Tag: Fantasia Film Festival

Tian Xiaopeng’s Deep Sea is More Than A Study on Depression

This latest import from China arrives just in time for the summer season, and Tian Xiaopeng’s Deep Sea does not dissapoint!

Deep Sea Poster Main Theatrical Release
© 2023 October Media. All Rights Reserved.

Screening at Fantasia Film Festival 2023 on Aug 6
Please click here to purchase tickets

Potential Spoiler Alert

Shenxiu (Tingwen Wang) is not a happy young girl in Tian Xiaopeng’s movie, Deep Sea. That’s because she’s not being loved; not only is she neglected by her dad and step-mom, making her feel very depressed, but also the relationship with her biological one is deteriorating. Because the film didn’t translate all those text conversations that blitzed by in the opening act, I’m thankful I understood enough to notice.

But to comprehend everything this motion picture presents requires a few more viewings and an updated subtitle file to play along with this movie. Although I had an electronic press kit to help reveal some other details, I’d rather want to discover these facts on my own.

Thankfully, more screenings after Tribecca and Fantasia Film Fest are planned, and I would love to see this on the big screen as the filmmaker intended. Xiaopeng is best known for Monkey King: The Hero is Back (movie review), and while that tale delivers more in the humour department, I believe his sophomore work is darker.

Continue reading “Tian Xiaopeng’s Deep Sea is More Than A Study on Depression”

When Life Dishes out Lemons, What Onyx the Fortuitous And The Talisman of Souls Does Is….

It’s nothing but Scooby Doo style fun for the comedian and YouTuber making his own film, titled Onyx the Fortuitous And The Talisman of Soul!

Onyx the Fortuitous And The Talisman of SoulsScreening at the Fantasia Film Festival August 05, 2023
Please click here to purchase tickets

Real life YouTube occult celebrity Onyx the Fortuitous has a movie, and the brilliant mind behind this horror comedy is Andrew Bowser. After a successful crowdfunding campaign to get this film made, he’s ecstatic to play an evolution of what Marcus J. Trilbury should become. At the start of the film, he’s basically a nobody. In the eyes of his mean step-father, he’s insignificant. That also includes how he’s treated at a burger joint.

Technically, he’s a diamond in the rough and he wishes to do better. To see this character involved in a plot which includes the title “And The Talisman of Souls” suggests he’ll be going far should he make this item his own.

Here, what’s presented isn’t an evolution of his internet show. Instead, it’s a story that takes the character out of the world of YouTube and into a hyper reality where magik exists. And he’ll have to confronting his demons if he’s to become the fortunate one.

Continue reading “When Life Dishes out Lemons, What Onyx the Fortuitous And The Talisman of Souls Does Is….”

Mother Land is More Than Just A Simple Siberian Fairy Tale

What makes this stop-motion animatedmovie magical is in how Mother Land connects us to what’s truly important, the love one has with nature and to not dextoxify it!

Mother Land (South Korean) Movie PosterJuly 30 2:00 PM at the Salle J.A. De Sève
Please click here to buy tickets

Siberia is a world few people have visited, and to visit it in Mother Land (Eommaui Ttang) is more than a peek into the mystic. This gorgeous stop-motion animated film directed by Park Jae-beom looks at the life of one nomadic tribe as they face common dangers. I’m left wondering if it’s worth moving to live in a modern city. Although the reindeer they heard help sustain them, is that enough?

In this movie, Krisha (Lee Yun-ji) and her younger brother Ggolrya (Kim Seo-yeong) must look out for each other. That’s the advice their mother gave. They are precious to the tribe, and when mama rushed to protect her child from a falling piece of lumber, the injury did more than knock the wind out of her. Something else has taken her spirit too, and the illness is not as simple as the local healer thinks.

Continue reading “Mother Land is More Than Just A Simple Siberian Fairy Tale”

Time Travel and Aporia. How Much Worse Can It Get?

What Jared Moshé delivers in Aporia s more of a thoughtful narrative concerning how not to alter the past for the sake of having a better future.

Aporia Movie PosterWell GO USA
Playing July 27 & 28th at Fantasia Film Festival and select theatres starting Aug 11.

Nearly everyone knows that travelling into the past is dangerous. When that person changes one tiny, insignificant thing, like in Sophie does in Aporia, everything else becomes altered in ways that can’t be predicted. That butterfly effect is effectively explored in Jared Moshé’s film.

Instead of weighing viewers with science, everything waxed here is more existential than philosophical jabber. For better or worse, the device Jabir (Payman Maadi) made is an oversized gun that can fire bullets through the fabric of time and space. It should be confiscated by the FBI, since it can kill anyone this  physicist wants. The only person he chooses to reveal this weapon to is the wife of his best friend, Sophie (Judy Greer). Ever since Mal (Edi Gathegi) was struck by a drunk driver and put six feet under, life has never been the same. But now that she has an opportunity to alter the past, will she do it?

Continue reading “Time Travel and Aporia. How Much Worse Can It Get?”

Shin Kamen Rider or Masked, He’s still A Ronin At Heart

Instead of turning the franchise into a cinematic blockbuster Shin Kamen Rider is still very much a 70s superhero film about a lonely soldier boy.

Shin Kamen Rider Movie PosterFantasia Film Festival 2023 and Available to Stream on Amazon Prime as Shin Masked Rider
Spoiler Alert

Hidiki Anno’s Shin Kamen Rider is his latest entry to a self-contained universe, and it doesn’t change the story of Takeshi Hongo (Sôsuke Ikematsu) becoming the bug-like superhero by much. Although he isn’t ready to identify himself as Kamen, what he discloses is that he’s a Masked Rider.

By tacking the word “Shin” on front, this filmmaker isn’t making this film to bring in new fans. Instead, what he adds is a Frankenstein element to appease those in the know. The internal conflict this hero must be feeling has been explored before, and when Anno is involved, it’s sure to be good! This change to an kids television show to an adult one is a tonal shift I’m liking. Continue reading “Shin Kamen Rider or Masked, He’s still A Ronin At Heart”

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