Fantastic Fest 2018: 5 Picks From The 2nd Wave of Programming (Noah)
After years of house arrest and draft dodging, John Laird has finally lured me down to Austin, Texas for the Alamo Drafthouse’s annual bacchanalia of film that is Fantastic Fest.
Fantastic Fest just this week dropped their 2nd Wave of Programming and I took a gander and selected the five films I’m most excited to get acquainted with. Don’t get me wrong: I’m excited to see every film (just about ever), but these are the ones that reached out across the great void and touched my heart.
PS – Of course I want to see David Gordon Green and Danny McBride’s Halloween “sequel.” But you know that already.
1. Hold The Dark, Jeremy Saulnier
Have you seen Blue Ruin? Have you seen Green Room? If yes, then you should know that from this point on anything that Jeremy Saulnier wants to project on to your brain is worth dragging your feet across broken glass to watch, which means that his newest – starring Jeffrey Wright as a wolf hunter/outdoors guy who maybe fights a cult in the wilds of somewhere cold looking – is an absolute must see. At least that’s how I’m treating it.
2. The Angel, Luis Ortega
The rise and fall of criminals is a favorite genre of mine, so Luis Ortega’s tale of schoolboy-turned-gangster has a reserved spot in the parking lot of my soul. There’s a grim, neon tinge to the visuals and enough stylistically satisfying gun-related violence in the trailer to grab my attention.
3. Dogman, Matteo Garrone
To be honest, the trailer for this film makes my stomach a little queasy. I couldn’t find a translated version, but from what I can tell a veterinarian-type fellow on a gritty slice of Italian coast is pulled into some bad business involving himself and his brood of down-on-their-luck pooches. As the owner of a furry child myself, the potential for dog violence makes me nervous, even more so in the hands of Gommorah’s bleakly beautiful maestro Matteo Garrone.
4. Donnybrook, Tim Sutton
Look, all I know is that Donnybrook is based on a book by Frank Bill and that it is basically Bloodsport but set in the sticks of Southern Indiana. I’m sold already, but you toss in Frank Grillo, Jamie Bell and a host of other wackadoos looking to fight it out in the film version and my tiny little heart just flutters with what it could be.
5. May The Devil Take You, Timo Tjahjanto
All I can tell from the trailer to this film is that there’s a house, a bunch of siblings, a floating devil woman and a whole lot of potential for bloodshed. Also, every capsule review you see for this describes it in various ways of mindbending, cluster fuck, so I’m highly anticipating what the trailer isn’t letting on to.
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Another wave cometh. I’ll be there to pretend to understand languages that aren’t English and continue to expose myself as the violence junkie that I am.
‘Till then.
