Fantasia 2017: Week 1 - The Brisk Jog

Week one of the Fantasia Film Festival for me is more of a brisk jog. Trying to allocate my time for work, social conventions of television viewing parties, and other festivals seemed to get in the way of an avid movie watcher as myself. However, I found the time to catch a few screenings. Here is a quick rundown of this first week of cinema extravaganza. 

A Ghost Story

A Ghost Story from director David Lowery was my first screening, under a press setting. It is a meditation film on love, life, and death, that is reminiscent of the works of Terrence Malick. It follows the story of C (Casey Affleck) & M (Ronney Mara) as they live their life together, until C has an accident that leads to his demise. The film transitions into the supernatural as C becomes a ghost that returns to his house and follows M as well as the other inhabitants that follow. Just like a Malick film, there are many scenes that go on for too long and the camera overstays its welcome on a single scene. It pays off in the end, though, as you go with C on a supernatural journey on the house's past, present, and future inhabitants. Daniel Heart provides excellent tones to score the film and with its short run time, does not overstay it's welcome.

Animals

I was finally able to make it to two screeners on Thursday. The first one was Animals from director Greg Zglinski. The story is about a wife and her husband that take a vacation, for her husband’s work, while their neighbour from upstairs is housesitting for them. It is also revealed that the wife knows her husband is having an affair with the same neighbour. The couple tries to enjoy their getaway despite infidelity being in the air, as the neighbour is being mistaken for someone else. Frequent accidents, talking cats and locked doors adds to some intrigue about the women, the wife and neighbour, as they question their own sanity living in parallel universes. As the credits rolled I can concur that some doors are not meant to be opened.

78/52

One of my favourites of the festival so far is the documentary 78/52 from director Alexandre Philippe. The documentary is set up as a deconstruction of the iconic shower scene in Psycho and also examines its legacy. There is a far range of various film directors, editors, sound designers, and actors that a featured in the panel discussion about the scene and the film. The deconstruction starts out by exploring how Psycho was the first film that pushed the boundaries of horror cinema, as a first slasher film, and how director Alfred Hitchcock was able to showcase subversive material on screen for the first time. As a cinéphile, this documentary resonated well with me.

Now that this week is over I am planning next week’s midnight run. I hope to catch a few documentary screeners, as well as a few films with the Fantasia audience or the theatre audience. Have a good week at the movies et bon cinema!

Remi's Fantasia 2017 full selection list.

Follow Remi's Film Viewings.

Follow Fantasia film reviews as they happen!