by “Doc” Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Czar

Fantasia International Film Festival runs until August 9th in Montreal, Quebec. Tickets are available HERE.

This year’s Fantasia International Film Festival is rolling right along and I’m just trying to hold on, y’know? With a staggering amount of feature films, and almost a dozen short film blocks, there’s more than enough to keep anyone entertained. And trust me when I tell you that I am being entertained.

This 2nd week has been very surprising for me. You never know what you’ll be getting with a movie, but especially at a festival. Some of these films have only the briefest of descriptions to go by, and though sometimes they don’t live up to the expectation, sometimes (the better times) they exceed them! Below are a couple of recommended flicks from Fantasia week 2!

#Manhole
Written by Michitaka Okada
Directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
Starring Yûzo Nakajima, Nao, Kento Nagayama

When a film’s title has a hashtag in it, I am less likely to take it seriously. I’m gonna say the word “hashtag” in my head at every applicable moment, which can severely damage your film’s tension. That’s just how it is. And when the film’s plot is as simple-seeming as “a man falls down an open hashtag-manhole and becomes trapped”, I am likely to think I know what this film has in store for me. In this instance, I could not have been more wrong.

A man absolutely does become trapped after falling down an open hashtag-manhole, and yes, some of the runtime is him exploring the space, trying to devise clever ways out, as expected. But when #Manhole bucks my expectations, it really threw me in the best way. If like I did, you think you know where this film is going, I can assure you: You do not! This sits comfortably alongside Crawl (2019), Fall (2022), and (even though it’s not quite as good a film as the others) The Pool (2018) as simple-seeming concepts that wring every ounce of entertainment from their set-ups.

Blackout
Written by Larry Fessenden
Directed by Larry Fessenden
Starring Alex Hurt, Motell Gyn Foster, Marshall Bell

In Blackout from writer/director Larry Fessenden, the acclaimed genre mainstay finally gets to tackle the werewolf mythos, and as he usually does when treading in seemingly familiar waters, he manages to approach the subject from a unique direction. Sure we have a protagonist who believes he is the unknown beast committing the killings in Talbot township (nice reference btw), but Fessenden makes his story about the emotional arc as well as contrasting the townsfolk’s reactions with a very timely commentary on xenophobia.

These parallel through-lines give the story both a macro and micro focus that’s interesting for a classic monster movie. What’s more, this may be Fessenden’s best shot, strongest directed film. The use of Charley’s (Alex Hurt) own paintings to help tell his story is incredibly effective and feels surprisingly fresh, even though the first time it happens I wondered why this isn’t done in more films.

River
Written by Makoto Ueda
Directed by Junta Yamaguchi
Starring Riko Fujitani, Manami Hanjô, Gôta Ishida

The story of a small inn located in the mountains of Kyoto which becomes stuck in a two-minute loop of which only those in the immediate area are aware, River sounded like a “cute” idea, but I didn’t expect to as thoroughly enjoy it as I ultimately did, or to be as drawn into the handful of characters’ stories as I was.

Without resorting to much broad comedy, and even while skirting dark emotional territory, I was laughing out loud multiple times. There is a Wes Anderson quality to the directness of the characters’ approach, the matter-of-fact way they accept the strangeness of what’s happening, as well as the overall curated diorama quality of each character’s small-stake storylines that I think would appeal to wider audiences. It’s also notably a film without a villain, of which there are shockingly few, which also lends it no small amount of charm.

Aporia
Written by Jared Moshe
Directed by Jared Moshe
Starring Judy Greer, Payman Maadi, Edi Gathegi

With its strong emotional core and bold story moves, Aporia is a modern bit of science fiction that falls somewhere between Primer (2004) and Something in the Dirt (2022). When a scientist (Edi Gathegi)’s widow (Judy Greer) and physicist best friend (Payman Maadi) use an experimental device to correct his death, they begin a chain of events with unforeseeable consequences for them. As much a film about guilt and personal responsibility as it is about quantum theory, Aporia hits surprisingly hard.

It should come as no surprise when I say Judy Greer is great in this (when isn’t she?) but she’s rarely given the chance to anchor a film with such emotional complexity and she shines here. My one quibble is that the direction here is a bit matter-of-fact and could have used an extra hit of emotionalism or sentimentality. Still, Aporia is a modern take on the monkey’s paw concept that will leave you with an appreciation for everything and everyone you have in your life.