Now in its 22nd edition, the Fantasia Festival is a delight for genre fans around the world. There’s a massive selection of titles in the Montreal-based program this year, but we wanted to narrow our focus a little bit.
The Reel Bits has long put Asia in Focus. So we thought we’d take a closer look at the Asian cinema screening this year’s Fantasia Fest, with some favourite and highly anticipated titles from South Korea, Japan, China, and Indonesia in the mix.
You can check out the rest of the titles and buy tickets (and maybe a pass or two) from the fantasiafestival.com website
1987: When the Day Comes
(South Korea, Dir: Jang Joon-Hwan)
Few South Korea films have been as critically praised as Jang Joon-Hwan’s (Hwayi: A Monster Boy) examination of the student and pro-democracy movement. Based on the true story of the police and government attempt to cover up the case of Park Jong-Chul, a protester captured by the police.
Buffalo Boys
(Indonesia, Dir: Mike Wiluan)
Mike Wiluan’s Indonesian western is set in 1860, and follows a pair of brothers who return from California’s west to their native Java to seek vengeance for their father’s murder. With all the trappings of a traditional wild west adventure, some have called this an “eastern western.”
Champion
(South Korea, Dir: Kim Yong-wan)
Everybody loves a sports movie, right? The always watchable Ma Dong-Seok stars as an arm wrestler who dreams of being a champion, as the title would imply. After being kicked out of the tournament, he eventually makes his way home to Korea where he reconnects with his half-sister and her two kids.
Laplace’s Witch
(Japan, Dir: Takeshi Miike)
Takashi Miike’s 102nd film (!!!) will probably be joined by another 5 by the time you read this. Based on the novel by Keigo Higashino, it follows the murder of two people suffocated by hydrogen sulfide at two different hot springs, the police bring geochemist Professor Shusuke Aoe (Sho Sakurai) onto the case. Soon he meets Madoka Uhara (Suzu Hirose), who guesses that a natural phenomenon will take place.
Microhabitat
(South Korea, Dir: Jeon Go-Woon)
Coming off playing at NYAFF in competition, this South Korea film explores the struggle inside us all: buy booze and smokes or pay the rent? A tragicomedy of dreams unfulfilled, principals tested, and friendships not being what they appear. Esom gives an award-worthy performance as the messy Miso.
People’s Republic of Desire
(China, Hao Wu)
A documentary from Hao Wu won SXSW’s Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, it explores China’s popular live-streaming culture through two seemingly ordinary people who have earned celebrity status across a wide cultural divide in China. Definitely zeitgeisty.
River’s Edge
(Japan, Isao Yukisada)
Director Isao Yukisada (Go, Narratage) explores the dark side of teenage life in Japan in a film that’s been compared to Gregg Araki. High schooler Haruna Wakagusa (Fumi Nikaido) sticks up for Ichiro Yamada (Ryo Yoshizawa), a gay student who is constantly bullied by Haruna’s boyfriend Kannonzaki (Shuhei Uesugi). Ichiro has his own secrets too, including the discovery of a dead body by the river that he shows Haruna. READ FULL REVIEW >>>
Tokyo Vampire Hotel
(Japan, Dir: Sion Sono)
If there is Sion Sono film playing at a festival, you should go and see it. If that film involves vampires, it’s mandatory. Originally created as a 10-episode series for Amazon Prime, this compressed version is all the mayhem of the end of the world without the back pain of 6 hours of binging.
Tremble All You Want
(Japan, Dir: Akiko Ohku)
Audience Award-winner at the last Tokyo International Film Festival, this adaptation of Risa Wataya’s novel stars Mayu Matsuoka (Chihayafuru, Blank 13) as Chi, a young woman who spends all day looking up extinct species on Wikipedia. At least until colleague Ni (Daichi Watanabe, Asako I & II) confesses his feelings for her.
The Witch Part 1: The Subversion
(South Korea, Dir: Park Hoon-jong)
Park Hoon-jong (V.I.P., which is also showing this year) follows a female high school student who is trained to become a murder weapon. THR called this a “mix [of] a classic Bond villain and some crackpot science into a Korean revenge thriller.” Sold.
Wilderness Part 1 + 2
Yoshiyuki Kishi follows A Double Life with a two-part film that runs well over 5 hours. With a running time up there with Happy Hour and Love Exposure, and based on a novel by Shuji Terayama, it’s set in the future of 2021 where two men find friendship through boxing despite the desperate environment.
