Fantastic Fest 2009: Kent’s Top 10 Picks

Fantastic Fest was a very strong festival with a lot of amazing movies battling it out for the top position, and while there’s voting that happens, not everyone gets to see every movie and that makes the awards ceremony a little unfair. Some people vote for one movie, but not another, or they vote 10 on everything, or they just don’t vote at all. It’s messy all around. So here I am telling you what my top ten favorite films of the festival were… that I saw anyway. Don’t be offended if your favorite movie from the festival isn’t on here. Chances are if it was great I just missed it, like Zombieland.

10.) K-20 The Fiend with 20 Faces

K-20 is an incredibly adventure film that feels like a great radio drama ala The Shadow. Part Batman Begins part Dark Man, K-20 tells the story of a circus performer who’s set up and framed as a world renowned thief known as K-20. Endo, the hero must learn how to be a thief in order to clear his name and battle K-20. It’s a lot of fun and probably the best superhero movie of the year.

9.) Bronson

I thought Bronson was a serious drama the first time I saw it as an import DVD. The fact is, it’s funnier when you’re with an audience. The shock factor floats away and you’re left with one of the best dark comedies and true stories put to film in years. Bronson is a dangerous criminal but with charm that can’t be denied. Tom Hardy’s insane physical conditioning is epic and will have people comparing him to Christian Bale for years.

8.) The Revenant

A vampire movie that’s one part Boondock Saints and another part Evil Dead. The movie is gory, hilarious and fun. It’s your basic “Soldier comes back from Iraq dead, and wakes up to find he’s undead” story that we know so well… which is not at all. There are a lot of amazing sight gags and funny moments between the two heroes Bart and Joey, including a moment involving a dildo and severed head.

7.) Paranormal Activity

A movie about a demon that’s been haunting a girl her entire life and suddenly her fiance decides it’s time to fuck with it. Not a smart move. The entire movie is shot as if the main characters chose to document the events that happen over the course of a month, and boy is it scary. A minimalist budget, maybe the cheapest movie at the festival, and one of the most impressive by far. The scares ramp up perfectly and it’ll keep you talking long after it’s over. A room full of 6 guys couldn’t sleep for hours after we saw this movie, and now almost ten days later I saw a tweet from one of them saying it’s got them freaking out since they’re home alone. It’s that effective.

6.) Yatterman

Takashi Miike is messed up. He takes a classic children’s cartoon from over thirty years ago and turns it into a bizarre series of battles between the heroes Yatterman 1 and 2 and the Doronbo Gang. What makes this film work is how self aware it is. The heroes do a stupid dance when they win, everyone sees how dumb their outfits really are, and Yatterman’s giant robot dog’s way of transporting them from place to place is stupid when not a cartoon. There’s a great moment involving the original Japanese cast that made me chuckle, but more than anything this movie disturbed me. It’s shot and acted out like a children’s film, but it has several over the top sexual moments that rival what you can get away with in a Pg-13 movie here in the states. Titty-Missiles won’t fly with the MPAA. It’s still a blast and a must see. The insanely crazy projection we were treated to was half the fun.

5.) Secret Screening 1: Robog Geisha

Not as good as Yatterman, but very much in the same vein. Robo Geisha is about two sisters and their rivalry which leads them to become cybernetically enhanced killing machines or Robo Geishas. It’s not as violent as the director’s last film, The Machine Girl, but it’s just as funny. The Japanese ratings board said to put less bleeding people in the film, so instead the movie has buildings that erupt with blood. It’s odd compromises like that, that make the movie fun. It’s cheap, it was made in 2 weeks, it shows, but it’s a blast. The Q&A afterwards really did push it higher on the list.

4.) Mandrill

Chilean actor Marko Zaror really is the next big action hero. Mandrill is part James Bond, part exploitation film, and all bad ass. The stunts and fights are amazing, and considering Marko has doubled for The Rock in films, it’s crazy to see him do moves so fast, and kicks with such crazy extension that he rivals many of Asia’s best martial artists. I said it before, who knew Chile had the world’s biggest action star?!

3.) House of the Devil

It’s hard not to just tie this with Mandrill because they’re both so good, but they’re totally different films. House of the Devil feels like a movie made in the 1980s and it’s genius in how it accomplishes that. Shot on 16mm film with a perfect film stock, and set of actors, the movie is amazing. Save for a few cars and locations, the movie really does feel like something that was lost for almost thirty years. House of the Devil tells the story of a girl hired to be a baby sitter for an evening but gets herself into the worst situation imaginable. It’s scary beyond belief and stuck with me long after I saw it. It really is a period piece and puts director Ti West at the top of his field.

2.) Love Exposure

It’s four hours long, it’s about a kid who chooses to be a pervert after his Catholic priest father tells him to start confessing his sins every day, and it’s from Japan, AND that’s barely touching on the surface of what this movie really is. Love Exposure has so much insanity running through it that I can’t possibly start to tell yo about it all. But it’s never boring, always funny, and always surprising. It’s a must see for any Japanese or Asian film fan.

1.) Fish Story

Yet another Japanese film and possibly the best film of 2009. Can music save the world? Fish Story will truly leave you believe that yes, music is that powerful, even if it’s from a band that is unpopular or unknown. Fish Story is actually a few stories woven together with an over all narrative of hope. We start in 2012 with the world coming to an end and find ourselves going back to 1975 with a punk band that’s struggling to find it’s place in Japanese society and culture a year before The Sex Pistols got popular. It’s perfectly paced, amazingly well acted, and very very funny. It has almost everything anyone would want in a movie, and it’s not just my choice for best movie of Fantastic Fest… but of the entire year.

Now there are a few films that simply were awful at fantastic Fest… I’ll be posting a blog about those soon so keep your eyes open for it.