For the last few years, we’ve had a massive hit rate with the Fantasia Festival offerings. For their 25th anniversary, they did not disappoint, pulling out all the stops with a massive program the weird and wonderful — and a few future cult hits to boot.
As usual, we largely concentrated on the Asia cinema offerings, and there were quite a few available. Festival favourites like Sion Sono, Daigo Matsui and Shunji Iwai sat alongside emerging voices. There was the Rob Jabbaz’s debut feature THE SADNESS, which is about as bloody a film about a pandemic as you’ll see this year. Philip McKie takes a deep dive into Japan’s underground dance culture in DREAMS ON FIRE.
Highlights included Benny Chan’s final film, RAGING FIRE as well as Pascal-Alex Vincent’s look back at another late master in SATOSHI KON: THE ILLUSIONIST. For lovers of the film industry, there was the wonderful animation POMPO: THE CINÉPHILE too.
So without any further ado, here’s a look at all of the films we managed to catch at the 25th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival in 2021. Links to full reviews are found alongside the capsules. You can also see the rest of our coverage at our Fantasia Festival hub.
FEATURES
Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist
When filmmaker Satoshi Kon died in 2010 following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, he was 46. In his all-too-brief time on Earth, he left us with some of the most revered animated films of the last few decades: Perfect Blue (1997), Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), and Paprika (2006). Both a summary of an impressive career and a tribute to one of the driving forces of animation over the last few decades, French documentarian Pascal-Alex Vincent paints a portrait of someone who demanded high standards from others, and even higher from himself. Read our full review.
Raging Fire
The film world lost Benny Chan last year after a short bout with cancer. His final film — starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse — gets a posthumous release, and it’s as fitting a tribute as any to one of the true heroes of Hong Kong action filmmaking. As the film closes out with footage of Chan at work, coupled with a dedication to the late director, even the most hardened of HK action fans will probably feel a little emotional. This is a film that knows its audience. Read our full review.
Remain In Twilight
An emotional, and often disarmingly strange, journey about the bonds of friendship, dealing with grief and learning to move on. In other words, it’s a Daigo Matsui film. Set over the course of 12 years, Matsui’s use of longer takes allows us to really know these characters: a group of men seeing each other for the first time in 5 years for a wedding. Oh, and one of them is dead but just keeps on hanging around with them. Read the full review.
Pompo: The Cinéphile
Have you ever felt completely seen by a movie? Based on the manga by Shogo Sugitani, the animated film from director Takayuki Hirao and studio CLAP is made for film lovers. This joyful and film literate feature is a sophisticated and clever insider look at the film industry while also celebrating the medium that we all love so much. Read our full review here.
It’s A Summer Film
A genuinely heartfelt love-letter to film, or at the very least it’s a push against the idea that movies are disappearing. Soshi Matsumoto’s feature debut, following a career in commercial and short work, it’s a sci-fi film of sorts that sees a group of school friends attempting to make a samurai film, but discover one of their number is a time traveller from the future. IT’S A SUMMER FILM is exactly what it says: a film about the joys of summer in all their fleeting and life-changing moments. Read our full review.
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
With over 100 films covered and 50 interviews, Kier-La Janisse’s comprehensive documentary may be the definitive word on folk horror. Taking just over three hours, Janisse guides us through the origins of folk horror films, from the more common British folk horror of the 60s and 70s through to more recent examples from around the world. Read our full review.
Prisoners of the Ghostland
The incomparable Sino Sono meets the immovable Nicolas Cage and the results are exactly as expected. Although ‘expected’ is not a word you’d readily apply in this situation. As Sono slows down to a respectable two or three films a year, partly thanks to the emergency heart surgery he underwent during production, the now 59-year-old filmmaker shows no signs of letting up on his creativity. It’s a great example of how his voice can successfully transition with something resembling western aesthetics. Read the full review.
The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8
If ever there was a film that lived up to its title, then it’s this. Expanding on the screenlife antics of Iwai Shunji and Takumi Saito’s 2020 web series – part of the Kaiju Defeat COVID online challenge started by Shinji Higuchi – it’s wedded to its format. As such it’s a short and sweet nod to both kaiju history and the solidarity of lockdown. Kaiju fans will love the many references to past creatures, from Windom to Balloonga. The final evolution of the capsule kaiju is a sweet nod to the real-world monster killers, and a welcome message of hope after the last 18 months. Read our full review.
Hand Rolled Cigarette
A slick debut continues the the revival of Hong Kong cinema in this beautifully shot thriller. Although ultimately losing the top prize to Taiwan’s My Missing Valentine, the seven nominations at the 57th Golden Horse Awards mark director Chan as a voice to watch. Read our full review.
Time
This might be Ricky Ko’s debut feature, but in every other way it’s got the look and feel of a throwback to Hong Kong’s past cinema greats — not least of which is the 84-year-old former matinee idol Patrick Tse. He plays a killer for hire who now takes on euthanasia cases. Sometimes an odd blend of tones, but ultimately the core performances and the slick action carries this ‘grandpa assassin with a heart of gold’ through to the end. Read the full review.
Wonderful Paradise
Wonderful and weird go hand-in-hand in this truly bizarre film that just keeps getting stranger – and that’s just one of the things to love about it. It begins with a series of random arrivals at a mansion in the process of being packed up for sale by a quirky series of family members. After the disgruntled daughter puts out a social media invite for a party, the event becomes a festival, complete with food stalls and activities. Yet nothing can really prepare you for the back half of this film. From a child transforming into a stick through to a mutant coffee bean growing out of control, the script is equal parts midsummer sex comedy and pure train of thought. Read our full review.
Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes
If the time loop film is rapidly becoming our favourite sub-genre, then this one-take time loop screenlife film should be our next sub-sub-genre obsession. In the film, Kato (Kazunari Tosa) owns a small cafe where he discovers that his computer screen and TV are windows to a version of himself two minutes into the future. Only clocking in at 70 minutes, it all culminates in a genuinely clever denouement, where the ‘bad guys’ are ultimately overcome through a combination of foresight and comical use of the Droste screens. Read our full review.
Tokyo Revengers
Based on the ongoing manga series, here’s a time travelling high school tale with a bit of a difference. While compressing a lot of story into a short space — a story that is still ongoing in print and anime form — TOKYO REVENGERS still managers to convey its complex tale in a a self-contained package. Indeed, if this is your first experience with the franchise, you might even be tempted to explore the world a little further. Read our full review.
Under the Open Sky
As a character study, this works incredibly well. Koji Yakusho once again finds himself on the wrong side of the law in this exploration of institutionalisation resulting from long-term imprisonment. He’s excellent in the role, bringing a world weariness and hair-trigger anger that never feels anything less than genuine. Some of the more plot-driven elements let it down in the back third – including a conclusion (that I won’t spoil here) that felt like one step too much – but it’s generally an admirable outing.
Hello Tapir
A charming blend of magical realism and small town tragedy Filled with kids who just act like authentic kids, and some nifty special effects, it’s all an analogy for dealing with grief. Referred to as “Taiwan’s first live-action/animation fantasy film.” We’re looking forward to a second.
Dreams on Fire
A stylishly short and mostly engaging look at the various dance and sub-culture in and around Tokyo. It lost me for a little bit there when it pursued the sleaze of the hostess clubs, but it finds its feet in the second half when it concentrates on what we came here for: the dance. Ultimately a positive exploration of various subcultures, and works especially well when it deals with the intersections of multiple worlds.
Fighter
A solid character study about a North Korean refugee who finds an outlet through boxing. Yun Jéro’s film avoids some of this minefield of issues by focusing less on ideological differences and more on a general feeling of societal disconnection. Read our full review.
Fortune Favours Lady Nikuko
Ayumu Watanabe, who delivered festival favourite Children of the Sea back in 2019, returns with a new water-based anime. Based on a book by Kanako Nishi (Yellow Elephant, Sakura), it’s an observational comedy/drama about a young girl and her titular mother. There’s a lot to love about the movie: the puns, the joyful animation, and a loving attention to detail. It’s marred slightly by a constant series of jokes that aren’t just body-shaming but insulting. Still, Watanabe presents something that is more straightforward and universally accessible than Children of the Sea. Read our full review.
Poupelle of Chimney Town
It’s very easy to describe something as ‘Ghibli-esque’ when dealing with Japanese animation – so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Based on the 2016 children’s picture book by Akihiro Nishino, this is a high concept piece that starts with an intriguing premise. In a city full of chimneys that has never seen the sky, the stars are something of legend. Young Lubicchi (voiced by Mana Ashida) is, like his father before him, the last of the true believers. After an encounter with Poupelle (Masataka Kubota), a person made of trash who comes to life on Halloween night, he sets out to prove the existence of the true sky. Read the full review.
Sexual Drive
Bringing together Japan’s twin histories in cinematic erotic and the glorification of food, Kōta Yoshida’s anthology may make you reassess your relationship with at least three food groups. Read our full review from IFFR.
Seobok
This crisply shot Korea action flick deals with some pretty familiar territory: clones, secret bases and attempt to manipulate the mortality of humankind. There’s some particularly cool action sequences involving’s Seobok’s mind powers, although it’s hard to escape the feeling that we’ve seen it all before.
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
We lost the lead singer of seminal punk rock band X-Ray Spex back in 2011 to breast cancer. Yet her daughter has spent a few years travelling across the globe to get a better understanding of her mother and her career, engaging with archives and a host of celebrities. Filled with amazing music and a great story, as a documentary it left a lot to be desired. Audio recordings floated over stock footage, or imagery of daughter/director Celeste Bell leafing through a copy of her own book while sat in a blank void. While it was very consciously avoiding talking heads, the result was a lack of energy and a general listlessness. In fact, it was hard to get a bead on any type of chronology. It would have been great to hear a bit more of the music too.
Midnight
In the grand tradition of Hush or Wait Until Dark, a woman with a hearing impairment becomes the target of a serial killer. That’s the premise of Kwon Oh-Seung’s debut film, one that draws inspiration from Korea’s own I Saw the Devil and through to overt references to The Shining. A sensory thriller with a solid cast will keep you on edge with a few clever tricks up its sleeve. Read our full review.
Tiong Bahru Social Club
First things first: the film is gorgeous visually. A fun skewering of the algorithmically dominated social media landscape played out IRL. The illusion of choice and the myth of happiness are explored in a lighthearted way, but like actual social media what really brings this all together is an adorable kitty.
One Second Champion
An interesting light wibbly time premise that, like the titular champion, never really finds a good use for the concept. When it does just become a straight boxing film, it works quite well – complete with its own handful of Rocky moments. Also: spare a thought for the adult man saddled with the nickname ‘One Second Champion.’
The Last Thing Mary Saw
Sitting somewhere between The Witch and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, there’s something a bit old school about this period horror piece. A slow-boiler of a thriller that pits two emerging lovers against the weight of religious oppression and rooms perpetually lit by candles.
Junk Head
Like the earlier editions that this builds upon, one has to salute Takahide Hori for the amazing effort that has gone into the stop-motion/CG blend here. With an aesthetic that sits at the exact intersection of Despicable Me and a Tool music video, the painstaking level of detail found in every frame of this film is nothing short of phenomenal. While the character designs and creature revelations are often ingeniously crafted, long stretches of the film are simply figures chasing each other around corridors. Read our full review.
Yakuza Princess
In Brazil, Akemi finds out that she’s the heiress to the Yakuza empire. It’s certainly a way to use the background of Brazil’s large Japanese population and culture, although it also regularly falls back on some familiar tropes. One can’t escape the feeling that there’s an outsider’s perspective here, one that uses the neon lights and Japanese aesthetic without fully being a part of the culture that created it. Some great set-pieces though and the leads are fun.
The Sadness
They’re infected with rage! And sadness! You are unlikely to see a bloodier film this year, and certainly not another quite like this coming out of Taiwan! Canadian animator Rob Jabbaz’s debut directorial outing starts with news of a pandemic, which is a little bit too real for us right now. Yet it soon delves in the realms of horror fantasy (we hope) as people shed inhibitions and purge their way through the streets. If you like your gore splattered, then this is for you.
Kakegurui 2: Ultimate Russian Roulette
A few years ago, the first live action feature adaptation of Kakegurui — based on the manga by Homura Kawamoto and Tōru Naomura and subsequent TV series — came to our screens. In this sequel, director Tsutomu Hanabusa (see also: Tokyo Revengers) continues the tale of the gambling controlled school. It’s very much in the same vein, with stylistic fidelity to the source material at all costs, and an actual round of Russian roulette that seems to go on longer than The Deer Hunter (and that’s three hours). Read our full review.
SHORTS
Ryuk-sa: A Teaser
A difficult one to judge on its own as director Cho Jin-woong (The Spy Gone North, Me and Me) gets behind the camera for something he’s calling a ‘teaser’ for a long film. It follows the story of a woman trapped under the rubble of a fallen building as she is rescued by a mysterious superhero in a baseball uniform. Cho’s aim is to convey the idea that anybody can become a hero at anytime, but this comes complete with teases at more powers and even a potential villain. It ends with a plea from Cho that he wants to make more — and judging from this short, that can only be a good thing.
Koreatown Ghost Story
Playing on both traditional Korean values and horror tropes in equal measure, directors Minsun Park and Teddy Tenenbaum cast Margaret Cho and Lyrica Okano in a horror comedy show how far one mother will go to match up an unmarried young woman with a boy just like her son. Filled with genuine scares and some laugh out loud moments, if this was a feature you’d be seeing it on best-of lists all over the place.
Carnivorous Bean Sprout
Of all the weird short films we’ve seen at Fantasia this year, this is both one of the weirdest and the shortest. A very short animated film that somehow crosses Little Shop of Horrors with Jurassic Park. An inky black South Korean comedy with some knowing winks at the audience.
Juan-Diablo-Pablo
Does the devil get lonely? This one is kind of looking for a friend. A genuinely creepy atmosphere mixes with a slightly cheeky sense of humour in Ralph Pineda and Dyan Sagenes’ horror comedy short that may appeal to fans of What We Do in the Shadows.
Huh
Loosely based on the Korean craftsman Huh Chongkak (“Bachelor Huh”) who tirelessly worked on a series of masks ordered by the gods — without any contact with the outside world. This animated short from Kim Tae-woo (Homo Erectattoos) regularly turns into a hip-hop musical in this simple storybook style full of spirits and gods. It’s a delight.
Night Bus
Set during the course of a fateful ride on the titular bus, this would make for a wonderful Agatha Christie feature — or a thoroughly modern noir. Stolen pearls, a falsely accused man and one vengeful young monkey fill this stylishly animated Taiwanese short from Joe Hsieh.
Incarnation
A Japanese vampire story with a bit of a twist. An elderly lady who claims to be 466 is the attempted victim of con involving her son. The would-be con artist doesn’t know what hit him. Noboru Suzuki’s debut short is a stylish affair, subverting expectations and demonstrating an unabashed love for the genre. Mayumi Amano is fantastic as the enigmatic older lady, clearly having a blast with the role.
Noses on the Run
If you’ve ever suffered with allergies, you will relate to the desperation faced by the woman in Kim Boram’s short sci-fi film. Suffering from chronic rhinitis, she turns to a service that offers her a whole new nose. It just doesn’t remain hers for long though, and it’s soon noses at ten paces with a rival rhinitis runaway. It’s really slickly shot, with just the right balance of story and humour for this brief running time.
CLASSICS
Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom?
Shunji Iwai’s 1993 made-for-TV film (made for the series If) was officially playing as part of the shorts programs — part of a broader Iwai retrospective at Fantasia — but there’s enough joy and emotion in this 45 outing than most features. The low-fi production might have the shopfront of an after-school special, but it has the beating heart of something far more universal. There’s no major dramas or screaming conflicts, just an innocent crisis and an unanswered question that drives the narrative. Was later remade as an animated feature.
Kakegurui
To accompany the sequel (see above), the original returned to our digital lives. Based on a popular manga and TV series, this self-contained spin-off is a chaotic and energetic introduction to the world of high-stakes gambling in high schools. Building to an impressively staged battle royale across the school grounds, and an intense game of cards that even James Bond would have trouble keeping up with, this is the kind of fun that is just the right amount of bonkers. Read our full review.
The Warped Forest
Admittedly, it’s been a while since I’ve seen this film — and my tastes have become a lot weirder over the years. (Note that Wonderful Paradise is closer to the top of this list). Back in 2012, I described this as “Lewis Carroll by way of David Cronenberg. The film is beautifully shot, and the layers of weird are so pristine and colourful that you begin to believe in them.” Sounds light something my 2021 counterpart would love.
