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FANTASIA 2015—ANGUISH
Anguish (2015, USA, dir. Sonny Mallhi)—The most visceral achievement of Sonny Mallhi’s directorial debut Anguish (2015) is its nerve-wracking sound design, imaginatively executed by Sonic Magic, a near...
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FANTASIA 2015—(T)ERROR
(T)error (2015, USA, dirs. Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe)—Surveillance (as previously noted in my entries for Slumlord and Observance) continues to be a trending theme in narrative horror...
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FANTASIA 2015—SYNCHRONICITY
Synchronicity (2015, USA, Jacob Gentry)—With its stylish evocation of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), homage becomes—for genre fans, at least—a form of time travel. However, Synchronicity is less a...
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FANTASIA 2015—JERUZALEM
JeruZalem (2015, Israel, dirs. Doron Paz, Yoav Paz)—Hell hath no fury like a malfunctioning pair of Google glasses. There have only been three Israeli entries in all the years of Fantasia’s...
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FANTASIA 2015—CASH ONLY
Cash Only (2015, USA, dir: Malik Bader)—Virile, yet vulnerable, Nickola Shreli bears the full weight of this intense crime thriller on his broad shoulders, both in his performance as Elvis Martini and...
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FANTASIA 2015—TALES OF HALLOWEEN
Tales of Halloween (2015, USA, Multiple Directors)—Eleven filmmakers (who call themselves the “October Society”), 10 tales, and 80+ actors made the Fantasia World Premiere of horror anthology Tales of...
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FANTASIA 2015—SHE WHO MUST BURN
She Who Must Burn (2014, Canada, dir. Larry Kent)—In his introduction to the World Premiere of Larry Kent’s She Who Must Burn (2014), Fantasia programmer Mitch Davis claimed Kent as a national...
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FANTASIA 2015—THE DARK BELOW
The Dark Below (2015, USA, dir. Douglas Schulze)—With only one line of dialogue (“Love is cold”), Douglas Schulze delivers a harrowing aria of feminine survival through evocative visual storytelling...
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FANTASIA 2015: BITE—The Evening Class Interview With Chad Archibald
Chad Archibald's Bite (2015) had its sold-out World Premiere in a one-off screening at the 19th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 29, 2015, in Montréal's J.A. DeSève Theater....
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FANTASIA 2015: SYNCHRONICITY—The Evening Class Interview With Jacob Gentry...
Director Jacob Gentry, composer Ben Lovett, and key actors Chad McKnight, Brianne Davis, AJ Bowen and Michael Ironside accompanied Synchronicity (2015) for its World Premiere at the 19th edition of the...
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FANTASIA 2015—ORION
Orion (2015, USA, dir. Asiel Norton)—As a follow-up to his 2009 art-house western Redland, Asiel Norton has spent the last few years conjuring up a dystopian fairy tale set in a devastated...
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MVFF38—LATINBEAT
It's been several years since I've attended the Mill Valley Film Festival—a consequence of timing more than anything else—but, for their 38th edition, I'm making a concerted effort to participate and...
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MVFF38—MICHAEL HAWLEY PREVIEWS THE CANNES & BERLINALE CROSSOVERS
The Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) is perhaps best known as a showcase for indie-ish Telluride / Toronto movies making their autumnal trudge towards Awards Season glory. For its 38th edition running...
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MVFF38—SACRED BLOOD (2015)
The World Premiere of Christopher Coppola's Sacred Blood (2015) at the 38th edition of the Mill Valley Film Festival proves, yet again, that blood is thicker than water. The Coppola Clan as a...
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MVFF38—An Evening Class Question for Sir Ian McKellen
Without question, Sir Ian McKellen is one of the most beloved actors of many generations. When I mentioned to him at a recent San Francisco Film Critics Circle reception that I was amazed how my...
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MVFF38—AMNESIA (2015)—An Evening Class Question for Barbet Schroeder
Not since Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude (1971) has an audience been asked to abandon expectations, suspend disbelief, and invest themselves in such an unusual May-September romance as Barbet Schroeder's...
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MVFF38: TRUTH (2015)—Q&A with James Vanderbilt
"Truth will out," my mother used to say to me, "and your lies will find you." She wanted me to believe that honesty would somehow keep truth near, if accountable. She led me to believe that's what...
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FRAKO LODEN ON 3RD I (2015)
The Third i San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival (3rd I) is the highlight of my autumn film festival schedule. I'm grateful to indefatigable festival directors Anuj Vaidya and Ivan...
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MVFF38: SEMBÈNE!—An Evening Class Question for Jason Silverman
Nearly ten years ago when I started The Evening Class, I was being influenced by my first exposure to national cinema(s) from the Global South, notably Africa, and specifically the work of Ousmane...
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THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 2: LA LUMIERE D'EN FACE (1955)
As with the first edition of "The French Had A Name For It", curators Donald Malcolm and Elliot Lavine start off their second round of rarely seen French noirs with a youthful Brigitte Bardot in...
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