by Allison Yakulis, Staff Writer

MJ’s Allison Yakulis closes out her coverage of the 2021 Fantasia Film Festival and leaves you with a few more flicks to add to your watch list.

Midnight
Written and directed by Oh-Seung Kwon
Starring Wi Ha-Joon, Ki-joo Jin, Hae-yeon Kil
Running Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes

Thrillers, as a category, tend to vary widely in terms of quality - the genre almost mandates plot twists and playing for shock value, which if not handled deftly can immediately cheapen a film. Smarter scripts lean heavily on dramatic irony and tension-building to keep audiences engaged and on edge. I am pleased to report that Midnight navigates this terrain so well you’ll be surprised this is Kwon’s first feature.

Midnight follows five individuals over the course of an evening engaged in a deadly game of cat and mouse (or mice?). Psychotic killer Do Shik (Wi Ha-Joon) is stalking his prey - his modus operandi is wounding his first victim to get them to ask for help, thereby luring a second victim so he can kill them both, all while obviously getting off on the mind games he plays with the people he hurts and fooling any responding authorities. After we see a successful outing where he kills a young man and a young woman, we’re introduced to our other players.

So Jung (Kim Hye-Yoon) and her brother Jong Tak (Park Hoon) are living together by themselves after their parents have passed away, her behaving somewhat like the rebellious teen while he tries to be a responsible adult and look out for her. Kyung Mi (Ki-Joo Jin) and her mother (Hae-Yeon Kil) are both deaf, both working their jobs and saving for a vacation they want to take together. These four may never have met, if not for Do Shik’s unsavory appetites.

Midnight wastes little time, following the main characters just long enough for us to get a sense of their lives before mashing them all together in wickedly entertaining chaos. Midnight also knows how to raise the stakes, as viewers will see in the police station scene and as characters weave in and out of vision of our main narrative. Certain objects are introduced and repurposed for later tension-building, such as the sound-reactive lighting in Kyung Mi’s car and in her and her mother’s house.

The pacing isn’t perfect, as a few parts drag - maybe this was supposed to provide some tension relief, but it didn’t work well for me. Nevertheless, Midnight starts strong, plays fair, and ends dramatically - all while managing some genuinely thrilling turns and well-composed fighting and chasing sequences. Do Shik and Kyung Mi as characters have a screwed up kind of chemistry that I found engrossing; he finally finds someone who can be as slippery and manipulative as he, minus the criminal insanity, of course. If you can get your hands on it, Midnight is yet another strong recommend.

Midnight played at Fantasia Film Festival and will hopefully be available soon.

Hand Rolled Cigarette
Written by Kin Long Chan, Ryan Wai-Chun Ling
Directed by Kin Long Chan
Starring Ka Tung Lam, Bipin Karma, Singh Hartihan Bitto
Running Time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

It’s apparently a small world in the underbelly of Hong Kong, as when both a drug deal and some rare turtle-smuggling go awry, two socially ostracized men band together to avoid the wrath of the local boss. Hand Rolled Cigarette primarily takes place in the shadow of colonialism and the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, with our protagonist and would-be turtle dealer Chiu (Ka Tung Lam) struggling to make ends meet after his military service. He helps Mani (Bipin Karma) hide out after his partner reneged on a drug deal with the same boss, stole his product, and passed it on to Mani for the two of them to sell off when the heat dies down.

But really, this is one of those films where the plot isn’t really as important as the emotions around it. The intimidation and pain. The desperation. The hope for the future (in the form of Mani’s kid brother, who is hopefully college-bound someday). The resolving of past sins. That’s where the heart of the film is, and it’s where the acting and direction really shine. Hand Rolled Cigarette has that film noir sort of bent to it, where everything is dark and greasy and everyone is at least a little crooked - but Lam and Karma are so ultimately likeable and sympathetic that it works.

Hand Rolled Cigarette also has an absolute triumph of a climactic fight. It’s done in a wide, fourth-wall shot that follows action across two rooms and is just so incredibly brutal. It’s like the “put the glasses on” scene in They Live (1988) where everyone involved is totally gassed halfway through and using whatever is handy to beat on someone else. But also with that over-the-top, too-many-guys, utter chaos like a pared-down version of the hallway sequence in Old Boy (2003). It looks great, and it’s the catharsis we need after repeated gang-style torture and execution.

Hand Rolled Cigarette is a solid crime drama with real compassion for its unlucky heroes and some extremely well-composed sequences. While the level of violence may make this uncomfortable for the squeamish, there’s a lot to love here.

Hand Rolled Cigarette played at Fantasia Film Festival and will hopefully be available soon.