Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Three
My crystal ball was right. That 8 a.m. press screening of The Menu was not in the cards. There’s an early-morning screening on Tuesday, so I’ll have to try my luck then.
Even with the extra sleep from bailing on the morning’s press screening, I was starting to feel the energy-draining effects of the festival. I rose from the dead around 9 a.m and took Lucy for her morning walk. She made a healthy deposit that I sleepily scooped up before scooping out her breakfast into her shiny metal dish.
Can you hear that? It’s coffee, and it’s calling me. I initiate the coffee pot ritual and head bowed, I appeal to the caffeine gods for a couple cups of blissful black high-octane wake up. Impatiently — and in the name of efficiency — I showered up while the coffee maker dripped out crude caffeination slowly into the pot.
I emerged squeaky-clean to find the coffee pot full, and I downed some of it quick. With caffeine finally circulating the blood stream, I sprung into action and begin typing out yesterday’s diary, which was quite extensive because of all the screenings (and perhaps also my needless verbiosity). I got a healthy start, but had to pause to order tomorrow’s tickets and rush out the door to make the first screening of the day.
Traffic wasn’t too troublesome, but I had pushed it close by leaving late. I made it to the theater with a small cushion of time, but I had to swoop by the press table to snag a ticket they were holding for me for this afternoon’s Mister Organ premiere. I snatched up the ticket, and with minutes to go before my 11:10 screening, I dashed to the restroom to empty the bladder. I handled business and entered the theater as they were starting. I found an empty seat, threw up an order card for cold brew and vegan chorizo tacos, and settled in.
The first film of the day was the latest oddball effort from Rubber director Quentin Dupieux, Smoking Causes Coughing. The film is a silly comedy about a band of avengers called The Tobacco Force who are sent to a team-building retreat by their Chief, a grotesque talking rat. Imagine The Power Rangers mixed with Captain Planet, but instead of combining their forces to conjure an environmental-minded entity or massive mechanical kaiju, they harness the negative aspects of smoking to give their monstrous foes cancer. Smoking Causes Coughing is fun-spirited and eccentric hangout film that is likely to produce fits of laughter. It’s a amusing romp that humorously runs in place. Not everyone will be on Dupieux’ wavelength here, but this campy absurdist comedy is bound to find a home in the champions of the wacky and weird.
After the screening, I swerved on over to Medici cafe for more caffeination, this go around, a matcha latte. I sat outside again and soaked up some sun, which at not even 1 p.m. was already brutally blazing. I finished typing out the Day-Two Diary on my phone and published it. Getting that out of the way, I was able to breathe a little easier. I took a moment to relax, and then leisurely made my way back to the Drafthouse to find a seat for the Mister Organ premiere.
The area outside the theater and the lobby were already littered with the chattering bodies of film enthusiasts and industry folks. It was invigorating, and for the first time in the day, I felt properly awake and alert. I navigated the crowd, passing Mister Organ director David Farrier (who many may know from his first documentary Tickled or his Netflix series Dark Tourist). He was also much taller and shaggier than I was expecting. I didn’t bother to say hello because he appeared to be looking for someone, and I needed to get over to the theater, which was going to be a packed house since it was the film’s world premiere.
I went ahead and took a seat in the front row, a little right of center, and since I was earlier, I started freehanding some thoughts on the day for the next diary entry. As the theater was filling up, Jason Eisener, Kids vs. Aliens and Hobo With A Shotgun director, and a friend of his from L.A. takes a seat near mine. At first, I didn’t really know it was Eisener — but I had some suspicions because he was wearing the same bright orange hat he was in last night’s screening. It wasn’t till his buddy started talking about the screening that I was sure it was him. I gracefully butted into their conversation to tell Eisener that I had a blast at his film, and he was gracious and kind, a model Canuck, and we talked a bit about his film. He told me last night was the first time he had really shown the film to people and how cool it was to see it in a theater with everyone. We also talked about the fest and how it and the city of Austin has transformed over time. It was a neat little interaction that wound to a close because it was showtime.
Mister Organ proved to be an engrossing watch that was comparable to Farrier’s previous documentary, Tickled. The film is another dark rabbit hole that finds Farrier whirling in a litigious nightmare and exposing another weirdo. Instead of a megalomaniac with a tickle fetish, it’s an energy vampire of the highest order. For real, this guy, the titular Mister Organ, is like a more maniacal real-life version of What We Do In The Shadows’ Colin Robinson. You can’t help but be captivated by the madness, which consumed several years of Farrier’s life, and the documentary takes you for wonderfully weird, weirdly wild, and wildly entertaining ride.
After Mister Organ, I dipped out of the festival for the day, bailing on the US premiere’s of both Martin McDonagh’s Banshees of Inisherin and Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave because I had tickets to a sold-out Fontaines D.C. show at the Historic Scoot Inn. It was kinda nice to take a bit of a breather from the madness of the festival. The show was incredible; great band, great night, and best of all, a good night’s rest.
Fiending for more Fantastic Fest?! Check out the links below:
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day One
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Two
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Four
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Five
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Six
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Seven
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Eight
Fantastic Fest 2022 reviews
Fantastic Fest 2022 podcasts
Fantastic Fest 2022 lists
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!