to focus on the suicidal Jim. William realizes his weakness and for no apparent reason develops the idea to make the boy kill himself because... well, why exactly? We get to know that William was, or is, suicidal himself and the son of a J. K. Rowling-esque writer who focused her book on his older brother. And from this point on, one should turn off his brain and not think anymore.

The problem here is that for a great start, CHATROOM doesn't really come up with anything substantial, logical or remotely realistic. It does neither fully explore the ideas presented visually nor the characters, and rather sets off to tell a quite boring tale of manipulation and intrigue. The Chatroom-scenes soon border on being unintended hilarious (like two of the kids kissing each other IN A CHATROOM... what did they do, type :* :* ??), and William develops more and more into the plot vessel his parents have already become (with his caring quiet mother and his raving and aggressive father).

By the end of the film, I found myself pointing angrily at the screen, shouting silent curses at the scriptwriter and the producer. Because at its core, CHATROOM is a very good film. It is well directed, acted and paced. It is even entertaining if you menage to stop to think about how stupid some of the plot is. The problem is just that we don't see a whole lot of it's qualities. However, it certainly isn't the worst film ever shown at Cannes by far - that prize may go to L'ENFANT. It rather is a clumsy try to say something important and honest about todays youth. But let's be honest - in the times of Facebook, who needs a Chatroom anymore?

Rating - 5.5/10

FFF Review: KABOOM

According to the organizers of the filmfest, KABOOM may have been the film that they had to fight for most. Gregg Araki's tenth film was withdrawn from the Frightfest in the very last second, and not intended for screening on any other filmfest for possibly months. After all, how do you advertise a film like KABOOM, which consists to 75% of teenagers that are obviously WAY older having sex and spitting venomous, humorous dialogue at each other?

If there is no way to promote KABOOM properly, let me try: KABOOM is one of the best films of this filmfest and this year!! It's hilarious, it's confrontational, it's random, it's beautifully shot, it's sexy and has a brilliant soundtrack!!

The film opens with Dekker re-telling a re-accurring dream (the sequence can be watched on youtube). We then get to know the guy a little better: he is 18, suffering from teen-horniness, queer (that means bi-sexual), drooling for his ripped yet brainless roommate Thor and a huge fan of EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY. From there, the film introduces us to dozens of completely over-the-top characters that seem to have no other reason to be there except to do random, very funny things. However, as the plot unfolds, we learn that there's more to Dekker and his everyday life than it seems at first. He seems to be followed by strange men wearing masks and soon some supernatural things occur to him and his best friend Stella, who is also bi and in a relationship with a witch...

Imagine one of those completely self-involved art/entertainment-porn films, just without the porn, and what you get is pretty much KABOOM. Closer to NOWHERE than to MYSTERIOUS SKIN, the film takes us back to the mid-90s works by Araki, yet is a lot more nuanced and well written, and thus closer to MYSTERIOUS SKIN than it seems on first glance.

When NOWHERE came out, the film was both a commentary and a testament to the Generation X and the 90s in general - KABOOM however is a timeless piece of hilarious over the top arthouse comedy. It is without boundaries and taboos and makes fun of heterosexuality and gay lifestyle alike, likely to offend extremists of both christian right wing and gay rights movements. The soundtrack spans from the 80s to last year and the cinematography is reminiscent of Kubrick and hardcore porn.

The actors range from Araki veterans like James Duvall and genre favorites like Juno Temple and Roxane Mesquida to aspiring indie darlings like Haley Bennett and Thomas Dekker. They all look, act and fit very well, tying the various elements of the film closer together, resulting in a perfectly shaped and polished film.

With KABOOM, Araki has come full circle - he has embraced trash queer and Cannes arthouse, has brought sex and fantasy, drama and comedy together. His next two projects will be "typical genre horror". We can only hope he stays on track, because if his next films are as great as MYSTERIOUS SKIN and KABOOM, there's nothing to stop Araki from becoming the next Gus Van Sant.

Rating - 9.5/10

FFF Review: CORRIDOR

This years hardest decision was which film to skip and which to see - a stylish swedish DV-thriller starring Peter Stormare or a stylish horror film in which a german doctor assembles a human centipede. Against my own better judgement, I decided to watch the swedish film.

CORRIDOR is a nice little Thriller: when a medical student moves into his new apartment, he gradually becomes obsessed with a women living above him. At first put off by her friendly and genuinely interested behavior, they slowly become friends - until her jealous boyfriend suspects him to sleep with her, and the girl suddenly vanishes.

CORRIDOR makes the best of what it's got: a claustrophobic setting, Hitchcock-ian twists and Peter Stormare. It was entertaining and clever, and even though it had some flaws, it was thoroughly enjoyable and can be recommended for a lonely evening at home. But somehow, I wonder just how sick Dr. Heiter really was in the other film...

Rating - 7/10

FFF Review: WE ARE WHAT WE ARE

There are few films that achieve what WE ARE WHAT WE ARE succeeds in. The debut feature of Jorge Michel Grau manages to combine elements of social realism with horror and poetic drama, very much like LA TETA ASUSTADA and EL NINO PEZ. However, compared to those highly flawed (and in the end boring) efforts, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE is truly a breath of fresh air in the genre!

When the patriarch of a small mexican family dies, three children suddenly find themselves in the awkward position to find a "successor" among them who is worthy to be the new leader of the family. The father obviously wasn't very good - quarreling with customers and spending his money for whores, the run down watch-repair-man put his family in a dangerous position. However, without him, the family is close to their doom. The two sons of the family realize this, and with their sister, quickly come up with a mysterious theme. There is talk of a ritual, that they have to "find someone". "You know what happens if by tomorrow we don't find one?" With the sister out of the running due to her gender, the two young men have to prove that one of them is worthy to be a successor.

What then follows is a gruesome, poetic, realistic and daring chiller, filled with great symbols and unforgettable images as the boys try to "hunt" somebody down. The film is cryptical in what the main intentions of its protagonists actually are, but it is safe to say that the film deals with the problem of the patriarchic hierarchy system - present in most of southern america - and poverty. The sons both try to come up with some sort of "companion" to be the new head of the family, both failing repeatedly due to their own nature.

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE won't be a film for everybody. It is a slow paced, quiet, brooding film, that indulges both in the fantastic, the macabre and realistic, rendering it dark, daring and non-conforming. Arthouse lovers might find it as cryptic as horror fans, but ultimately, seeing how the flawed and bland LA TETA ASUSTADA was showered with praise and awards, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE with its outstanding acting, shocking yet beautifully composed images and daring central message could easily be mexico's pick for the 2011 academy awards.

Rating - 8.5/10

FFF Review: THE WILD HUNT

Every year, there's one BIG surprise at the Fantasy Filmfest - a film nobody's heard of, shot by an unknown with minimal budget, yet one of the best of the year. When I bought my tickets for THE WILD HUNT, little did I know that I was in for a BIG surprise.

As the film opens, we are introduced to a group of medieval warriors - celts, monsters, vikings - who go after their everyday business: that is, fighting, shouting and quarreling. It soon becomes apparent that something is off though, and it is revealed that the characters are all everyday guys doing Live Action Role Playing - that's right, grown adults dressing up as shamans, warriors and orks.

We then are introduced to Eric, a young man who seems to have a bad strain of luck: his father is terribly sick (probably suffering of dementia), his girlfriend has left him and on top of it all, his brother - who in LARP-world is the Viking-king Björn - has dragged her along to play a princess. Frustrated and weirded out by a guy who turns up on his doorstep dressed as a knight to collect some "mighty hammer", Eric decides to drive to the gamers camp to get his girlfriend back. However, not everything goes according to plan, and things slowly get worse.

There are many things that make THE WILD HUNT worth seeing. One of it is how Eric, who at first is a cynic who despises the role players, slowly turns into a medieval character himself, slowly adapting to his role as brother of "the Viking king" that is his brother Björn. Another reason is the hilarious dialogue and action. But the films biggest strengths lie in its story twists (which I'm not going to spoil - just as much, avoid the trailers and any kind of summary) and in its setting. Because apart from a comedy and a thriller, the film also works stunningly well as a low budget fantasy film, providing us with great characters, amazing visuals and some really bad ass action!!

One of the best films of the year, THE WILD HUNT needs to be seen on the big screen, but I assume the label might aim for a DVD release. One way or another - watch this film, tell your friends. May Ragnarok be with you!

Rating - 9.5/10

FFF Review: EXQUISITE CORPSE

There's not much to find online about EXQUISITE CORPSE. There are no screenshots, and apart from a poster and the above trailer, it's hard to find anything on it at all. So, with only the resume from the festival program, I decided to watch this "gothic love story" about a "brilliant medical student" who apparently is able to revive his drowned girlfriend from the dead, using some cells by freshly deceased aka murdered women. Sounds like RE-ANIMATOR to you???

Scott David Russell's debut feature is a bit clumsy. Shot on HD, the film looks WAY too dark, and at times it seems as if Russell hasn't got a clue what he is doing. Or, more precisely, it feels as if the director hasn't researched like minded material, such as DEADGIRL or your next door Cronenberg film.

However, the film also has some positive points to it. Nicole Vicius is gorgeous and a great lead woman. The actors - even if a bit wooden at times - are likable and mostly believable. But most of all, even though we can see most of the plot coming (such as the VERY obvious ending), the film is still entertaining. Obviously shot with few to no money, EXQUISITE CORPSE is worth a watch, even if it can be improved upon.

Rating - 6/10

FFF Review: ENTER THE VOID

Its shadow was tall, and hard to miss. Its cry was heard through streets and bedrooms. Film cried I AM ALIVE, and Gaspar Noé listened.

There is not one single frame in this film that is wasted, no shot that lingers too long, no second that can be cut out. As brilliant, as loving, as torturous, as brutal, as honest, as unique, as through and through genius as ENTER THE VOID is has nothing been for a very long time. before I continue, I must say this: ENTER THE VOID is what the title suggests! You enter a world of its own, and even when the film is over, you are still in this world - it changes your way of consciousness, your way of seeing thins, of feeling things.

The film opens with reel 1, in which our hero Oscar is in his apartment - the entire first reel has no visible cut. We are inside of Oscar, seeing what he sees, hearing his thoughts, our vision only obscured of some 2, 3 black frames each time he blinks. We learn that Oscar lives with his sister Linda (of whose boyfriend he is jealous), that he is a drug dealer and user. As Linda leaves, he smokes a drug (is it DMT, the drug that sets free a chemical the brain produces when somebody dies?) and we gaze with him at what he experiences: flowers and insects made of light, color, energy.

His telephone rings: he has to supply somebody in a bar. He tries to come down... a friend - Alex - rings his doorbell, and he lets him in. The two talk about the tibetan book of the dead (which Alex lend to m... to Oscar) and as we... the two walk through the streets of Tokyo, we gaze at the flashing neon lights around us, ponder what dying may be like, enjoy the last haze of the high...

But once at the club, something is wrong. There are screams... police?? I flee to the toilet, grab the drugs, try to flush them but some fall around the toilet and why doesn't it flush oh shit just take the pills and throwthemintherew hilsththepolicebangsatthedo orandfuckfuckfuckWHYD OESN'TITFLUSHWhyitflushesthankgod thewindownthewindowwon'topenit'sblockedhofuckinpolicethwwin

I am shot...

I am bleeding...

shotwhatsgoingonshiwashotbytheposho...

As the first reel ends, we die. With Oscar. We are with his soul now - no more thoughts, no more blinking. Where are we? Oh, above our body... where to go... Linda!! Where is she?? We fly over Tokyo, looking for Linda... entering the strip club she dances at, flying over the strippers, gazing at their naked bodies, entering rooms, leaving them, looking for Linda, finally finding her... there she is, not answering her phone... Alex must be calling her, he got away, he saw our body, he knows... but Linda, she is busy with her boyfriend, naked now, as we come closer to her body... enter that of her boyfriend, seeing through his eyes... feeling?? Felling... I can't feel, just see...

Where to go now? Past?? Present?? Future?? It all blurs, thoughts seem to get me into the situations I am thinking of, standing behind my back, gazing over my own shoulder... still looking for Linda, where is she? Where is Alex? Flying over the city, searching, searching... because there was a pact, a pact to never leave Linda, even after death, watch over her, stay with her, protect her...

As we follow the soul, no, BECOME the soul, we do nothing more or less than overlook a life... many lives. We do not just gaze at flat psychedelic effects, drug hallucinations, naked bodies or ponder buddhist philosophies, we are living another life. We experience something that is not us, yet it becomes us. The film manages what hundreds of thousands of films tried to achieve yet failed, and succeeds. ENTER THE VOID is far from being cynical, far from being dumb, far from being style over substance - the substance is a life (tell me how anything can be more substantial?)!! And we learn how beautiful life is, how unique.

Long after the film has ended, you will still be in its world, only slowly coming down, though you will have the feeling of being in Oscar's body, of seeing the world as presented in ENTER THE VOID. 48 hours after, I've still not come down from this film, my brain still trying to cope with all the images.

But there is one thing certain to me: ENTER THE VOID is a one time experience that no other film will ever come close to. It is possibly the best film of the decade, and because I am still speechless (even though I discuss the film with dozens of people - all as amazed by the film as I was, one of them director Christopher Smith -, after getting a handshake and signatures by Gaspar Noé, after hearing what he's had to say about the film), I can only give this film the rating it deserved, the rating that fits it, the rating that my best friend wrote next to its entry in my festival program. It is as wonderful, as hilarious, as stupid, as grand as life is. There is nothing like it!!

Rating - 100000000000000/10

RIP

Yesterday, germany lost an icon. He will not be forgotten.

Farewell Christoph...

FFF Review: SYMBOL

Cinema has a long history of men who wake up in an empty room with no recollection of how they got there or where they are. Vincenzo Natali visit this realm twice, with the haunting CUBE and the hilarious NOWHERE, Shinya Tsukamoto sent his protagonist to hell in HAZE, Chan Wook-Park's OLDBOY used it to start off a tour de force, SAW wasted the potential of the idea on stupid flashbacks and the promising BURRIED that will hit theaters soon is but a thinly veiled re-imagination of this theme. Somehow, the idea of being "lost" in a confined space, trapped by somebody we can't see and held due to reasons we don't understand, seems to be a central fear hidden in the subconsciousness. Maybe that is because we humans just love our freedom way too much, maybe it is because we fear of being treated as lab rats, but it strikes us every time once we see somebody in such a painful situation.

This is where actor/director Hitoshi Matsumoto comes in. But the director/star of BIG MAN JAPAN has not just done another CUBE-re-imgination - he twisted the idea of a trapped individual into an interesting, hilarious and engaging slapstick comedy.

So our nameless protagonist wakes up in... a white room, with basically nothing in it... except for... well, see above... as the plot unfolds, a few thousand of those will appear - when pressed, each will set free something completely random: eating sticks, a vase, manga-books, a pillow, a rope, sushi, a toy - you name it. However, the "buttons" have a tendency to come up with exactly the thing our hero needs/wants the least, causing foreseeable, but hilarious dilemmas.

Oh, and did I mention the dub plot of Escargot-Man, a (washed up?) mexican wrestler who seems not so keen on his upcoming match?? Well, there is.

Even if SYMBOL sounds like a mess - it is not. It is funny, it is daring and it is absolutely brilliant. The only flaw I could find was the ending, which was for its intended scope too small, yet with what came before in the film too ambitious. However, that seemed to just have been me, since everybody else loved the ending.

One way or another - this is one of the funniest films of all year!! An absolute must see!

Rating - 9/10