Five days and nine movies at FIFF 2015
OFFICE. The lead actress is the little girl from The Host and she's all grown up as an awkward office intern. The movie delves into the competitive and stressful politics of a Korean sales offices. The suspense builds after the office staff learn a colleague went mad and massacred his family and then returned to the building but was not seen leaving it. Tensions rise and the suspense builds as the body count rises. Add the creepy minimalist music as feelings escalates to a bloody battle in cubical hell.
THERAPY FOR A VAMPYRE. This is the movie my mom choose to come along with us. It's a romantic screwball comedy set in 1930's but with vampires. And Sigmund Freud. It's light, fluffy and bloody fun.
ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM. Based on the hit manga/anime series, it's very amusing premise that Class E (for The End) has been chosen to assassinate their large yellow tentacled teacher. And they have to do before the end of the school year. Full of over the top characters, this an fun series with some entertaining surprises.
BUDDHA'S PALM. My brother chose this over the top 35mm Shaw Brothers kung-fu movie, probably the start of wuxia form of martial arts movies. And the 1982's special effects are laughable but state of the art at the time.
THE CRIMSON WHALE. The writer/director Park Hye-mi was present for it's International Debut and she picked the right place outside of South Korea to show this post-apocalyptic tale involving a ragtag group trying to mine a rare mineral guarded by a fantastic red whale in a volcano. Their ace in this hellish hole is a young girl whose terrible gift/curse is the ability to summon whales. While the animation was bare bones, it still conveyed the dreary atmosphere in Busan post cataclysmic earthquakes and the red hell that was the volcano.
THE ARTI: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS. A 3D sequel to a classic wuxia puppet movie LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE, this movie is lovely to watch from the artistry of sets, the puppet costumes shows through in every scene. The voice acting was also excellent and it helped give more depth to the wooden puppets.
THE CASE OF HANA AND ALICE. After her parent's divorce, Alice has moved to the sticks and into some high school urban legend by accident. She ends up at the dusty desk of Judas who had five wives and died after they confronted him over his philandering, one of them killing him. Alice gets in touch with Hana, who was in the same class last year and has been a shut-in ever since. And so begins one of the most meandering investigations into an adolescent urban myth by a pair of girls with little in common except the Judas affects them both.
A HARD DAY. Imagine being at your mother's funeral when Internal Affairs shows up at your office to check for corruption. Compound that by swerving to avoid a dog on the road only to hit a human being moments later. So begins this police thriller from South Korean with wonderful suspense, some really darkly humour situations, and an amazing fight sequence in an apartment, especially the bathroom. I love my South Koreans, they do more with far less than Hollywood does for a better sense of suspense satisfaction for me.
BORNING. It's The Canonball Run of Norway! Our hero has his adolescent daughter dropped off for a two week visit while he is gearing up for a drag race. She is not getting the attention she craves and he's too busy with his car and his current girlfriend. Things get more interesting after an old rival challenges him to a race to the North Cape of Norway. Soon everyone wants in on the actions, including a trio of Swedes. Lovely scenery accentuated by some great driving and a pair of spectacular stunts to make this a fell good movie for the summer.