by Allison Yakulis, Staff Writer

MJ’s Allison Yakulis shares some of the flicks she has caught at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival. Check out her thoughts and add some of new movies to your watch list.

Follow The Light (Hikari Wo Oikakete)
Directed by Yoichi Narita
Written by  Yoichi Narita, Yu Sakudo
Starring Tsubasa Nakagawa, Itsuki Nagasawa, Rina Ikoma
Running Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes

I didn’t really know what I was walking into with this film - the trailer makes it out to be a coming-of-age tale with a sci-fi encounter (shades of Super 8 perhaps?), but what you get is more relatable than that. Yes, there is a crop circle and reports of a green light in the sky, but rather than grappling with a literal alien, friends Akira and Maki and their classmates are instead struggling with the pain of an uncertain future. It’s an anxiety that feels particularly relevant living in these uncertain times but the overall message is one of hope.

Follow the Light is set in a rural area of Japan and features several absolutely exquisite drone shots of sweeping rice fields with misty mountains in the distance. These beautiful shots not only add to the charm of the movie, but also encourage you to fall in love with the landscape so that it becomes more moving when the town is revealed to be languishing. It’s the same story that faces many rural areas in the U.S. where the pull of the big cities is depopulating and stagnating small towns. The local grade school is facing permanent closure at the end of the term, with the building set to be demolished for more profitable use. Akira, who grew up in Tokyo, is only recently back in town with his newly divorced father - already once displaced, dealing with a second impending shift, and only just starting to be accepted by his peers as part of the group. When he befriends outcast Maki, chronic truant and roof-sitting enthusiast, his infatuation leads to jealousy and carefully guarded secrets coming to light as the film reaches its dramatic climax.

The impressive part of this movie lies in the way it depicts the pain and preoccupation of an entire town in a way that doesn’t feel exploitative or overbearing. We see things in pieces, following the problems and injustices faced by a few characters extensively, while only getting glimpses of others contextually either in a line here or there or simply in their reactions to others. It can be hard to avoid the pitfalls of solipsism on the one side or overcomplication on the other, but Follow the Light deftly manages to keep its pace while remaining sympathetic to the inner lives of its characters. It’s worldbuilding of a more mundane variety than what people tend to mean when they discuss “worldbuilding”. Everyone feels real. Everyone has a past, needs, problems, hopes, fears. Some of this is due to good writing and direction, and some due to just really excellent performances by a cast of predominantly very young actors.

Follow the Light may be the kind of film a lot of people need right now. I know I mentioned aliens and emotional drama but it deals with things in such a grounded, relatable way that it can be a cathartic watch for anyone who is longing for a past that seems all the more idyllic in retrospect and is apprehensive of a future that seems all too uncertain. You are not alone.

Follow the Light will be presented with the short film Wao, which can be viewed at any time during the festival. Tickets are available here.

Glasshouse
Directed by Kelsey Egan
Written by Emma Lungiswa De Wet, Kelsey Egan
Starring Jessica Alexander, Kitty Harris, Adrienne Pearce
Running Time: 1 hour and 34 minutes

What are we without our experiences? In Glasshouse, memory becomes something potentially fleeting as an airborne pathogen threatens to erase the people it comes in contact with, leaving them empty shells of themselves, unable to remember their own personalities, the people around them, or the things they used to do. But that’s only the beginning of the story - when an interloper joins a family living in an airtight greenhouse, it becomes clear that memory and truth are two different animals.

I saw this film compared to The Beguiled, which I find apt as it treads similar ground of half-truths, danger from outside, sex, youth, and jealousy. It also manages to feel like a fairy tale, although if it is in fact derivative of one I don’t know it. Perhaps it just feels that way due to the stained glass storytelling, the very cottage-core wardrobe, the lush South African jungle, and the so-vague-it’s-almost-magical mind-wiping “Shred” that traps our protagonists inside.

Is it high cinema? No. It never really tangles with the philosophical implications of the world it creates, or at least not in a way that delves into significant depth. But boy if it isn’t entertaining, and with visuals that are doubtlessly made to live in your head long after the credits roll. This one is a strong recommendation as it is engrossing, enjoyable, and delightfully wicked in that old-school Grimm’s fairy tales kind of way.

Glasshouse will be available for remote viewing (streaming) Wednesday, August 18 at 9AM until Thursday, August 19 at 9AM. It will be presented with the short film Cloud. Tickets are available here.

Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It (Zhanym, ty ne poverish)
Directed by Yernar Nurgaliyev
Written by Zhandos Aibassov, Yernar Nurgaliyev, Daniyar Soltanbayev, Il'yas Toleu, Anuar Turizhigitov, Alisher Utev
Starring Daniar Alshinov, Yerkebulan Daiyrov, Rustem Zhaniyamanov
Running Time: 1 hour and 25 minutes

I really enjoyed this film!*
*your mileage may vary

Likened to The Hangover meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this is clearly a comedic (specifically farcical) film with incredibly graphic violence - which is, admittedly, kind of a weird tone. It’s usually the kind of thing we see more often in satirical send-ups of other genres (think Hot Fuzz or that CollegeHumor sketch where Batman has a gun), rather than a male-bonding edge-of-fatherhood one-last-hurrah kind of romp.

It has some genuinely funny moments, especially at the end where our main character has to explain rather titularly what kept him from attending the birth of his child...and where his cell phone is...and why there is no one left to corroborate his unbelievable story except for the other two guys he left on a “fishing trip” with in a van filled with defective marital aids...

Oh also yeah, there is a touch of sleaze which I almost forgot about in the wake of some pretty lovingly rendered rending of limbs and jaws, gunshot wounds, antler impalings, explosions, and one pretty gnarly decapitation (among other injuries - I may have lost count). Due to its graphic nature, I’d more readily recommend it to horror fans who don’t flinch at gory bits in movies, but don’t let that scare you off if you think you can hack it.

When people aren’t going splat, you’re treated to a road trip from hell, which is a classic formula for fun. Further, it is surprisingly sensitive to how major life changes (like marriage and fatherhood) challenge young adults and their friendships, using this as a vehicle for conflict and character growth. But don’t take my word for it - this is one story you’ll have to see to believe.

Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It will be available for remote viewing (streaming) at any time during the festival. It will be presented with the short film Swipe. Tickets are available here.