The Unrepentant Cinephile

by Jason Coffman

  Coz Ov Moni 2: FOKN Revenge (Ghana, dir. King Luu)

  Coz Ov Moni billed itself as “the first pidgin musical,” and was a fun musical/comedy that followed the FOKN Bois (rappers Wanlov, and M3NSA) as they tried to collect debts and find good food. The sequel expands the scope and polishes the technique a bit with higher-quality visuals and better sound as well as a couple of sequences shot in Romania. The story is very similar to the first film, just a day in the life of these two guys trying to get paid and eat, and hopefully not get beaten up in the process. The songs are mostly simple, hooky, and infectious, but laced with clever wordplay and impressive pronunciations of difficult phrases (“We gonna grapple until you grovel and gobble gravel” possibly being my favorite). The tone is very light and laid-back, and Wanlov and M3NSA are natural performers, so it’s fun just watching them play off each other and the other characters in the movie. The ending seems to promise another FOKN Bois adventure in the works, hopefully coming soon. Coz Ov Moni 2: FOKN Revenge is super fun and perfect for a crowded midnight movie screening.

  Fantastic Fest 2015: Day 2

  Originally published 26 September 2015

  Ruined Heart (Philippines, dir. Khavn)

  Subtitled Another Love Story Between a Criminal and a Whore (and having played this past summer’s New York Asian Film Festival), Ruined Heart is a fascinating abstract take on well-worn territory. The only words spoken in the film are song lyrics and poetry recited to music, otherwise the whole story–which is indeed about a pair of star-crossed lovers who both work for a powerful crime lord–is told through image and music. Shot by frequent Wong Kar-wai collaborator Christopher Doyle and starring Tadanobu Asano (maybe best known to DG readers as “Kakihara” in Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer) and brilliantly scored by Brezel Göring of Stereo Total and a number of collaborators, This sometimes feels more like an album-length music video than a traditional narrative film. That’s not necessarily a complaint, but anyone with a low tolerance for exercises in pure style will probably find it a tough watch. For anyone on its particular wavelength, though, Ruined Heart is a parade of beautiful sounds and images that will linger long after its brief running time is through.

  Der Bunker (Germany, dir. Nikias Chryssos)

  Pit Bukowski returns to the big screen after his amazing turn as the titular character in Till Kleinert’s Der Samurai in another deeply strange film. This time he plays a self-serious university student who rents a windowless concrete room in an underground bunker to work on his research, only to find the family from whom he rents the room wants him to home-school their son. Things get progressively weirder throughout Der Bunker, but debut feature director Nikias Chryssos seems uncertain of the tone he wants to use for these mounting absurdities. There are some very funny moments in the film, but by the surprisingly predictable finale it’s still unclear exactly what the film is trying to say. The best part of the film is Daniel Fripan’s utterly bizarre turn as Klaus, the home-schooled son. He admirably commits to an incredibly weird role and gets all the biggest laughs in the film.

  Remake Remix Rip-Off: About Copy Culture and Turkish Pop Cinema (Germany/Turkey, dir. Cem Kaya)

  If you’ve ever heard of “The Turkish Exorcist” or “Turkish Star Wars,” you probably have a vague idea of what sort of movies the Turkish film industry makes. This is a great documentary tracing the roots of Turkish cinema from its beginnings to the circumstances that made such notorious rip-offs of American blockbusters possible (spoiler: it has a lot to do with a lack of copyright laws in Turkey). There is an amazing amount of information here and it’s structured expertly, cutting between interviews with filmmakers and stars of Turkish cinema from the 60s to the 80s and dozens upon dozens of films that nearly all look completely insane. If there’s a major complaint to be made, it’s that Remake Remix Rip-Off is exhausting in its depth–possibly too much of a good thing, in other words. Regardless, this is a must-see documentary that gives viewers a crash course in a world of cinema they may never have previously known existed.

  Hard to Get (South Africa, dir. Zee Ntuli)

  Lothario TK (Pallance Dladla) meets his match in tough but beautiful Skiets (Thishiwe Ziqubu), a mysterious young woman who wanders into his village looking for a ride to Johannesburg. TK can’t resist the challenge and steals the beloved BMW of Mugza (Israel Makoe), a smooth but ill-tempered local tough. TK and Skiets get mixed up with crime boss Gumede (Paka Zwedala), and soon they’re in way over their heads with Gumede and with Mugza on their trail. There’s something to be said for unpretentious action, and Hard to Get delivers exactly that. It’s so effortlessly confident and charming (thanks in no small part to an excellent, charismatic cast) that it’s tough to believe this is director Zee Ntuli’s feature film debut. This is stylish fun that doesn’t skimp on the ridiculous action tropes (excessive slow motion, dubstep) but knows when it’s best to pump the brakes and let the interplay between the characters breathe and carry things forward. It doesn’t rewrite any books, but Hard to Get is hugely entertaining, and that’s no small feat.

  German Angst (Germany, dir. Jörg Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski, and Andreas Marschall)

  Horror anthologies are popular right now, and this one has a hell of a hook: three segments by German directors, including the legendary Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik). There’s no wraparound storyline here, just three longish shorts: Buttgereit’s “Final Girl” leads off with an abstract story of a young girl planning to leave home with her beloved guinea pig–after she deals with the man she has gagged and bound to a bed. Next up is Michal Kosakowski (Zero Killed) with “Make a Wish,” in which a deaf Polish couple is terrorized by a group of racist punks, but a magical trinket turns the tables. Andreas Marschall (Masks) closes the show with “Alraune,” the story of a man who gets a lot more than he bargained for when he joins a decadent sex club. Marschall’s entry is probably the best, with its incredibly nasty practical monster effects, although all three are well-shot and (as one would expect) fairly unpleasant. Unfortunately, as with many anthologies, this is not really any of the directors working at their best. The segments are good but not great, making German Angst a decent if unmemorable horror show.

  In Search of the Ultra-Sex (France, dir. Nicolas Charlet & Bruno Lavaine)

  A spaceship on a mission away from Earth receives a distress signal from home: suddenly everyone in the world is compelled to fuck constantly. The ship’s crew discovers that someone has stolen The Ultra-Sex, and if it’s not recovered all of humanity will be obsessed with sex forever. In Search of the Ultra-Sex is entirely assembled from clips of other films that have been edited and dubbed to create the illusion of a (intermittently) coherent narrative. Many clips are from adult films of the ’70s and ’80s, although there’s a big helping of Samurai Cop and War of the Robots in there as well. This is extremely goofy stuff, but in addition to the juvenile humor there are a lot of clips that prove sex movies can be hilarious and deeply weird even without silly voiceovers–maybe the best part of the movie is when the story takes a break and there’s an extended scene of two painfully 80s people posing in different “sexy” positions for the camera. It’s probably no coincidence that this would make a pretty great double feature with Remake Remix Rip-Off, in which filmmakers discuss some of the techniques of appropriate and recontextualization that were used in the creation of this film.

  Ludo (India, dir. Q & Nikon)

  Genre cinema from India is relatively rare, and it’s always exciting to hear about new genre projects coming from outside the mainstream Indian film industry. Unfortunately, Ludo is a dull, incoherent slog. Four annoying youngsters sneak into a shopping mall before closing so they can have a private place to drink and have sex, but they run into an old couple who seems to live in the mall. The old woman suggests they play a board game (that looks sort of like a crude descendant of Sorry!), at which point the movie turns into a typical teenage stalk ‘n slash for about ten minutes, and then the last 30+ minutes is an extended flashbac
k of the old woman telling the story of the game. Ludo resembles low-budget American horror cinema more than anything, but its structure robs it of even the slasher movies’ standard charms. There’s a lot of time spent looking at images that are too dark to make out, and the sound design suggests avant-garde while everything else screams Chopping Mall without any of the stuff that made that movie fun. Ludo has been playing a lot of genre festivals this year; after seeing it, the only reason I can imagine that would be is the novelty of its being a Bengali-language horror movie.

  Fantastic Fest 2015: Day 3

  Originally published 27 September 2015

  Doglegs (USA/Japan, dir. Heath Cozens)

  For 20 years, “Sambo” Shintaro has been the star of a Tokyo-based semi-underground wrestling league called Doglegs. Doglegs allows people with physical and mental disabilities an arena in which to fight each other as well as able-bodied people like Shintaro’s best friend and ringside nemesis “Antithesis” Kitajima. Doglegs follows Shintaro leading up to what he hopes will be his triumphant retirement match against Kitajima, but Kitajima throws him off by suggesting that the winner of the match earns a glorious retirement. Shintaro has never beaten Kitajima in their 20-year history; can he pull it off this time, or will Kitajima walk triumphant, unbeaten, into the sunset? Doglegs offers a look at a world that will be vaguely familiar to wrestling fans with its outrageous showmanship, but also completely unlike anything most viewers have ever seen before. Parallel stories follow L’Amant, a cross-dressing fighter with severe cerebral palsy, and how his family deals with his sadly declining health, as well as L’Amant’s caretaker Yuki Nakajima, who suffers from paralyzing depressive episodes. Along with many touching segments out of the ring, there’s a lot of footage of the fighters in the ring as well, some of which is terrifying. Ultimately, Doglegs is an inspiring but realistic look at the triumphs and trials of these utterly unique fighters in various aspects of their lives.

  Lovemilla (Finland, dir. Teemu Nikki)

  Milla (Milka Suonpää) and her boyfriend Aimo (Joel Hirvonen) live with Milla’s alcoholic zombie parents (they literally turn into zombies when they drink) but are hoping to move in to their own place. But life is complicated: Milla’s friend Siiri (Pauliina Suominen) wants to set Milla up with Ens, a rich young entrepreneur who works for a company that sells trips to the future. Meanwhile, bodybuilding-obsessed Aimo is thinking of spending the couple’s savings on a pair of robotic arms in hopes of impressing Milla and preventing her from leaving him. There are also superheroes, magical gay men, demon-possessed babies, and a mystery involving someone deliberately spreading Noro virus around town while a security guard and a guy in a Tiger mascot costume investigate. Lovemilla is seriously weapons-grade quirk, hardly allowing a scene to go by without some kind of absurd sight gag or the introduction of yet another inexplicable character or plot point. But for all of its aggressive kookiness, it never really tips too much into goofiness at the expense of its characters’ relationships and does have some moments of inspired humor. If you find yourself ready to tag out by the time Milla’s superhero friend shows up, it’s probably for the best to do just that. But if you are charmed by the film’s hyperactive willingness to throw everything at you in hopes some of it lands true, you might find a lot about Lovemilla to like.

  River (Canada/Lao People’s Democratic Republic, dir. Jamie Dagg)

  John Lake (Rossif Sutherland) is a doctor working for an NGO in Laos, and after ignoring a superior’s orders while trying to save a young woman he is ordered to take some time off. He travels to a small island to spend a few weeks relaxing, but almost immediately he runs into a pair of Australian tourists trying to get a couple of local girls drunk. When he intervenes, the situation spirals rapidly out of control and Lake finds himself on the run. A technically impressive but narratively frustrating debut feature from director Jamie Dagg, River has some astonishingly beautiful scenery in Laos and expert cinematography to make full use of it. Unfortunately, the photography is considerably more compelling than the actual story, with Lake making a series of inexplicably misguided decisions and enjoying almost supernaturally good luck with avoiding police on his journey across the country. Sutherland gives a solid lead performance, but it’s still tough to empathize much with Lake’s situation when he seems so determined to constantly make things worse for himself.

  The Passing (UK, dir. Gareth Bryn)

  Stanley (Mark Lewis Jones) lives alone in an isolated cottage in a quiet valley, where he tends to the land, builds chairs, and works to construct a well. One day young couple Iwan (Dyfan Dwyfor) and Sara (Annes Elwy) crash into a creek on Stanley’s land, and for the first time in a very long time he has to face other people. He helps mend them, but while Iwan is anxious to get back on the road, Sara seems to think they’ve found exactly what they were looking for when they fled their home. An uneasy romantic triangle develops, but Stanley’s distant demeanor conceals a dark secret about his home. The Passing is shot well and the acting from its tiny cast is solid, but its pace is so glacial that by the time it comes around to the finale, it’s hard not to feel a little cheated. Other than all the dialogue being in Welsh, there’s not a whole lot about The Passing to separate it from other low-budget, minimal genre thrillers, but it will be interesting to see where director Gareth Bryn goes from here.

  Fantastic Fest 2015: Day 4

  Originally published 30 September 2015

  Daniel’s World (Czech Republic, dir. Veronika Lisková)

  In 2014, Luke Malone published a harrowing piece on Medium entitled “You’re 16. You’re a Pedophile. You Don’t Want to Hurt Anyone. What Do You Do Now?” In it, Malone talks to a young man who has joined an online support group of pedophiles. Needless to say, it’s a tough read, but it raises serious questions about a subject that people really don’t want to confront. Similarly, Daniel’s World is a documentary about a man who is a pedophile but, like the people in Malone’s piece, has accepted that he will never have any kind of real relationship with someone to whom he is attracted. Daniel has friends he met online with the same sexual orientation, and they offer each other support and camaraderie. Daniel is intelligent but deeply lonely, and director Veronika Lisková presents a picture of his life that is both painfully sad and inarguably disturbing. Like Malone’s piece, Daniel’s World provides a look at a facet of humanity that is too often hidden away. The most remarkable achievement in this documentary may be that it may not be possible to identify with Daniel’s sexuality, it’s equally impossible not to identify with his constant struggle against his own nature and his intense loneliness. This is an uncomfortable but compassionate look at a world that will be mercifully alien to most viewers, and of a man who has to fight more than most of us to feel human.

  February (USA, dir. Osgood Perkins)

  Kat (Kiernan Shipka) and Rose (Lucy Boynton) are stranded at their all-girls school when their parents fail to show up to take them home for a February break. Rose is asked to watch over the younger Kat, but has her own agenda that doesn’t include babysitting a weird freshman girl. Meanwhile, a woman named Joan (Emma Roberts) arrives at a bus depot near the school where she meets an older couple (James Remar and Lauren Holly) who are visiting the area and offer Joan a ride to a nearby town. February is an extremely slow-burning horror story that steadily builds an atmosphere of oppressive dread and takes some very unexpected turns even up until its final minutes. It’s very difficult to talk much about it without giving away too much, but suffice to say that February becomes something that I can’t remember ever having seen before in its final minutes. All the performances are great, and the sound design and scoring are excellent in contributing to the film’s strange mixture of creeping terror and an underlying sadness. A seriously creepy and unexpectedly touching take on some familiar genre territory, February is one of the best horror films of the year.

  The Invitation (USA, dir. Karyn Kusama)

  Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and his girlfriend Kira (Emayatzy Co
rinealdi) are invited a dinner party at the house where David used to live with his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard) after Eden and her new partner David (Michiel Huisman) return from a two-year absence in Mexico. Eden and David have invited along several of Eden’s estranged friends, as well as a couple of new friends they met during their time at a retreat affiliated with a self-help group called The Invitation. As the evening progresses, Will begins to suspect that Eden and David are planning something sinister. But how much of that is real, and how much is it David having to deal with returning to the home where he and Eden lost their young son? Karyn Kusama’s follow-up to the seriously underrated Jennifer’s Body could not be more different than that film. This is a serious and seriously unnerving examination of shared grief and repression, and its repercussions among people who care for the people who have lost the most. The Invitation is somewhat reminiscent of Coherence in that it wrings a lot of mileage out of a premise based on a simple gathering of friends thanks to a great cast with the convincing chemistry of a group of old friends.