Retro IONCINEMA.com
Fantasia Under the Stars
As part of the
tenth anniversary of the Fantasia Festival, a number of films will be screened
under the night sky in the Parc de la Paix (Boul. Saint-Laurent between
Sainte-Catherine and René-Lévesque), and better yet, they’ll be shown for free.
The films will be shown in their original languages, with English subtitles.
The screenings will
take place on July 14, 15, 21 and 22, 2006, at 9 pm. This project is the result
of the partnership between the City of Montreal, the SAT, Belle Gueule and
Concept Audio Visuel. In case of rain, the screenings will be cancelled.
Screenings courtesy of Anchor Bay Canada, Media Blasters and Viz Video.
* * *
Friday July 14th, 2006 – 9 pm
KAMIKAZE
GIRLS
Japan – 2003 – 103
min
In Japanese with
English subtitles
Director: Nakashima
Tetsuya
Momoko’s drab
existence is rudely interrupted by the sudden intrusion into her life by Ichiko.
A foulmouthed, spitting, snarling tough girl in outrageous gear and too much
makeup, Ichiko is a lieutenant in the all-girl scooter gang, the Ponytails.
These two couldn’t be more unlike one another, and the road to their lasting
friendship will be as bumpy as a spin on Ichiko’s tricked-out scooter. Together,
they’ll face the hopes and heartaches of impending adulthood with a sneer and a
giggle, but no regrets.
KAMIKAZE
GIRLS
may well be the perfect date movie. On the one hand, it’s a genuinely funny and
touching tale of two girls building a sincere friendship. On the other hand,
it’s dolled up with the rapid-fire, whiplash stylistic flourishes of Guy Ritchie
and David Fincher, the smart-ass pop-culture cool of Quentin Tarantino and even
a gang beatdown thrown in for good measure. J-pop starlets Anna Tsuchiya and
Kyoko Fukada head up a fabulous cast of clowns and characters, from girl
gangsters and pachinko hustlers to clueless rural cowpokes and flamboyant
fashionistas. With a wicked cool soundtrack, a toolbox full of cinematic tricks
and devices, bucketloads of bright colours, gratuitous anime segments and an
amphetamine-charged tempo, Kamikaze Girls comes on like a furious funhouse ride
through the highs and lows, joys and frustrations of contemporary Japanese
adolescence. (Special thanks to Viz Video)
Saturday July 15th,
2006 – 9 pm
UFO ROBOT GRANDIZER – The Last Four Episodes
Japan – 1977 – 100
min
French language
Director: Masayuki
Akemi, Tomoharu Katsumata, Masamune Ochiai
In the final
episodes, Actarus and his team fights with the Grand stratéguerre and his war
fleet. Actarus finally kisses Vénusia (his “will-he, won’t-he” love interest
through most of the series), during a sunset, on Goldorak’s belt… Their
teammates Fénicia and Alcor share a similar tender moment… and then Actarus
and Fenicia depart in Goldorak for their former home planet Euphor, to rebuild
it from the destruction inflicted by the végans. But they promise to return…
someday…
Discover or
rediscover the last four episodes of a television series that almost
single-handily define a whole generation of French Canadian TV lovers back in
the early eighties. Goldorak under the stars!
Friday July 21st,
2006 – 9 pm
Night of The Living Dorks
Germany – 2004 – 89
min
In German with
English subtitles
Director: Matthias
Dinter
It’s not easy being
a misfit at Fredrich Nietzsche High School. You’d think life would only be
harsher if one were dead and somehow still in school. As three “nerds” discover,
in many ways, it’s a hell of a better time! Now with superhuman strength and a
total insensitivity to pain, they can stand up to the school’s worst bullies.
These teenage zombies can even play football. Perhaps most exciting, with no
livers to worry about, they can get trashed around the clock! Their social
status becomes as cool as their slowly decomposing bodies. Of course, suppressed
urges are growing increasingly difficult to control and appendages are starting
to fall off, but… who needs stitches when you’ve got a staple gun?
Writer/director
Matthias Dinter has brought the world an unusual high school comedy that proudly
stands its ground with equal helpings of crassness and sweetness. It’s a
surprisingly endearing affair, with a starry-eyed love story at its centre, in
the midst of some of the funniest doper gags in ages and nasty bodily humour
that would make the American Pie people drop. Complete with a German pop-punk
soundtrack, this film is a ton of fun, and not remotely the Shaun of the Dead
cash-in you might suspect upon initially hearing its title. It’s also weirdly
naïve, which adds considerably to the film’s goofball charm. An audience
favourite wherever it’s been shown, Night of the Living Dorks is a whacked-out,
feel-good flick that totally works.
Saturday July 22nd, 2006 – 9 pm
Attack of the Gas Station
South Korea – 1999 – 113 min
Korean with English subtitles
Director: Sang-Jin Kim
A quartet of disaffected Korean youths have robbed a Seoul gas station. Later,
while hanging out in a Chinese noodle shop, they decide to rob the same gas
station. After taking the gas station over, their wacky antics ensue; forcing
the manager to sing, kidnapping customers that complain about the service, and
staging fist-fights between street gang members and gas station employees; all
of these reflect their own gripes against society.
Filmed with exuberance, Attack the Gas Station gleefully pokes fun at the social
and political mores of contemporary South Korean society. Many Montrealers
discovered Korean genre film through this classic at Fantasia 2000. A perfect
comedy for the closing film of this Fantasia outdoor event.
More Fantasia coverage on Ioncinema :