Spoilers are all lined up 🙂

I always seem to go through a panic moment at Fantasia whenever I’m in line for a film in which I dread I haven’t made a wise choice, specially the first one. To be honest, it’s rare to find a “bad” film at Fantasia that I don’t have anything of interest to write about. The selection is pretty solid, and chances are you will find a film to your liking. I’d say this one grew up on me as the premise rolled along, although as all features it needs to find its audience.

Niko (2026) was written and directed by Julien Birban Levy. Niko (Tiffany Young) is an aspiring screenwriter with a side job selling cotton candy and self-made profession as providing company for people who are locked out of their places at night. Welcome to a future Seoul where a digital curfew and strict guidelines enforced by the government maintain people in line and offline at nighttime. Niko spends her time with her French boyfriend Jeremy (Sandor Funtek) while trying to ponder life and romance. She’s broken her own code and has made a friend out of past customer Jiyoon (Soy Kim). And now feeling that she’s not find the answers she seeks nor the kind of romance she wants, she’s gone off and disappear.

This is the bohemian lifestyle personified in the characters of a small neighbourhood. Niko is desperately seeking for something until she makes a plan – a crazy, unhinged plan – to be truly happy. A woman walks into a travel agency trying to get tickets for herself and a husband to go to Ethiopia only to find the agency only travels to Kenya. A young girl sells evening edition papers that announce the end of the world with nobody paying attention to her. Characters drift in and out with something to say that somebody else near to hear. It’s sort of loneliness shared by the same group of people.

It will work if you are in the mood for it. This one of those films that makes you question how far are you willing to go to be in love, to be awaken, to stay obedient or to rise up. It’s the end of the world and the beginning of the new. The ending will leave a lot of things open ended and unanswered.

Recommended if you’re feeling pensive and/or just want some company. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you’ll enjoy it as much as having a drink with your friends at the bar where you still have a tab going. Worth a watch if you’re in the mood for something sad and sweet or if it’s the end of the world.

That will do for now.