Fantastic Fest 2023 Diaries: Day Three
With a later start to the day, I seized the opportunity to get a little more shut-eye and timed my wake-up for the 10am ticket time. I snagged tickets for Michel Gondry’s The Book Of Solutions, Crumb Catcher, and Stopmotion. I tried for the second secret screening and Suitable Flesh, but I was too slow to secure them. Since my last screening of Day 3 would be let out around 10:30pm (depending on the length of its Q&A), I decided to add an 8am press & industry screening of either Eileen or Suitable Flesh (since I couldn’t snag tix) to tomorrow’s already ambitious plan.
I head down to the theater around 10:50am, with just enough time to get parked and hustle in to my 11:20 screening of One-Percenter. Martial arts action is never a bad way to ease into the day, and I ordered some avocado toast and settled into my seat. During the intro to the film, they mention the film has the best hand-to-hand combat of the fest, and the post-screening would feature a live fighting demo with two of the film’s actors, which fuck yeh! I’m in the front row, so I figure I’ll have a good angle on the action.
The film is essentially a one-location action flick set on an isolated island’s defunct zinc factory that plops a well-respected, but past-his-prime martial arts stuntman smack dab in the middle of a war against two rival Yakuza gangs. Think of it as a hybrid of The Raid and John Wick meets Fight Club (if Fight Club starred Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee). It has a novel approach and an amusing self-awareness, a cool a cool style and a lovely swagger, with a look full of steely blues warm amber accents, and it features some inventive fight sequences full of punches that fly as fast as bullets, a muscular performance from Tak Sakaguchi full of fighting spirit, and some seriously impressive drone shots that gracefully zip through the factory’s tight spaces. Based off its filmmaking framing, it does what you expect it it to do in the end, but it also fights a little bit further than you expect, resulting in an interesting meditation on the action hero and the genre’s form.
After the film, Tak Sakaguchi and another one of the film’s martial arts performers came to the front of the theater for a live demo. It started with a wood chopping stunt, which I thought I was filming, but it turns out I forgot to hit record and was just holding my phone in front of face like a dumbass. When it comes to the actual hand-to-hand demo, I make sure I hit the record button, and I capture that in all its glory for your viewing pleasure below.
With about an hour to kill until the next screening, I head outside where I run into Mark. He’s just come out of One-Percenter as well. We chat briefly about the film as we both head up to the parking garage to drop off the free Hi-YAH! shirts they handed out during the screening. He’s on third floor and I’m on the fourth, so we part ways until the next run-in.
After the quick visit to the car, I head over to the Highball lounge and slide into a booth. I rifle through some notes and try to get a bit of work done. My efforts are not so fruitful, so I decide to just relax until it’s time for US premiere of The Fantastic Golem Affairs.
The film is the latest effort from filmmaking duo Burnin’ Percbes (Juan González and Nando Martínez), and it’s my first introduction to their work. I really enjoyed myself with it. It’s a witty, wacky, wild, and unique experience, full of absurdist humor, magical realism, Spanish swagger, ceramic figures, and falling pianos. With a retro chic look that’s beautifully captured on super 16mm film, The Fantastic Golem Affairs is a certifiably cuckoo comedy that’s breathes life into the artificial aesthetics of its strange sci-fi world. It’s a film of vibrant color and cartoony characters that’s bolstered by its charismatic performances (especially Brays Efe and Bruna Cusí), fluid sexuality, and awesome artifice, which embraces old-school Hollywood techniques (like hand-made sets, color-blocked costumes, and rear projection). The direction and style is reminiscent to the work of Anna Biller, Wes Anderson, and Pedro Almodovar. The film’s score composed by Sergio Bertran is also incredible and crucial to the film’s vibe; it invites you to waltz with the weird, and salsa with the strange.
After the Q&A, I have about a 4-hour break before the next screening, so I run home to take the dog out and work on the Day 2 diary. While I’m out on my stroll with the dog, I open up Instagram to find out what the first secret screening was. I see that Spencer (AKA Film Update Time) was there and posted a story about it; it was Saltburn, which I’m definitely curious to see, since I enjoyed Promising Young Woman. I message him to see how it was, and he tells me he enjoyed it, adding he felt it was unique in many ways and will stir up some fun conversation. Sign me up! I knock out the Day 2 diary in just enough time to drive back for my last screening of the night, which is the world premiere of Your Lucky Day.
The film is the debut feature from Dan Brown (not to be confused with the author) that’s based off a short he had done about a decade previous, and it definitely feels like a first film. It’s a lightly tense thriller “based on the American dream” about morality and the lengths folks will go for millions of dollars. Largely set in a convenience store on Christmas Eve, the film follows a set of characters as they attempt to clean-up a stick-up gone awry (involving two dead bodies, one of which is a cop), so they can split the 156-million-dollar winning lotto ticket. It’s premise starts kind of promising, but slips more and more more into the incredulous. It’s a tale of bad luck and good fortune that pits marginalized characters against some corrupt coppers, and it tries to keep you guessing on who will wind up on top while not running out of steam. The whole thing kind of felt immediately off to me; some of the dialogue is awkward and some of the line readings and performances felt stilted. There’s some decent comedic beats, but the direction its script decides to go is the least interesting one; I think I would have preferred more of a focus on the four central characters and how they navigate the situations together, instead of forcing a situation that leads to a larger showdown. I also would have preferred it more as a stage play. Angus Cloud and Jessica Garza were both good though.
During the Q&A, it was revealed that the production was a quick one with a tight schedule and not a lot of prep time. I could certainly feel that, but I might be the odd man out there; the crowd really seemed to respond to it, so maybe my judgment is askew due to lack of sleep. Regardless, this was the film I’ve enjoyed the least so far.
When it’s done, I sync back up with Desiree Staples and Sam Fox before they head off to the Fantastic Debates. They keep twisting my arm to come along, and since I felt a second wind coming on, I agree. I’m actually glad I did because it wound up being a lot of fun.
The debates feature a card of festival personalities, who first debate a designated topic, and then box one another in two one-minute rounds. It’s a whole “two people enter” kinda thing, but they’re both allowed to leave when it’s over. There were four bouts, each with some rousing ruminations and fun fisticuffs, mixing mic skills and fightings skills into a pretty one-of-a-kind spectacle. My takeaway is that more film festivals should have boxing. I took a bunch of videos, which I posted here, but I’m dropping some more coverage below.
It was a long night, which is sure to alter tomorrow’s ambitious plans, but it was also a fun and eventful one. I’m most definitely tossing out the idea of catching an 8am press screening tomorrow, and as for the rest, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Fiending for more Fantastic Fest?! Check out the links below:
Fantastic Fest reviews
Fantastic Fest podcasts
Fantastic Fest articles
Fantastic Fest 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!