In Review: Fantastic Fest 2022 (Noah)
I’ve been back from Fantastic Fest for a while now, but the electric tingle of four days of film and neckbeards has yet to dissipate. With that in mind I thought I’d share my Top 5 films from the fest and a few that only just didn’t make the cut.
BONES & ALL, d. Luca Guadagnino
I got married this year and we had two songs from Call Me By Your Name in our processional. Meaning: I love Luca Guadagnino movies. And Bones & All – his 80s cannibal road-trip romance – might just be the best thing he’s done yet. This isn’t just a horror movie with flecks of artsy cinema, no, this is a beautifully drawn world of monsters all just trying find their way along the moral spectrum. Also, horribly disturbing footage of people eating other people! What more could you ask for?
THE BANSHEES OF INSHIRIN, d. Martin McDonagh
Even if I didn’t love Three Billboards – Martin McDonagh’s last film – I’m always excited to see what he’s doing next. He’s referred to Banshees as a spiritual sequel to In Bruges (a favorite in these parts) and the story of a good man trying to find out why his best friend suddenly hates him lives up to the billing. It’s a subtle emotional roller-coaster set against the backdrop of the Irish Revolution and every actor brings their A-game. Also, a lot of fingers get cut off! A fantastic piece of cinema.
ATTACHMENT, d. Gabriel Bier Gislason
The very best moment at FF is when you realize you’ve randomly picked a film based solely on the description (possibly while intoxicated) and that this random selection is absolutely incredible. Attachment did that for me this year. A small film about love and what we’ll do to keep it (also: Jewish demons), Attachment starts like an adorable rom-com but quickly grows much, much darker. Seek it out. Watch it. Love it.
SMILE, d. Parker Finn
Smile was the opening night screening and though the terrifying trailers left me huddled under my covers with a flashlight, there’s always the chance that the big film they throw your way as an opener could be mindless horror fluff. Smile – an It Follows type flick about escaping past traumas – is not that. It’s terrifying, well paced and has an ending so rife with fucked up visuals that I laugh-cringed through the last thirty minutes. Enjoyably repulsive.
HOLY SPIDER, d. Ali Abassi
If you want unrelentingly dark cinema, Holy Spider is your jam. Ali Abassi made the delightfully odd Border a few years back and his return to the screen is an about face in terms of tone. Following, with seemingly every gritty detail intact, the true story of a prostitute killing serial killer in Iran, Abassi has crafted a grim, difficult to watch masterpiece. Everything spins downwards in Holy Spider and if the last few shots of the movie don’t have you burying your head in your hands, you need to turn your moral switch back to “Good Person.”
HONORABLE MENTIONS
THE MENU, d. Mark Mylod
Mylod makes a little television show called Succession, and The Menu follows in the “poke the rich” satirical form. Here, Mylod sends a cadre of reprehensible uber-wealthies to a famous chef’s tasting menu on a small island in the middle of nowhere. Lots of bad things happen while Mylod slowly pulls apart our obsession with food and how it represents the stark divides in class cutting through our society. Also, the food looks great.
MISTER ORGAN, d. David Farrier
If you saw Tickled, David Farrier’s oddball exploration of the online tickling community, you’ll probably be into Mister Organ. In it, Farrier explores a car clamping scam, slowly peeling back the layers of a truly awful human being at the center of all of it. The main subject of the film is so awful, and Farrier so appalled by him, it’s almost hard to watch at times, but it seems purposeful, a cinematic means for Farrier to make you experience just what he is.
DECISION TO LEAVE, d. Park Chan-wook
I mean, do you need any reason to see this film from one of the great directors of the 20th Century? No. But, if you were waffling, this occasionally overly twisty film about a suspected killer and the cop who loves her is wonderful nearly every step of the way. Which again, would you expect anything less from this director?
