I know you can go over to Aint It Cool and read Harry and Massawyrm’s more involved reviews, but I thought I’d summarize my thoughts on what I saw for those who may be interested.
Diary of the Dead – I didn’t actually see this movie as I don’t usually like zombie movies. George Romero was hanging out with the fans afterward and he seemed like a cool guy. Diary was not part of his “of the Dead” series of movies. It presupposes a world where no zombie movies exist, so when a group of college kids stumbles across a zombie outbreak, they must learn about it the hard way.
Wicked Flowers – Japanese indie film about a group of people trapped in a series of rooms. They have to watch a short play in each room and piece together the answer to a question before a time-released toxin kills them. It’s David Lynch meets “Cube.”
Time Crimes – One of my favorite films of the festival. The world premiere of Nacho Vigalondo’s first film. A clever, tightly constructed, no special effects time travel story in the vein of Primer, but more accessible. Nacho is a really great guy and he hung out for the entire festival. He told me he was very worried that no one would like his movie, but it was a festival favorite.
Aachi and Ssipak – Completely insane Korean anime about a future world where the only fuel left is human feces. Wildly original and hyperviolent.
The Entrance – Awful B movie about a cop who investigates a bunch of criminals drawn into a deadly game by a fallen angel. They actually do the scene where the rookie cop makes the late night call to the detective on the case: “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’ve been doing some digging on the Internet and there might be something to this demon thing after all!”
Spiral – Genius thriller/black comedy. It’s The Office, but Tim might secretly be a serial killer.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Satisfying anime tale of a high school girl who discovers she can leap back and forth in time. Not as wondrous as a Miyazaki, but still well done and touching.
Southland Tales – Reviewed elsewhere. It’s growing on me.
Sex and Death 101 – Daniel Waters (Heathers) film about a man who discovers a list of every woman he’s ever had sex with as well as every woman he *will* have sex with until he dies. Very funny black comedy with a slight sci-fi element. Renewed my crush on Winona Ryder. The director and most of the cast were there, drunk out of their minds. Winona thought it was next week and didn’t show up.
Sword Bearer – Long-winded Russian film about a man who can spontaneously eject a sword blade from his palm, a la Wolverine. I was never clear on what the film was trying to be.
Moebius Redux – I was only peripherally aware of Jean Giraud’s art before this movie, but now I’m a fan. He’s the artistic genius behind the visual design of Tron, Alien, The Fifth Element and one of the founders of Heavy Metal magazine. Fantastic documentary which I highly recommend. It has been playing on Canadian and British TV recently.
Retribution – Boring J-Horror crime drama which tries to be so unlike The Grudge, The Ring, etc. that ends up being really ordinary.
The Cold Hour – One of the best sci-fi movies I’ve seen in a while. I won’t say anything about it at all. You need to walk in to this with no information. You will be richly rewarded. This is a must see.
The Orphanage – Guillermo del Toro presented the two first time writer and director of the film. It was a very atmospheric Spanish ghost story which I enjoyed. There was an especially grisly scene in the film which the writer later explained as his message to the American writer’s workshop that suggested they sanitize the film for American audiences. The message was “Fuck off.”
Death Note – I loved the anime and I was pleasantly surprised at the live action adaptation. It definitely shuffled the story around to make it work for the movie. The characters all remained intact, though: Light was an arrogant, evil bastard and L was a semi-autistic genius who ate nothing but sweets. They were showing Death Note 1 & 2 back to back, but I was too sleepy to stay for the second movie.
There Will Be Blood – I didn’t make it into this one, but apparently this was a big movie for some people. I was waiting in line and PT Anderson walked by. Two guys next to me started flipping out. I was relieved that I wasn’t missing Darabont’s the Mist. I even tried to make Anderson into Darabont with a scruffy beard.
And that was my Fantastic Fest experience. I went ahead and bought a VIP ticket for next year (already sold out) so I wouldn’t have to put up with this waiting in line for three hours and not getting in nonsense again.