Compliments of your friendly cinematic pals at Moviejawn

Heading into its 24th year, the Fantasia Festival is known for the celebration of up and coming filmmakers within genre cinema. The Moviejawn crew is ecstatic to be covering this diverse and eclectic fest. With such a wide range of flick options, Fantasia is the type of event that has something for any movie lover.

For the first time since its inception, beginning August 20 through September 2 Canadian audiences can enjoy the thrills of Fantasia Festival from the comfort of their homes. For those elsewhere in the world, you may not be able to partake in the festivities but that doesn’t mean you can’t find more flicks to add to your watch list in the meantime. Here are just some of the films your friendly cinematic pals at Moviejawn will be checking out at the 2020 digital edition of Fantasia Festival. 

Cosmic Candy

In first glancing at a snapshot from Rinio Dragasaki’s Cosmic Candy, I was sold. It gave me the impression of a virtual candy land and seemed like it would be a perfect escape from what now feels like a never-ending hellscape that all of us find ourselves in. Along with the zany visuals, there is a meaningful story too about an eccentric grocery clerk, obsessed with a pop-rock style candy who finds herself taking care of a young girl after her father disappears. I’m kinda thinking this flick may just knock my socks off! It is available On Demand August 20th through September 2nd.

A Mermaid in Paris 

This may come as a shock but when it comes to romance flicks, your favorite old sport tends to be a real sap. With all the night terrors I have been having, I thought it might be a good idea to take a break from the Slenderman esque tales and watch a good old fashioned creature love story. It is no secret that I am a fan of the old monster movies. I was completely gaga for Del Toro’s Oscar winning picture, The Shape of Water and in reading the description of A Mermaid in Paris- a man rescues a mermaid and falls in love. Yep, I’m sold. By the look of the film stills, it seems the production design and wardrobe has this old timey vibe going on which couldn’t be more perfect for this fishy tale. It will be screened virtually August 27th at 7:15PM and August 30th at 1:00PM.

12-Hour Shift

In reading the plot summary, this movie found itself on my radar after I learnt it was set in 1999. I have a soft spot for the nineties and the possibility that this flick may feature grocery store style garage rock is enough reason to give it a shot. It takes place in an Arkansas hospital. A tale of schemes, heists and organ (yes, as in human organs!) swindles. If that isn’t wild enough, add in former pro-wrestler Mick Foley to the mix. This sounds like it will be a glorious shitshow in all the right ways and I am totally here for it. Written and directed by female filmmaker, Brea Grant. My eyeballs are totally ready. It will be screened virtually August 22nd at 9:30PM and August 27th at 11:30PM.

During my adventures at the 2020 Sundance film festival, I was able to catch a couple flicks that are making their appearance at Fantasia. 

Jumbo

This flick had me at the poster. I have three dream locations for movies that I want to make: historic hotel, eccentric movie palace and carnival. With the picture being set in an amusement park, starring Noemie Merlant (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) and being helmed by Belgian female filmmaker, Zoe Wittock, it ended up being my favorite picture at Sundance 2020. My full review is available here. It will be screened virtually August 28th at 9:00PM and August 31st at 11:15PM.

Dinner in America 

In the year nineteen ninety-seven, teenage Kicks (Old Sport) would have been all about the punk rock love story (possibly even fairy tale) that is Dinner in America. There were things I liked about this flick and welllll things that didn’t quite land for me. Set in midwest suburbia, after a haphazard meeting, a rebellious punk rocker (Kyle Gallner) and a kooky gal named Patty (Emily Skeggs) embark on a wild adventure filled with mayhem, mischief and absurdity. This would have benefited from a script review and a healthy snip but overall the original soundtrack cooks. My full review available here. It will be screened virtually August 21st at 7:00PM.

Labyrinth of Cinema

To say this looks ambitious is an understatement. It seems to be going for a big message (“Live freely. That is the proof of peace”) in a big story (the history of Japan’s wars), while trying to tell it through all of the styles and ages of cinema. Clocking in at just 1 minute under 3 hours, I’m a little leary of whether it’ll be effective over that runtime. But I’ll put my trust in Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 60+ years of filmmaking experience that this will be well made, if nothing else. It certainly looks visually pleasing. It will be screened virtually August 24th at 9:00PM and August 31st at 5:00PM.

Lapsis

There’s very little information out there about this one, but the short trailer had me interested. It looked like maybe it was a near-future dystopia that somehow involved a lot of camping? I dunno, it’s just that something about it called out to me. Well, I was actually lucky enough to have already seen this one. So I can say that the film pays off and I think that the rather vague marketing actually helps the film. If you want to learn more, you can check out my full review here. It is available On Demand August 20th through September 2nd.

Morgana

This one is a documentary with a synopsis that reads like an inspirational, whacked-out farce, but because it’s real, this will likely hit SO much harder. Morgana Muses was a depressed housewife in a sexless marriage who was about to end it all. With plans to go out with a “bang”, she hires an escort for the evening which leads to a whole new awakening. She becomes a 50+, sex-positive, feminist porn star. Reading through the filmmakers' notes, it seems like this will only be as exploitative as Morgana wants it to be. I’m a sucker for any story where someone finds their purpose through finally being allowed to be themselves. This is another one I was allowed to check out in advance. You can see my full review here. It is available On Demand August 20th through September 2nd.

Detention

Detention is a Taiwanese, ghostly, horror film set in the 1960's right in the middle of the brutal period of Chinese martial law known as White Terror where thousands of Taiwanese citizens and political dissidents were killed or went missing (presumably also killed). It is based on a video game on Steam of the same name. Before even watching the trailer my interest was piqued, especially as I had not heard of the White Terror period (I'm an American who went to public school - how much Taiwanese history do YOU know?). But the trailer clinched it with a blend of creepy candlelit ghostly goings-on at night, and the horrifying daylight realities of living under military occupation. If you've read my piece on Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark or listened to Hunter and I discuss 2018's Suspiria on Hate Watch Great Watch, you'll know I'm all for getting a little historical/social context all up in my spooky movies. So I'm really excited about this one. It will be screened virtually August 24th at 7:00PM.

Sheep Without a Shepherd

A scandalously juicy thriller featuring murder and lies is fun and I'm there for it - but add stylish editing and a possibly out of sync timeline and it puts it on my shortlist. The trailer features sleek "rewind" sequences, tense interrogation scenes and hints that the film culminates in a massive and fiery riot as a town is torn apart by the murder and subsequent cover up of an officer's son. This is technically the second remake of Malayalam-language film Drishyam (it was also remade in Hindi under the same name) and has been well-received regardless of its intended viewership. This one should be a wild ride. It is available On Demand August 20th through September 2nd.

Kriya

Truly a tale as old as time: boy meets girl at a nightclub, girl takes boy home after an undoubtedly flirtatious evening, boy discovers girl’s family sitting vigil around her dying father and is uncomfortably asked to participate in funerary rites. No? Never happened to you? In all seriousness, the trailer and synopsis for Kriya seem pretty vague apart from the above outline. There's a lot of quick cutting and close-ups that make it difficult to follow what exactly is going on, but it looks visually impactful with some lovingly composed shots and a surprisingly warm and rich color palette for a horror film. While I'm not sure whether or not this is a home run, it definitely seems like it will be nice to look at and has successfully aroused my curiosity. It will be screened virtually August 26th at 9:15PM and August 29th at 11:15PM.

Fried Barry

I'm a sucker for color in my genre flicks; if your movie has some neon hues, I'm automatically 20% more interested. It's a plus if the visuals are strong on their own as well, which is the case in the trailer for Fried Barry. On top of that, this has an interesting premise that's unlike more things than it is similar to - though if I had to boil it down it looks like Fire in the Sky meets MTV's The Head with maybe just a smidgen of Good Time thrown in? - basically the Barry of the title (Gary Green), described as a bastard and probably not in the Game of Thrones way, goes on a bender and is abducted by aliens, one of whom takes control of his body afterwards to experience human life I guess? The cherry on top for me is that South African cinema isn't something I'm overly familiar with aside from Neill Blomkamp movies. So I'm excited for the perspective that affords me! It is available On Demand August 20th through September 2nd.

The Oak Room

What stuck with me most about The Oak Room, besides its whole Gritty-Underbelly-of-Small-Town-Life vibe was the emphasis on the word "story". They say it four times in the trailer, which clocks in under 2 minutes. Though everything is edited to make it hard to say for sure what is happening when, or who is talking to whom, the implication that stories, rumors, tall tales and the like carry weight even nowadays is intriguing. The film seems to stem from Steve (RJ Mitte of Breaking Bad) trying to use a juicy story to get out of a debt (or maybe at least buy himself some time?). The editing also implies (to me at least) that we might be getting a nested narrative of a story within a story within a story, which could be a lot of fun. But all this focus on story could be a bit of a double-edged sword because I'll be expecting the storytelling in The Oak Room to be especially solid. It will be screened virtually August 24th at 9:45PM and August 31st at 11:30PM.

Sanzaru

Sanzaru piqued my interest because it seems to be combining a Southern Gothic feel with Japanese iconography and that kind of genre-mixing always grabs my attention. When an ailing older woman (Jayne Taini) confronts her in-home caretaker (Aina Dumlao) about someone snooping in her spare room, she seems more concerned than angry and the implication is that some awful and perhaps unholy spookum was being contained there. The trailer was edited a bit like the one for Hereditary (with an abrupt cut from some daylight scenery to the same shot at night among other things) which was one of the most impactful trailers of recent memory to me. There was also a generous amount of intriguing imagery - divorced from context - to unpack, almost all of it unsavory and leaving me with an unpleasant, nervous feeling (which is great for a horror movie trailer!). I'm also interested to see how the different cultures will play off one another in the story - Sanzaru is the Japanese name for the See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil monkeys, and I'm incredibly curious how that will tie into things! It will be screened virtually August 29th at 7:30PM and September 1st at 5:00PM.