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[2019 Fantasia] Beware The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil … Times TWO!

21 Jul

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Screens at Fantasia 2019
Extra showing on July 28
Auditorium des diplômés de la SGWU (Théâtre Hall)

Well Go USA

Plenty of idioms come to mind with this handsomely suave and sinister film from South Korea. The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil is a mix of a crime and thriller genre, and it’s hard boiled enough to have me guess who is worse. We have Tae-suk (Kim Moon-yul), a brutal policeman going vigilante on organized crime, Dong-soo (Dong-seok Ma), a gangster who could probably put musician Psy to shame for his sense of style, and K (Kim Sung-kyu) the serial killer who made the mistake of targeting Dong-soo. When this Al Capone wannabe’s reputation is tarnished, he has to do what’s right, and the film is a twisted cat-and-mouse game where no matter who gets whose desserts, the bloody outcome is going to be more than cherry red.

Cop and thief gang up, for lack of a better term, to go after the killer. The action is intense, and the film is all fortune for lots of glory! Plenty of action takes place in the streets, and the wry black humour is sharp. Even though the slow moments drag out the film, the wait for the next bloody conflict makes up for it.

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[Fantasia 2019] Astronaut is What Dreams Are Made Of

19 Jul

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

* North American Premiere at 2019 Fantasia Film Festival.
* Opens theatrically July 26 (select cities)

Richard Dreyfuss is the Astronaut in Shelagh McLeod’s debut movie about old age, dreaming big, faith, and making it into the stars. This actor is well known for such classics, namely Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Both movies helped prepare him to take on a tale about not slowing down.

This actor deserves award recognition for his performance. Angus’ (Dreyfuss) desire to keep going is much like how Sammy Hagar inspires with Van Halen’s song, “Dreams.” Although he is in the twilight of his years, he does not want to be put in the pasture. His grandson Barney (Richie Lawrence) knows it. They also both love stargazing and enjoy talking shop. When considering the elder was a civil engineer, he knows a lot of science relatable to how the universe works, life and everything else. No, the answer is not 42. Nor should it be a marker to gauge against in achieving life’s goals.

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[Fantasia 2019] Master Z is the Bee’s Knees with the IP Man Legacy

19 Jul

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Release Date: July 23, 2019
Well GO USA

Master Z: IP Man Legacy is a fast-paced, hard-hitting spinoff from the films about the legendary Wing Chun master Yip Man. Instead of this master of martial arts, we have another sifu whose style (wushu) can rival that of the other; this time, it’s the life of Cheung Tin Chi (Max Zhang) that we follow. This rival from Ip Man 3 gets his own film. He is trying to escape his life as a trainer.

Despite having lost to Yip, Chi believes his time in the arena is over. He’d rather pursue a simpler life with his son in an unassuming part of late 50s Hong Kong. However, trouble always comes up, and he has to serve up vengeance, Batman-style.

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[Fantasia 2019] We Are Little Zombies, A Movie Review

17 Jul

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

We Are Little Zombies is a misleading title. While the situation borders on black comedy, perhaps the terror lays in what four 10-year-old tweens are facing: isolation. When they have to face grief at the loss of their parents, just how they react is a complex mix of juxtapositions worth studying. Writer/director Makoto Nagahisa tosses a lot of imagery at viewers. It’s like watching FLCL for the first time.

Hikari (Keita Ninomiya), Ikuko (Sena Nakajima), Ishi (Satoshi Mizuno) and Takemura (Mondo Okumura) can give Wednesday Addams a run for her money. They have no hope for their immediate future. When nobody seems to want them, relatives included (they are suspiciously missing in this narrative) all they have are each other. They met at the crematorium and after a lengthy backstory told in flashbacks, they decide to form a band. Their idea to express their life through music–which I have to label bubblegum punk.

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