Cinema is Dope

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Wednesday, October 8, 2008

At NIFFF, Merde played the strongest of the three segments in Tokyo! with audiences. At the recent Fantastic Fest 2008, Merde played the weakest of the three… go figure. Most people seemed to have a problem with it being a farce… which ironically enough is what Merde completely is! Regardless it was good to see audiences warm up to Interior Design and Shaking Tokyo! I like every part of this film and overall rate it as one of my favorites of 2008.

Related Coverage:
::: Previous Movie Wallpaper (Cinema is Dope)

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Friday, September 12, 2008

Tokyo! finally hits Austin next Friday at Fantastic Fest 2008 (3:45 PM; Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar). I highly recommend anyone attending the film festival to check it out. You can read my write up on this anthology film on the Fantastic Fest listing for it (read here).

Related Coverage:
::: Previous Movie Wallpaper (Cinema is Dope)

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Being a programmer at Fantastic Fest has its perks and getting to write up films for its official program is certainly one of them! While I didn’t get to write about all the films I loved (we divide everything up very democratically), I did get a chance to write about several. Below are 3 such write ups with another one on the way once the official lineup is announced on September 4th. While writing everything for the official program this year, I certainly felt like I had the masters of the film festival program film write ups in Mitch Davis (Fantasia) and Colin Geddes (TIFF Midnight Madness) hovering over me making Obi-Wan like suggestions, “Blaaaake do not write like Gaspar Noe reviewing a Sigur Ros album.” Colin and Mitch are masters of the known universes at powerfully and succinctly discussing a film in a festival program guide.

I would say of these write ups that Tokyo! was by far the most challenging as it was like writing 4 reviews in one. When I originally saw this film at NIFFF, I had no idea Tim League had also seen it and upon finding this out we launched into some shouts in unison of, “MERDE! MERDE! MERDE!” It should be interesting if that phrase catches on as a buzz/catchphrase at this years festival. This is certainly one of the best films this year and I couldn’t be happier that we are showing it.

The Substitute is a real fun sci-fi film from Denmark that just when you think it might be a bit too kid friendly it oozes out the blood and seriously twisted moments in rapid session.

How to Get Rid of the Others is a film I originally saw at BIFFF last year and it seemed like the kind of dark political satire that would go over well in Austin. The film feels much more topical now than it did a year ago. Its director Anders Ronnow Klarlund is most known for the rich puppet compelling fantasy drama, Strings.

Tokyo! (2008)
::: Fantastic Fest Official Program Write up
::: Movie Wallpaper (Cinema is Dope)

The Substitute (2007)
::: Fantastic Fest Official Program Write up

How to Get Rid of the Others (2007)
::: Fantastic Fest Official Program Write up

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Wave 2 for announced Fantastic Fest titles hit today (full press release here). Of the announced titles there are many that I’ve already seen. Of those I rate Chocolate (read my brief thoughts here) and Tokyo! as the two I can’t wait to see again. I’ve yet to see JCVD, ACOLYTES or DEADGIRL, but hear amazing things about all three. I’ll write a longer post tomorrow covering this latest wave of announcements of both features and shorts.

Anthology films by default seem to mostly suck. This is not the case though with the latest anthology film, Tokyo!, that boasts the filmmaking talents of - Leos Carax, Michel Gondry and Bong Joon-ho. I predict this will easily be a highlight for most that attend Fantastic Fest this year. The segment by French art house director Leos Carax titled, Merde, in particular seems destined for cult status among Fantastic Fest and Austin audiences! The less you know about this segment the better (small synopsis below)! I can’t wait to experience this segment and this film at Fantastic Fest!

Related Coverage:
::: Watch a clip from Merde over at Twitch!

MERDE SYNOPSIS

In MERDE by Leos Carax, a mysterious, sewer-dwelling man spreads confusion on the streets of Tokyo through a succession of irrational and provocative acts. Who is he? Why is he here? What does he want? The city’s population becomes obsessed by this strange phenomenon.

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