Following their historic quarter-century run last year, the Fantasia International Film Festival is back for it’s 26th edition in Montreal this year. Running from 14 July through 3 August 3, they announced their first wave of titles this week.
Although their tastes cover the full gamut of world genre cinema, their continued dedication to showcasing Asian cinema is evident in two big programs this year.
First up, Hong Kong filmmaker and general legend John Woo will be presented with a Career Achievement Award. Woo’s films run from early martial arts classics like LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY (1979) through heroic bloodshed essentials A BETTER TOMORROW (1986), THE KILLER (1989), and HARD BOILED (1992). His move to Hollywood saw the likes of FACE/OFF (1997) and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II (2000), before returning to Chinese epics such as RED CLIFF I & II (2008, 2009).
Then there’s AXIS: ACCENT ON ANIMATION FROM ASIA, which has a special Korean Animation Spotlight along with Japanese animated titles, including new works from the legendary Masaaki Yuasa.
With only a fraction of the full program announced, there’s already stacks to get excited about. Here’s what we’ve seen from their Asian focus so far.
Convenience Story
One of two films from Satoshi Miki (Louder! Can’t Hear What You’re Singin’, Wimp!) at this year’s fest. Kato (Ryo Narita) is a struggling screenwriter who, one day when stepping out to buy dog food, stumbles into a mysterious convenience store where he discovers he can find anything his heart desires.
What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?
It’s a legitimate question. This glorious titled film is coming out from director Satoshi Miki this year is about the aftermath of a kaiju attack. As the giant monster lays rotting in the streets, a small team must race against time before bloated corpse explodes and destroys a nation. Why we aren’t all talking about this more, we may never know.
The Mole Song: Final
Slowing down to only two or three films a year, the third and (presumably) final entry in Takashi Miike’s adaptation of the popular manga follows The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (2013) and The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio (2016). This time we’re promised nipple-targeting seagulls, old men rapping in a bathhouse and drugs smuggled as Italian pasta. Bring it.
Kappei
Takashi Hirano, producer of Kamikaze Girls, makes his directorial debut with the story of a group of doomsday warriors, isolated and trained since their childhood for the end of the world in 1999. Cut to 2022 and the world has not ended, and they must learn to go out into society.
Anime Supremacy!
From Gone Wednesday director Kōhei Yoshino comes this new film based on the novel of the same name written by Mizuki Tsujimura and illustrated by manga artist group CLAMP. It’s about the rivalry between director Hitomi Saito (Riho Yoshioka), who is finally about to break through with her own anime series, and the difficult but undeniably brilliant director Chiharu Oji (Tomoya Nakamura) is gunning for his big comeback.
Next Door
South Korean writer/director Yeom Ji-ho arrives with a first feature that makes use of a single set. Chan-woo (Oh Dong-min) is on his fifth attempt to get into the police academy, when his friends make him a strange offer to pay the registration fee in exchange for just one drink at the bar. The next morning, he wakes up hungover in his loud neighbour’s apartment with a corpse lying face down in a pool of blood.
Just Remembering
Daigo Matsui’s Remain in Twilight was one of our favourite films at Fantasia last year. With films like Our Huff and Puff Journey and Japanese Girls Never Die under his belt, Matsui remains a staple on our list of filmmakers to get excited about. Described as a bittersweet love story inspired by a Jim Jarmusch masterpiece, it follows a former dancer and his cab-driving former partner re-sparking memories against the backdrop of COVID-stricken Tokyo.
Fast & Feel Love
Thailand’s takes us on a journey into the world…of competitive cup-stacking! When a world champion of sport stacking is dumped by his long-time girlfriend, he has to learn basic adulting skills in order to live alone and take care of himself.
Chun Tae-il: A Flame That Lives On
The story of Jeon Tae-Il, a South Korean sewing worker and workers’ rights activist who killed himself immolation at the age of 22 in protest at the poor working conditions of South Korean factories, has made its way to the screen before in A Single Spark (1995) and the documentary Mother (2012). Here director Hong Jun-pyo uses animation to bring his story to a broader demographic.
The Girl From the Other Side
A dark and monstrous creature becomes the guardian of an innocent human child in this gothic anime fairytale, co-directed by rising talents Yutaro Kubo and Satomi Maiya. The pair world-premiered their short film adaptation of Nagabe’s cult manga at Fantasia 2019, and with this feature they bring the elegant, enigmatic tale of Shiva and Teacher to the screen once again.
Inu-Oh
Masaaki Yuasa, who brought us the sublime Night is Short, Walk on Girl and the terrific Ride Your Wave is back with a new animated feature. Ancient Japanese history is reimagined as a riotous rock opera, rendered all the more feverish and fantastical by Yuasa’s storytelling panache and astonishing inventiveness, not to mention Taiyo Matsumoto’s amazing character designs.
Baby Assassins
Director Yugo Sakamoto brings the story of teenage assassins who must adjust to being roommates and searching for menial part-time jobs while battling a psychopathic yakuza boss and his bratty son and daughter. A double-barrelled blast of action-comedy that teams up stage musical star Akari Takaishi and stuntwoman Ayaori Izawa.
On the Line
We all hate spam callers, right? South Korean directors Kim Sun and Kim Gok bring a world of tension to a call centre world of phishing scams as they follow an ex-detective embarks on a dangerous mission to infiltrate and dismantle a huge cartel of invisible fraudsters.
