So far, my year is a lot busier than the last couple of years, but luckily there was no need to worry about the Fantasy Film Fest being cancelled due to pandemic this time. Another thing was different too - the movie theater! The FFF took place in the Zoo Palast which, with super comfortable chairs and lots of space between the rows is one of the luxurious movie theaters in Berlin. Apparently the organizers decided to offer their audience that luxury this year as well as numbered seating (To be honest I kind of like the "no numbered seats" tradition in festivals with everybody lining up in front of the door like marathon runners waiting for the start signal and as soon as the doors open running in to catch a good spot. It's so fun to contemplate, especially for me, I like to sit on the sidelines.). In the first three days that I missed, I missed a few films I really wanted to see, mainly Slotherhouse, about a sloth gone murderous, which, I heard, is supposed to be fantastic. Maybe I'll get another chance to see it. I saw a couple of movies that are being showed in regular cinemas this winter and I might even rewatch one or two of those, although I didn't enjoy all the movies I saw.
Well, here are my thoughts on each film I was able to watch, plus my favorites from the short film bloc. Maybe you can get some ideas what movies to watch next. I'm linking the titles to imdb so you can find synopses and info there.
Le règne Animal - The Animal Kingdom
In a world where humans start randomly mutating into different kinds of animals, a father and a son lose their wife and mother to this mysterious illness and move into a new place to make a fresh start.
But the illness is following them here too when a group of patients is set free due to a car accident. Not only them but the whole town, if not the entire humanity needs to find a way to accept and deal with this new state of being.
During this festival I have watched two movies that deal with some kind of fictional pandemic, the second one being Vincent doit mourir / Vincent Must Die, both from France. I think I am ready now for these movies to come, especially if they're going to be like these two - the initial terror, the futile belief you can escape, society's reaction to those infected, acceptance versus insistence, these are all phases and aspects of this societal emergency state we have gone through and have come to know during the last two years. I'm happy we can now process and talk about it in visual art, there will be many discussions, not always pretty. And speaking about visual - I personally loved the way animals were done here, some half obscure, some in plain view, kind of eerie and yet human. I liked this, although there were some pathos elements I could have done without, but yeah, still worthwhile.
Get Shorty
The short bloc consisted of ten short films of really very varied nature, background, genre and style. I chose to pitch here the ones that I personally liked best.
An all loved up couple making out, suddenly starting to become one in the literal sense.
I LOVED this, this is master of the art body horror! Take a nice situation and drive it into excess, cross that border and make horror out of beautiful things - it's traumatic and uncanny and perfect because it makes us think.
Poor Claudio... Being of above average looks, but not enough to become a model, he was destined in life to become an influencer. Bad thing is, people may think that you are rich as an influencer, which he's not. And now he has to pay for that misunderstanding. He is not forgotten though, and never will be.
This was hilarious and got more and more absurd the further the film went. A pleasure to watch.
My personal winner of the short bloc if not of the whole festival (I'm not sure, I think the actual winners of the festival are announced later, when the showings in all cities are finished)!
I don't even know where to start with this short film... Dealing with the internalized racism in Bangladesh, this short revolves around a man who can't find a place to stay despite having played the game by the rules; he has a job, he can pay his bills, and yet nobody wants to rent him a place because they prefer foreigners who always pay and sometimes even in dollars. During a situation of injustice in a pharmacy he spontaneously thinks of a solution to his problem. Gross. But it works.
While watching this movie my jaw dropped literally, I was so shocked. But impressed also because I know this kind of racism firsthand and it was about time someone broaches the issue. Amazing, I have no words.
This Hong Kong flic is as mad as its title suggests: A fortune-teller whose both parents had mental disorders and who thus spends his life in the anticipation of losing his mind someday, shaping his whole life around what is lucky and unlucky in order to avoid calamity. A delivery boy who has felt drawn to the dark side his whole life and has been struggling with himself not to take a life. The two of them fatefully meet at a crime scene where a prostitute was killed by a serial killer circulating in red light circles and set off into a weird, chaotic, dangerous, literally mad adventure.
Mad Fate is a lot to take in, absolutely brilliant bits but also a lot of rushed nonsense, but ultimately moved me because stories of people trying to be more than the state they are in, struggle to be more, is a touching concept for me. Yeah, I cried.
Jonny is sent to stay with her aunt, played by the fabulous Alicia Silverstone who seems to really relish the role, and goes through a weird sort of change on her 18th birthday, which will make of her a kind of empathic shape shifter.
Lots of gore really, but I liked it well enough.
Despite the lovely casting, this story, based on a real-life supposed child molester, was difficult for me to watch but I made it to the end and left the theater thoroughly depressed.
Vincent doit mourir / Vincent Must Die
The second pandemic movie of this festival, but the pandemic is much more complex and interesting this time around.
At his workplace Vincent seemingly awakens some kind of lust for violence in his colleagues, who after eye contact feel the wish to beat him up, but don't remember anything when the eye contact is broken. Poor Vincent is on top of everything being blamed for causing the attacks and soon realizes the phenomenon isn't limited to his workplace. He leaves the city for his quieter family home and connects with a group of people who suffer the same fate as him. He gets a dog, Sultan, since dogs can sense impending attacks, and falls in love with waitress Margaux. Later the violence virus becomes a wide spread phenomenon everywhere and soon the whole country is in a state of emergency.
Vincent isn't only my favorite pandemic movie of this festival, I think it's also my winning feature movie. The fact that there is no explanation whatsoever or even an attempt to clarify the origin of the pandemic and only a focus on individuals trying to cope with the consequences is something very very powerful from the point in time we are right now.
The chemistry between the two lead characters was adorable on screen and I might have even developed a little celebrity crush on Karim Leklou, who was amazing.
Following the showing there was a little interview with director Stéphan Castang who openly admitted that after a certain point the movie, which starts on a cheerful note of a man running from his work colleagues trying to hit him, to "quelque chose de bizarre", haha.
So this was my FFF experience this year and I'm still a little mad at myself for missing the first part, but I got very sick in Romania, which was a real nightmare, and I had to postpone everything. And I'm glad it still all worked out one way or the other, in good health.
Next stop: Final Girls Berlin, Halloween showing. I stupidly bought tickets for the Blixa Bargeld show which is also on Halloween night but depending on the feature movie I might skip that.
And even before the Final Girls Berlin: Everybody's favorite bookshop Otherland is celebrating its 25th birthday on October 21, which is a Saturday and there will be games and music and food all day long. It is usually a very chaotic day with lots of people crammed into that small shop, but I think it's nice to just drop by for an hour or so. And after that it's winter already, damn...
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