Every year, the Fantasia festival is a highlight of the Montréal summer for me. I always try to attend and see as many films as I can (though I can never see as many as I want). The movies themselves are hit-or-miss – that’s to be expected for a festival that focuses on genre and fantasy – but they never fail to be at the very least entertaining, and the atmopshere in the cinema is consistently incredible (meow). I’ve been recording some brief impressions on the movies I get to see every year; find them all here .
Below is the list of movies at the 2018 and 2019 editions of Fantasia. The ones I particularly liked have a ✨ next to their name. (These entries come directly from my twitter archives, where I posted my thoughts at the time.)
2018
pretty standard horror anime that’s aesthetically interesting but extremely tedious to follow, pacing is all over the place, narrative has no emotional weight etc
the first 15 minutes are superb; a film rendition of Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (David Oakes is perfect and beautiful). the rest of the film at best incredibly dull, at worst outrageously bad
Blue My Mind: a genuinely excellent story of teenage angst and metamorphosis, Luna Wedler is perfect. had me feel real, appropriate uneasiness.
a 3h epic about teenage drama in WW2 Japan, told in a dizzying, feverish style that looked to me like a sort of hyper-photoshoped kabuki. It grabbed me and didn’t let go, which is a feat considering the duration and the nonlinear, repetitive storytelling.
fuck. FUCK. what an incredible, *incredible* film. I haven’t seen anything so visionary, so consistently masterful in a very very long time. See this if you have the chance, and watch Tilman Singer.
it’s a zombie musical. that covers it, really. suuuuper fun, super clever, totally self-aware (in the right ways). kinda lets up towards the end unfortunately but don’t let that stop you from going to see it with friends
they must have been so enamoured with their tech… character movements are hilariously exaggerated, camera angles are ridiculous; it’s hard to follow. that would be fine but then there’s only so many racist and homophobic slurs I can tolerate. (I walked out.)
look, I know I tend to get overly excited about stuff sometimes, but this is the real deal – the funniest, most impressive comedy I’ve seen in years. Don’t read about it. Trust me (and the entire audience who was in stitches) on this, go see it.
suuuuch a beautiful film. layers genres, themes, sensations; starts at the surface, at skin level; and dives deep down, pulls you in, into characters, and then it emerges with a new sensibility and you feel like you’ve been gifted something so precious.
take a slasher and subvert every last trope – build a huis clos out of wide open spaces, twist the tone into cutting humour, make the killer a mediocre man who’s been pushed over the edge by crumbling capitalism. it’s funny because it’s true
Rokuroku: The Promise of the Witch
a visually arresting compendium of japanese yokai… I, uh, wasn’t sure if it was meant to be scary or funny… I didn’t really like it :(
a beautiful but often clumsy thriller. I’m disappointed but my expectations were probably unreasonably high. There’s an interesting reading of it which I’m not sure is intentional, but if it is, then I know even less what to make of it
short films
(short films are always fascinating to me and I love the format, I saw sthg like 25 of them throughout the festival, here are two that really stuck with me:)
✨ Spin : a mind-bending, time-folding sequence-shot filmed within a building that somehow seemed to disregard euclidean geometry.
✨ Make It Soul : a stunning tribute to James Brown and Solomon Burke, sooo gorgeous; this is animation at its best.
2019
this is the first film I saw and it has a good chance of being the best. holy fuck. couldn’t find a single fault. (maybe the best end credits I’ve ever seen too.)
perfectly sarcastic takedown of toxic masculinity and its mechanisms. brilliantly acted & written & shot. offers hilarious satirical dialogue, and follows it up with a gut punch (or karate chop) that sucks the air out of you
very pretty, minimalistic, genuine if a bit clumsy
perfect genre fun, perfect blend of horror and comedy with a surprising touch of tenderness. elijah wood is impeccable.
a gorgeous response to traditional male-dominated fantasy – glam and fierce. the princess will get out of her pink prison by herself goddammit. also THE FASHION IN THIS, FUCKING GOSH.
Four mesmerising shorts from a director with a unique voice & vision. Sensory and intimate and never vulgar or kitsch.
THIS WAS SO GOOD. A film about kids who don’t know how to deal with emotions and the shitty world around them, that seemed like it had been made by the kids themselves. Overflowing with authenticity and pop and so fucking touching.
Layer upon layer of emotion, colour, sound, auras; intertwined feminist journeys propelled by a reinvention of the dead girl trope and moving slowly but inexorably. Impossible to hold in your mind all at once but still bewitching.
A refreshingly simple, bright film about love and grief, with Masaaki Yuasa’s energy 😍 cute and sincere and beautifulllll
I think this is the first feature film that has disappointed me so far… lots of interesting ideas, but all undermined by cheap scare tactics and a flat script. Still was okay but I was hoping for so much more
hilarious, absurd epic fantasy, with complete disregard for historical accuracy or consistency, just outright non-stop whacky awesomeness, I was cry-laughing the whole time 😂 so fun!!
Hm, I’m not sure what to make of this...? The premise and artsyle are very cool, and the original short sets up great arcs, but then the sequel does nothing with it :/
a slow, delicate, stirring ode to the strength needed to keep going when faced with the unflinching quiet violence of the world. a film that felt miraculous.
Haven’t been this scared and tense in a cinema since… forever? It starts strong and never lets off, and never gives in to facile tropes either. A completely consistent and terrifying psychological horror.
The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea
I… considered walking out several times… I’m glad I didn’t but – idk. People hurting, hurting each other, hurting themselves. There is no light. The ending feels like hell finally opens up.
aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH this was EVERYTHING
short films
(again just a small selection out of the many, many shorts I saw:)
Wakey Wakey : super interesting visually and structurally
✨ The House Rattler : super eerie but also intimate
✨ Shishigari : honestly one of the best animated films (long or short) I’ve seen in ages, full of character and mood.
✨ Fluffiction , My Moon : loooved these, both were radically and poetically candid