Fantasia International Film Festival
Fantasia Review: Incredible but True
Let’s be honest, there are very few of us who don’t have a midlife crisis in one way or another. For most people it might entail buying a completely new wardrobe or a sudden interest in grime music, but others take it to the nth degree. Almost having the equivalent of a nervous breakdown, leaving …
Fantasia Review – Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin
There are few directors who have been so overlooked, misunderstood and derided as Jean Rollin. While he was classed as part of the Euro cult movement, the Frenchman didn’t easily fit into any genre or box. His work has often been dismissed as simply sexploitation or even pornography. In fairness, under the pseudonyms of Michel …
Fantasia Review: Midnight
Despite living in a modern connected world, and we’ve seen marked improvements due to rapid technological advances, being deaf or suffering from hearing loss puts you at a disadvantage in most areas of life. Unless you’re impacted by it yourself, it’s almost impossible to understand the difficulties that seemingly simple everyday tasks can pose. However, …
Fantasia Review: The Sadness
It’s easy to forget that we, as humans, are just a slightly more intelligent kind of primate. While we might like to think of ourselves as distinct from the rest of the animal kingdom, when it comes down to it we are still animals. With all the needs and instincts of any other mammal. Although …
Fantasia Review – Caution Hazardous Wife: The Movie
I think most of us, at one time or another, have dreamt of escaping from our everyday boring humdrum lives. Travelling the world and doing lots of exciting and fun/dangerous things. The clash between suburban ennui and a secret personality is one which pervades popular culture, from superheroes to undercover spies. The latter most successfully …
Fantasia Review: Hellbender
Of all the genres of film, traditionally horror has been the easiest and cheapest for filmmakers to get into. There’s a much wider potential audience, for one, not to mention the number of specialist companies within the industry. And let’s be honest, it’s going to be much more fun than making say a romantic comedy. …
Fantasia Review: Straight to VHS
Until the widespread adoption of VHS (and the less than universal take-up of Betamax) opportunities for would-be filmmakers were very limited. With the advent of the medium, it opened up a whole new world of possibilism for budding directors. Today, we have access to huge catalogues of films thanks to numerous available streaming services, but …
Fantasia Review: Baby, Don’t Cry
There have always been outsiders within society. People who don’t confirm to the norms expected by those in charge. Who are alienated or ostracised by their peers for their non-conformity. Forced into the margins. Whilst this can happen to anyone it often forms part of the migrant experience. Misunderstood, bullied and abused, trying to fit …
Fantasia Review: Giving Birth to a Butterfly
It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in our lives, focussed on the daily grind and simply taking one day at a time, losing sight of the bigger picture. Anything that threatens to interfere with this routine can feel like an unwanted distraction. Sometimes we just need to just stop, breathe, and take stock …
Fantasia Review: Hold Me Back
We live in a world where the expectation to get married and raise a family is almost as strong as ever. Whilst the nature of relationships may have changed, being single after a certain age is still viewed by many as a failure, or at least something distinctly odd. However, when you live alone for …