I decided to group these reviews together because Fantastic Fest had a great lineup from Spain this year. From the World Premieres of Kidnapped and Agnosia to the US Premieres of Julia’s Eyes and The Last Circus, and the Gala Screening of Buried attended by the director Rodrigo Cortes and star of the film Ryan Reynolds. I got to see all of them except Julia’s Eyes. The review of Buried is here and the rest of the Spanish invasion can be found below.
Kidnapped (World Premiere)
Fantastic Fest Summary: Jaime and Marta are a middle-aged couple with a teenage daughter named Isa. The family is in the process of moving into a big new house. Marta wants to gather the family for dinner at home to celebrate. Isa has her own plans to go out with her boyfriend. But everyone’s evening is ruined when a gang of masked hoodlums pay a visit to the home.
Kidnapped is a tense and astonishing home invasion film. The camera is almost always on the action and the director uses split screen and continuous camera movement to create the effect that you’re actually in the house with the robbers and victims. The very beginning of the film was a bit weird because it starts with the end of another crime but you’re left thinking it’s the end of the whole film. I wouldn’t pay any attention to the scene before the title credits and just start the movie right after with the family moving in to their new home.
The first hour or so is excruciating to watch because the film is pretty real time with very long camera shots. Incredibly enough, a lot of those shots were completed in the first take. The acting is great but there was too much squealing and crying from the mother, Marta, and daughter, Isa. Usually in these kind of films, you keep asking yourself why they don’t do this or that to escape. In Kidnapped, they do try. They do pretty much whatever they can think of to get help or thwart the kidnappers…just nothing works. You quickly see that there is one major organizer of the crime and two lackeys. One lackey is sane and somewhat empathetic while the other is just purely insane. This keeps the scenes within the house very active and suspenseful.
The ending is quite amazing. For me, it makes all the waiting worth it. The ending comes almost out of nowhere and is the capstone of this great film. There are plenty of surprises to keep you guessing and entertained. The worse part of this film is that it’s filmed documentary style and you realize that this could happen to you!
Agnosia (World Premiere)
Fantastic Fest Summary: Fantastic Fest veteran Eugenio Mira spins a complex tale centering around a young woman with a rare sensory ailment who holds the key to an industrial fortune. Those closest to her devise an elaborate double-cross to steal her closely guarded secrets.
Agnosia may the most beautifully shot film at Fantastic Fest this year. From frame one to the final scene, it looks and feels amazing. The story is a bit convoluted and confusing but comes together nicely in the end. You do have to sit through a lot of long scenes to catch all the nooks and crannies of spectacular film making and really get the most out of this film. But if you do get to check out this film, trust me…you won’t be disappointed.
Agnosia is about Joana Prats who loses her ability to see and hear clearly in a supernatural accident early in her life. Coming from a rich family, she was taken well care of by servants and maids but she always strived to be independent and her father will not stop until she’s healed. Along with this problem she was left with an industry secret from her father. There is a business feud between her family’s lens company and a competitor. The competitor will stop at nothing to steal the secret of Joana’s lens.
So begins an elaborate plan to steal the secret from the Prats family. However, this turns into a much bigger hardship for everybody involved and lives get twisted and intertwined between each other fusing the lines of right and wrong and who is who. At first, Joana can’t see or hear clearly but by the end she won’t be allowed to think clearly either.
The Last Circus: Balada Triste (US Premiere)
Fantastic Fest Summary: Álex de la Iglesia’s genius for dark humour is at its most eloquent in his latest parody about the Spanish Civil War. Two clowns attack and disfigure one another in jealous rages over a beautiful dancer. In the name of love, they destroy the very object of their affection.
The Last Circus is an epic journey centered around a clown…a sad clown. Clowns are funny right? Well this is still a comedy, but it’s dark humor. I can’t believe this film was even made…watching the scenes shot of a clown in the middle of a civil war, in the middle of a eccentric circus, and in the middle of a love triangle are ridiculously hilarious. The story pokes fun of any and everything it’s about…and it’s about a lot. You can get lost in the story line (or lack there of at some points) but if you can understand that this movie has a lot to say and can catch the humor it says it in, you’ll enjoy it from beginning to end.
Javier, the son and grandson of clowns is determined to follow in his family’s footsteps. However, he’s never been a kid and had a terrible fate. His father convinced him that he should be a sad clown because there’s no way he could make people laugh. As a sad clown, he was easily influenced and seduced by others so The Last Circus becomes a coming of age story of a clown already of age. As Javier finds his own place, he realizes how dark people are and how dark he is himself.
Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. It features world, national and regional premieres of new, up-and-coming genre films.Visit Fantastic Fest’s Official Website
Fantastic Fest Summary: After his plane crashes in the South African bush, Rob Freeman (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) joins forces with Prince David Osei (a superstar actor in his native Ghana) to cross the vast desert by any means necessary. A daunting task under normal circumstances becomes particularly challenging after the zombie apocalypse.
Fantastic Fest Summary: Hoping to rekindle the sparks with his ex-girlfriend, Michael makes a surprise visit to her apartment in the city. Bad timing. As luck would have it, this is also the same day the zombie outbreak hits Berlin.
I Spit On Your Grave is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name. I haven’t seen the original but definitely want to check it out now! This is the classic revenge flick done in a controversial non-classic way. What you can imagine from the poster and title of the film is pretty much exactly what you get: a hot kick-ass chick getting down and gritty killing some bastards. But wait! There’s more. Not only does she get her revenge, she gets it in some of the most gruesome and awesome ways possible.
Hatchet 2 is awesomely awful. It’s a bloody, gory, ridiculously funny slasher film. I haven’t seen the first Hatchet, but if you have…the sequel starts exactly where the first one left off and is apparently more of the same so you know what to expect. Even if you didn’t see the first, I bet you already know what to expect: guts and gore. Hatchet 2 is written and directed by Adam Green who got his fame from the first Hatchet four years ago.
