21 August 2007

Die Geige(El Violin), Mexiko, 2007

Dieser schwarz-weiss Fillm erzählt die Geschichte einer Gruppe mexikanischer Landwirte, die im Süden des Landes wohnen und arbeiten. Sie leben in Armut, denn für ihre Ernte bekommen sie fast kein Geld. Darunter gibt es eine Gruppe von Rebellen, die gegen die Regierung kämpfen. Sie versuchen, diese schlechte Situation der Landwirte zu ändern.

Genau genommen geht es um eine Familie von Landwirten. Der Mann ist mit der Rebellengruppe beschäftigt, und deswegen ist eines Tages seine Frau und Tochter von der Polizei verschleppt worden. Der Grossvater wohnt mit dieser Famlie zusammen. Er entschloss sich, die Frau und Tochter zu retten. Warum heisst der Film "Die Geige"? Denn der Grossvater besitzt eine Geige, die er immer bei sich hat. Er arbeitet als Strassenmusiker.

Man sieht im Film wie die Landwirte ausgebeutet werden. Das gehört leider zu mexikanischem Alltag Die Landschaft mitten in den Bergen ist wunderschön. Visuell ist der Film auch sehr gut.

14 August 2007

MORE FANTASIA FILMS (from around the world):

Offscreen (Denmark, 2007) ☆☆☆☆☆
Director Christopher Boe has put together a film made out of basically home videos. These videos come from actor Nicholas Bro, who during a whole year recorded his everyday life activities and carried around a camera with him almost everywhere. When his friends, and finally his girlfriend, get fet up and break all contact with him, he starts to lose it. Nicholas thinks he is shooting a film, and for this reason asks other friends to help him finish his "production". Nobody takes him seriously and finally, when he loses it, he commits an atrocious crime, all caught on tape and shown to the spectator. It is fake "reality tv" style that shocks. The film suddenly stops being a documentary and strays into fiction, but the line is blurred and makes you believe every scene you are watching is real. Another original Danish production.

Diary (Hong Kong, 2006) ☆☆☆☆
Winnie is a schizophrenic young woman. She sees and hears things all the time. She lives alone in her appartment. Little by little the viewer realizes Winnie has not only killed his boyfriend, but is also about to commit another crime. When she meets another guy who looks like his boyfriend and invites him for dinner, things turn really bad. This movie is a mixture of paranoia, mental illness and murder that will make your mind work to try to find out who is the actual murderer.

Zero City (Russia, 1988) ☆☆☆
Moscow engineer Alexei Varakin arrives to a strange town. In it, there is no one on the streets, and when he arrives to his appointment at a local company, the secretary sits in her desk fully naked! This is only the beginning of many other surreal events taking place in Zero City, where Alexei witnesses a murder and has to stay in town while police makes enquiries as to what really happened. A very strange sci-fi movie from the former Soviet Union.

Nightmare Detective (Japan, 2007) ☆☆
Kyoichi Kagenum is a dream analyzer. He is called upon to help solve a series of crimes taking place in a city. The movie uses a lot of surreal imagery to capture the viewer's attention. But what we are actually seeing is the murderer's mind, and how it sees things. Kyoichi must go inside the murderer's dreams in order to trace him and capture him. A violent headtrip of a horror/crime film.

06 August 2007

MORE FANTASIA FILMS (my selection from the United States):

Mulberry Street (USA, 2007) ☆☆☆☆
This low-budget movie really delivers. When a zombie epidemic strikes downtown New York, neighbours in Mulberry Street have no other choice but to defend themselves against these evil beings. Shot in HD video and almost entirely at night, the movie delivers good shock scenes and suspense. You wil never want to take a way at night in your neighbourhood street again.

Right At Your Door (USA, 2006) ☆☆☆☆
A couple living in L.A. wakes up to a nightmare caused by terrorist attacks. Several bombs explode in downtown. The real problem being that the bombs emit biochemical toxins into the air. We follow 24 hours in the lives of this couple, whose lives hang by a thread, and every second there is something going on that keeps you alert throughout the film. Another good low-budget movie that takes place mostly in the couple's house. The unexpected ending is one of the best I have seen in the Fantasia festival.

The Rage (USA, 2007) ☆
Some friends are out on the road going somewhere on vacations. At the same time, a Soviet scientist throws out toxic waste into the air causing pollution, and of course, mutations. When our group of friends encounter the first mutant animals, all hell breaks loose, and of course, from this point on, there is no more plot, just bad acting, I mean, really bad acting, and blood gushing out from almost everywhere. Consider yourselves warned!

Hatchet (USA, 2006) ☆☆☆
The plot is simplicity at its finest: a group of tourists decided to take a boat tour in the swamps of New Orleans. Only one of the tourists knows what really happened in those swamps. There is a madman who kills people by tearing them up to pieces. And this is where the "complex" background story is told, check this out: little Victor Crowley lived alone with his dad. He was born with a deformed head. One day, when the wood house is accidentaly put on fire, Victor's father comes to rescue his son. He tries to open the door with a hatchet, and oops!, he accidentally hits poor Victor in the head, deforming even more his face. Father dies of depression, and little Victor is left alone in the woods (or the swamps) to kill wheover approaches his cabin. There you go. The good news is that the film is actually funny and gory, but the mix here works surprisingly well. Our tourists will be killed one by one, torn to pieces by Victor. All in all, a good laugh like not many horror movies can give you.