With two nights of Fantastic films left, I figured I'd give a rundown of the remaining targets on the hit list, playing tonight and Monday evening..._______________________________________________________
THE HOST (today@5pm)...site | trailer | BFFF2006 | ramble
The unflinching drama of an imperfect family coming to terms with the abduction of a child...
...by a 100 foot long toxic amphibious mutant from the Han River.
Or...
THE CORRECTIONS, with a hideous man-eating beastie.
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DARKON (today@7.30pm | Monday@5.30pm)...site | trailer | BFFF2006
Live action role-playing in the soccer fields of Baltimore. That is, everyday people devoting their weekends to suiting up in mail, hoisting their banners, and arming themselves with styrofoam swords and fun-tipped arrows, facing each other on the real-world hex battlefields of the world of Darkon. Check out the documentary's trailer for a better taste of the very fair, earnest, and fun tone it strikes with the subject.
Or, please pardon me as I rip myself off from an earlier entry...
...sounds a little MAZES & MONSTERS, like Civil War re-enactments in Middle Earth, probably with a 10-sided die, or an analog MATRIX, and might fall somewhere between hilarious here and gorgeous here... and maybe a block over and a costume change from here.
=)
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BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING (today@9.30pm)...site | trailer | BFFF2006
Man, this animatrix don't mess around. She doesn't take any shortcuts with the craft and she's produced some beautiful stop-motion miniature animation telling a very surreal fairy tale story of the conflict between a family of bird-ish oak tree dwellers and a small fraternity of white mice. The mice commission the creation of a beautiful doll from the family, but once they've actually completed it, they find they can't part with it. They return the mice's payment and keep their creation. The mice leave unhappily.
They return in the middle of the night and abduct the doll. When the oak tree dwellers discover the theft in the morning, the boys set out across the land after the kidnappers. On their journey they encounter a deadly maze, a spiderweb that traps birds, and a kind shaman frog. The pace may be a bit slow for those of you keen on SEVERANCE and THE FIVE VENOMS, but if you can downshift a while and appreciate a strange and beautiful, Grimm-er than Disney bedtime story distraction, check it out.
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TRIAD ELECTION (Monday@7.30pm)...trailer | BFFF2006
Directed by Johnnie To, hailed as a savior of sorts for the HK film industry, a herald of a next generation of great HK filmmakers (many of its directing greats were lured off to the west, with inconsistent results/success : P). Ned Hinkle, program director for the Brattle and this festival, has been quick-pitching it as a HK GODFATHER film. There's nothing I don't like about that idea.
Honestly, tho, I don't know enough to pitch this any better than the trailer and the festival blurb will, so check those out, and I'll see you upstairs at the Brattle. =)
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THE FIVE VENOMS (Monday@9.30pm)...trailer | BFFF2006
I'm told it's a "holy grail" of Shaw Brothers kung-fu goodness. Five martial arts masters named and masked after five of nature's deadliest assassins... I shouldn't have to say any more than that to get you to see this film. Cue G.O.B.—Come ON!
From the description, I'm pretty sure most of this film was burned into my brain on Saturday afternoons when I was just breaking into my double-digit years on the planet. =) Of course, I may be mentally kitbashing other Shaw Brothers fare from my childhood to match it. Regardless, it's must-see =) The print that will be rolling at the Brattle Monday night is a 35 mm restoration by UCLA and Celestial Pictures, complete with English subtitles! Check it the F out!
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I'm gonna show up for all of these but BLOOD TEA. As magickal and impressive as it is, I'm just not personally up for it as a third film today.Keep on keepin on~
* If you're looking for a more interactive, up-close-and-personal, fantastic fixx, you might consider visiting a certain Haunted Mansion... I've got it on good authority (alas, I have yet to arrange a visit myself : P) that this is one of your highest quality undead establishments, not your cookie-cutter Horrorday Inn or SuperH8 Motel, nosirree.
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