Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Six
Since I attended a midnight screening the night before, I bailed on the morning press screening, which was an easy choice to make since there wasn’t much screening (some 4K episodes of Ultraman and a movie that could be watched in the online screening room called Flowing). Waking up rested around 8:45 a.m., I rose, shook my bones awake, and got ready to take Lucy out for her morning walk. She was stoked to see me awake and greeted me some fanciful prancing and excited “woofs.”
After the walk, it was time for breakfast, which included several cups of coffee and leftover pancakes. Lucy got her own lil pancake again, of course. I snapped by body into the recliner and leisurely enjoyed my breakfast while finishing up the last bit of A Life On The Farm in the online screening room. It remained to be lightly amusing. A celebration of an artistic outsider with a strange fascination with death and a dry wit, the documentary kind of gets you to appreciate how everyone is an artist of sorts. A solid, breezy, interestingly lightweight early-morning matinee.
After I had consumed Life On The Farm, along with my pancakes, it was time to get ready for the day. I intended on getting a bit of work done on the Day-Five diary, but time had gotten away from me. I showered up and got dressed, once again donning my Nicolas Cage "Raising Arizona" Retro Hawaiian Shirt, and by that point it was getting close to 10. I decided to stay downtown during my 1.5-hour gap between screenings, so I thought it best to take the dog for a walk, since I wouldn’t be back until about 8 p.m.
As I was out with the dog, a sudden shock rippled through my body from out of the blue. It was 10:14 now, and I had forgotten about ordering tomorrow’s tickets, again… I raced back to the apartement with the pup and ripped open my laptop. My aloofness had prevented me from securing tickets to the fest’s Secret Screening #2, which didn’t look like it was getting a press and industry screening, which was a bit of a bummer. I was still able to secure a set for Meduxa Deluxe, and since the second Secret Screening was entirely sold out, I opted to scoop up tickets for a cute stop-motion animation called Oink, instead.
With the dog taken care of and tomorrow’s tickets acquired, I packed up my backpack and headed out to the fest. Since most Austin folks were at work, the traffic was agreeable, and I was able to get to the theater without much complication. Although, once I entered the parking garage things became a bit of a momentary clusterfuck as one car awkwardly backed out of a space and another scrabbled to clumsily fill it — even though there were a slew of other spots available at this early-afternoon hour. I impatiently waited and hurled out a few obscenities, forgetting that my windows were down. Whoopsie. I parked a floor or two above, near the stairwell, in a space that was yet to be filled by any other cars, and I hustled on over to the theater.
The first film of the day was The Menu. The film had its US premiere at the festival last Friday, which I had to miss because of my negligence ordering tickets in a timely manner. I had heard very good things, and was eager to check it out. During the introduction from Festival Director Lisa Dryer, it was mentioned The Menu had been a fan-favorite of the festival, which earned it the festival’s Audience Award. The film was directed by Mark Mylod, who’s primarily worked on TV shows like Entourage, Game of Thrones, Shameless, and Succession, and it has the same entertainly savage and sharp comedic bite as Succession. The film is some serious fine-dining fuckery that makes a delectably dark feast of the wealthy, thrill-seeking foodie. Well-plated and flavorful, it’s easy to see why this was a festival favorite; it’s sharply written, savagely funny, with a strong cast who all give terrific performances (Nicholas Hoult, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Ralph Fiennes being the biggest standouts). A tasty dish that still leaves you a bit hungry, so much so that you might want to go back in for s’more.
With an hour and half to burn, I walked over to Greenbelt Botanicals, which was a CBD/delta 8 dispensary. Over the last couple of days, I had taken note that had booths that you could work from and smoke at, if you were so inclined. It’d been pretty vacant, so I figured it would be a nice place to get away from the festival crowd, get some work done, and destress, and you know what, it really was.
I ordered a delta 8 pre-roll to cement my status as a patron, not a loiterer, and then I set up camp in a cozy little booth. Killing stress was more pertinent to me than making productive use of my time, so the pre-roll went up in puff of smoke, and I worked on that and watched the festival goers come and go through the glass window that faced the street. The festival staff had taken over part of the shop as a home base of sorts, and Lisa Dreyer came in to talk with some of the staff members who where posted up in a booth near mine. She saw me and came over to tell me that my Nicolas Cage Hawaiian shirt was “the talk of the festival.”
Inflated by the compliment and inspired to do some actual goddamn work, I cracked a can of caffeinated focus, and got busy recounting the previous day. Yet again, I declined to set myself up for much success, but I plowed through the foggy haze of my memory until I had unearthed the facts. Time was tight, and I didn’t accomplish much, but I had gotten down something, which was better’n nothing. The last sands of free time had fallen, and I had to scoot on over to the theater. It was time to snort some worms and get weird!
The next film of the day was Alex Phillips’ All Jacked Up And Full Of Worms, which had its Texas premiere. Before the film, they showed Joe Badon’s latest short film, The Blood Of The Dinosaurs, which I was able to get a review drafted for prior to the start of the festival. Both Phillips and Badon were in attendance and came up to introduce their films; Badon called his a “demented parody of Mr. Rogers,” and Phillips called his “serious bad vibes.” It was a solid pairing that made for one surreal, freeform 90-minute trip into the wonderfully weird world of strange cinema.
All Jacked Up And Full Of Worms is, indeed, precisely what it claims to be. The film invites adventurous cinephiles with a taste for the strange to crawl through the grimy gutter on an earthy debauch to become one with the dirt. This freeform gift to the grindhouse gods doesn’t quite wriggle to the height of its weird, wormy potential, but there’s some real artistry behind its absurdity. It takes viewers on a silly, sleazy, slimy, and strange ride that is sure to worm its way into the hearts of midnight movie maniacs. Obviously, this isn’t going to be for everyone.
After the screening, there was a Q&A with writer/director Alex Phillips and some of his team, which was quite entertaining. Phillips seems like quite the character. After the Q&A ended, I received one faux earthworm as a keepsake as I writhed out the theater.
There was a small window between screenings, so I just loitered about, updating the ole Letterboxd logs. The last screening of my day was Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave, which has its US premiere earlier on Saturday, with Chan-wook even receiving a lifetime achievement award that same night. I had to miss that evening of the festival for the Fontaines D.C. show, so I was glad to be catching the film while it was at the festival.
Decision To Leave did not disappoint. It turned out to be very, very good; an expertly honed, detail-oriented romantic crime thriller with some excellent turns and a poignant ending. A slightly less sharp Park Chan-wook joint that still cuts pretty deep. It’s a much more mature slowburn than his previous films, but just as masterfully sculpted and shaped. The most wonderful and surprising thing about it is how goddamn romantic it is; it’ll make you swoon and break your heart.
I got out of the theater around 7:30 p.m., and didn’t bother sticking around. Lucy needed her dinner and a walk, so I headed back up north. The time was just late enough to miss any remnants of the Tuesday evening rush, so it was just smooth sailing all the way up MoPac to Parmer. My gas gauge had dipped well below the quarter tank mark, with under 50 miles left til empty, but I didn’t want to bother stopping to fill‘er up; I kept on blazing homeward.
Lucy was excited to see me, and I was greeted with all the smooches a dog owner could want. We went for a long walk, and then I scooped out some dinner that didn’t last too long. Unable to slip into a work mindset, I opted to watch more movies, instead of finishing up the Day-Five diary. I grabbed some snacked, eased into the recliner, and fired up the Alamon On Demand app.
While I devoured my snacks, I decided to put on something called Chop & Steele. The film is doc about some world-class pranksters, Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, their friendship, and their love for amusing VHS tapes. There’s minor friction as they navigate a lawsuit (for pranking the news) and financial hardships (as a result of the pranking). Pickett and Prueher have also curated The Found Footage Festival, a roadshow of bonkers obscurities from the annals of discarded VHS collections, for over a decade, and the film makes a point to focus on that as well. It’s pretty standard stuff, but the central figures are charming and their story is fun enough to maintain interest for 82-minutes.
After that, it was time for bed. I’d have another light day tomorrow, which was A-OK with me.
Fiending for more Fantastic Fest?! Check out the link below:
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day One
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Two
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Three
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Four
Fantastic Fest 2022 Diaries: Day Five
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!