Merciful Zeus, it’s coming!
Montreal’s very own Fantasia Film Festival enters its 21st run in 2017 and has no intention of slowing down. The first films have been announced and holy hell I gotta hold back and remember I need sleep at some point. Nah, who needs sleep. Release the cats! Start meowing!
VILLAINESS
Ok-Vin Kim electrifies the screen in this action thriller as the deadly assassin Sook-Hee. She’s been trained to kill since her childhood. Now she’s adopted the life of an actress in the theatre. Her other talents will be put to the test soon enough. Jung Byung-gil directs this film which already electrified the Cannes’ Film Festival. Now let’s give it a real Fantasia showing as the opening film!
LOWLIFE
You gotta bring the weird to Fantasia, and Ryan Prows takes us on a wild ride with a Luchador, a drug addict, an organ smuggler and an ex-con in this pitch dark black comedy / drama / crime / thriller where you’re going to be left wondering what the heck is going on.
A DAY
Yeah I know I’ve reviewed way too many time travel movies in past years. Way too many. But why stop now? Newcomer director Cho Sun-ho brings us a tale of a famous doctor trying to save his daughter and reliving the same day over and over again. I’m hearing it’s full of unexpected twists. Can you really do anything in time travel twists that has not been done before? I have to see this one.
GINTAMA
Hideaki Sorachi’s best-selling manga jumps to the big screen and breaks the fourth wall. Comedy, fights, blades, costumes! You had me at any of those things. Can you really excel at live action in a manga adaptation? Why else would be in Fantasia? It’s Yuichi Fukuda from HK: FORBIDDEN SUPERHERO and a known favorite of this festival.
JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE
Fantasia 2016’s Lifetime Achievement Award Takashi Miike directs this live action adaptation of Hirohiko Kitakubo’s manga. Kento Yamazaki leads a superb cast in this film also selected to continue the ball rolling on opening night! Please don’t make me choose between this one and VILLAINESS!
All this and a special screening of Luc Besson’s VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS, plus a lifetime achievement award for Larry Cohen in the upcoming 2017 Fantasia Film Festival!
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 