Film
Fantasia Festival Review: The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw
Over the centuries, men have found myriad ingenious ways to control and oppress women. Look at almost every major world religion and look at the gender roles and requirements placed on each sex. One of man’s greatest ignominies is the accusation of witchcraft. A cunning and clever way to persecute any female who rejects them …
Fantasia Festival Review: Chasing Dream
Anyone who is a fan of Hong Kong action films will be aware of the work of Johnnie To. He has made a host of brilliant films. The likes of PTU, Election, Running on Karma, Running out of Time, Exiled and Triangle made a big impression, both in domestic and international markets. He’s a prolific …
Fantasia Festival Review: Class Action Park
Anyone who grew up in a small community in the UK probably has fond and rather terrifying memories of a travelling fair coming to town. The excitement of the rides was often heightened by the lack of safety features or the tendency for doors to randomly come open. Our local ‘egg cages’ were legendary for …
Fantasia Festival Review: I WeirDo
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition which compels the sufferer to have recurring thoughts and perform repetitive behaviours which they cannot control. In its mildest form, it can be no more than an annoyance or irritation. At the more extreme end, it can basically take over your life. The condition can be …
Fantasia Festival Review: Monster Seafood Wars
The Japanese love their Kaiju or (giant) monster movies. We’re not talking about an overgrown croc or a man-size rat here. We’re talking about Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera et al, rampaging around a major city and often fighting each other to the death. There’s a whole sub-genre of Japanese culture dedicated to these mammoth beasts and …
Fantasia Festival Review – Dinner in America
There’s nothing American independent cinema seems to like more than oddballs. Those characters who sit somewhere outside of the norm but usually find themselves thrust into extremely ordinary situations for comedic effect. Sometimes, even romance can bloom. We’re primed to root for the outsider. Life’s underdogs. The people suffering daily degradations and heartache simply for …
Fantasia Festival Review: Patrick
There is no standardised way to deal with grief, loss and trauma. We all deal with it in our own ways, but naturally could probably use some help along the way. Some people go off the rails, try and drown their sorrows in the bottom of a bottle or have a complete mental breakdown. Others …
Fantasia Festival Review: A Witness Out of the Blue
When a murder happens it’s always important for the police to have a witness. However, there’s not always one just hanging around. Whole films have been dedicated to the search for someone who can identify a killer or corroborate an alibi. I’m sure most detectives would love to find one with an uncheckered past and …
Fantasia Film Review: Fuku-chan of FukuFuku Flats
From the outside, it can seem like cinema and television in Japan are dominated by samurais, Manga adaptations, limp romantic comedies and period dramas. However, there’s a weird and often wonderful independent cinema industry lurking just out of sight. It has produced some great films like The Taste of Tea, Fish Story, Hula Girls and …
Film Review: Sheep Without a Shepherd
Corruption is rampant in many countries. Indeed, it’s rife in the Developing and Third Worlds where there aren’t necessarily the checks and balances we’ve become accustomed to in more ‘advanced’ societies. In totalitarian regimes there is almost no recourse to justice for the ordinary citizen. Even in many so-called democracies people in positions of power …