"At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, a.k.a. the BR Act…"

The true highlight of this incredible day at Fantasia came at midnight, with the packed-house midnight screening of Kinji Fukasaku’s BATTLE ROYALE. For many of my friends, this film was the gateway into the weird world of genre Asian cinema. I’ve had similar meaningful experiences, but hadn’t—you’ve guessed it!—seen BATTLE ROYALE yet! Needless to say, seeing the director’s cut on the big screen, with a crowd of enthused fans revisiting it, was one of the strongest moments of this year’s festival.

Featuring the breakthrough performances by some of Japan’s most recognizable young actors, such as Tatsuya Fujiwara (the DEATH NOTE films) and Chiaki Kuriyama (KILL BILL, EXTE), as well as the legendary Takeshi Kitano, BATTLE ROYALE is such a part of pop culture’s collective unconscious that going over its plot would be pointless, but here goes anyway: Based on Koushun Takami’s hit 1999 novel and taking place in an alternate totalitarian Japan, BATTLE ROYALE is based around a simple idea: Every year, a junior-high-school class is selected at random to participate in the Battle Royale game, designed to regulate the youth population. Students must kill each other until there is only one left! With explosive collars attached to their necks and 72 hours to comply, thus begins what is possibly one the best teen films ever made.

A potent metaphor for the horrors of adolescence and high school, BATTLE ROYALE finds its strength in its characters and the uncomfortable situations it relentlessly puts them through. The film works as an empathetic experience, during which you find yourself imagining how you’d react in a Battle Royale situation, thinking back on your own high-school days. BATTLE ROYALE also puts into perspective the importance of your teenage years—would you shoot your best friend or your girlfriend? Will these people matter 10 years from now?

Gut-wrenching despite its predictable outcome—one of the consequences of having Fujiwara’s Shuya as such a clear-cut hero—and thoroughly entertaining through its excesses of violence, its unique, nearly absurd use of humor and non-sequitur dreamlike sequences, BATTLE ROYALE also raises obvious issues surrounding morality and the nature of friendship that elevate the film beyond the wave of extreme cinema it hails from. That said, this hyper-real fable is a perfect entry point into the darker depths of Japanese and other Asian cinema, as well as an absolute cult classic that needs to be seen on the big screen with an audience.

The next day, I found myself catching a retrospective screening of Adam Wingard’s POP SKULL. Loopy, dreamlike and engrossing, it’s a film I’d wanted to see for a long time, and finally getting to see it—with a new sound mix!—was a treat. After introducing the film and hosting the Q&A, Kier-la Janisse introduced me to Adam, and we all ended up spending the day at the pub, talking films, relationships, creeps and many other things, before trekking back down to see Ted Kotcheff’s classic WAKE IN FRIGHT (a.k.a. OUTBACK) in a gorgeously restored 2009 print. We met up with Paul Corupe (of Canuxploitation.com, in town to host most of the John Dunning/Andre Link retrospective screenings), whom I had met following a showing of ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS, grabbed a seat, and while many of my friends were revisiting the film, the younglin’ that I am had no idea what a treat I was in for…

WAKE IN FRIGHT

As it turns out, this film is a masterpiece. Ted Kotcheff’s long-lost Australian classic is an anthropological look at class and cultures clashing, as well as a harrowing and transformative journey of discovery and acceptance under the merciless Australian sun. Based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel, WAKE IN FRIGHT finds middle-class teacher John Grant (Gary Bond) stranded and stripped of all possessions in a menacing town called “The Yabba,” deep in the Outback—where preferred activities include brawling, gambling, drinking beer and hunting kangaroos.

Featuring what is probably Donald Pleasence’s best performance, as sketchy and sex-crazed medical practitioner Doc Tydon, WAKE IN FRIGHT was very controversial upon its release for its portrayal of the townsfolk as well as its infamous kangaroo-hunt scene—which used real footage from a licensed hunt to maximum, bloodcurling effect. 40 years later, the film comes off as uncompromisingly realistic in its depiction of life in the Outback, offering many great opportunities for Grant’s perceptions of class and masculinity to be challenged by the rugged local men, their customs and lifestyle. Ultimately driven to the edge, Grant goes through one the best life-changing journeys ’70s cinema has to offer.

The National Film and Sound Archives of Australia’s new, fully restored 35mm print gives the film a new life, letting every speck of dust, every wave of heat and every single fly—of the hundreds Kotcheff would intentionally release on set before every take—shine through. The film’s vivid colors and amazing composition are truly remarkable, and make WAKE IN FRIGHT worth the watch on their own. Nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1971, WAKE IN FRIGHT walks the delightfully fine line between art film and exploitation, making this uniquely powerful look at the life in the merciless Outback, and staple of Australian cinema, a must-see for art-house and genre cinephiles alike—not that that distinction shouldn’t be shattered to pieces already.

THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM

An amazingly unique and oddball comedy from unsung indie auteur Todd Rohal (THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE), THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM is perhaps Fantasia 2011’s best-kept secret, a dark gem of a film that is as individualistic as it is hilarious. The film tells the story of Father Billy (Steve Little, perfectly goofy), who, after being recommended a vacation to help his crisis of faith, takes a day-long canoe trip with childhood hero Robbie (Robert Longstreet, an excellent foil). Working as a comedic two-hander for most of its duration, CATACLYSM is nearly perfect in execution, showing great restraint in its concept yet offering immense compensation via Little and Longstreet’s wonderful performances, their particular love-it-or-hate-it brand of comedy (guess what side I’m on), mastery of comedic timing and perfect pacing supporting the entire film. Rohal takes the narrative on some delightful tangents, as most of the stories told within the film are put on screen, mirroring Father Billy’s religious fables and pointing out the absurdity of religion and deconstructing storytelling at the same time.

Produced by David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and Jody Hill through their recently formed Rough House Pictures, THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM plays out like a feature-length Adult Swim show, steeped in black metal as an added bonus. Early on, Father Bobby drops his Bible in the toilet and, as expected, the trip quickly spirals down into hellish absurdity, offering a potent remedy to Bobby’s crisis of faith and becoming a neat religious fable itself—appropriately dark, nonsensical and hilarious.

This was it: my most anticipated film of the year—programmed at the last minute, just for me it seemed. After grabbing a quick coffee—that AC does get cold in the Hall Theatre—I met with Adam Wingard and THE CORRIDOR screenwriter Josh MacDonald and we grabbed seats to watch Ti West’s new chiller:

THE INNKEEPERS

As an immense fan of West’s THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL—which I consider to be a nearly flawless film—my expectations for THE INNKEEPERS were through the roof. And in telling his version of a haunted-house story, West had a lot to live up to. THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL was a bold, stylistic statement, one that had genre fans head over heels at the idea that “less is more” was returning, that horror films could find legitimate scares in moments of silence, careful pacing and unique characters. I expected an expansion of DEVIL’s minimalist style, but THE INNKEEPERS is instead a resolutely conventional ghost story—which, while continuing West’s fascination for spaces, being undeniably effective and supported by likable characters, builds on very few of the potent stylistic elements that made his previous film so admirable.

Starring Sara Paxton and Pat Healy as Claire and Luke, two charming clerks/amateur paranormal investigators working Connecticut’s soon-to-be-closed Yankee Pedlar Inn, THE INNKEEPERS succeeds in how its sets up horrific situations for its characters to dabble in. As amateur, albeit mostly slacker, ghost hunters, Claire and Luke spend the film seeking out apparitions, leading to many playfully expected jump scares, plus terrifying moments near the end that West makes work primarily through composer Jeff Grace’s score. Indeed, with this film, West abandons his previous carefully designed soundcapes in favor of the bombastically overbearing spookhouse music by Grace (also responsible for this year’s amazing STAKE LAND score). The backbone of the cheap haunted-house tricks the film accumulates (which, while managing to grab you on a primal level, are in retrospect quite underwhelming), these compositions are imposing, yet worlds apart from the quiet atmosphere that pervaded HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and made it work so well.

West exhibits great control over his film’s aesthetic, with appropriately lingering and ethereal camerawork, both in mapping out the space and creating tension. Ultimately, though, the time spent with the characters seems insufficient and lacking, and one goes through the narrative wanting more meat to chew on, more details about these two archetypal clerks’ peculiar relationship.

It is clear that with THE INNKEEPERS, West wanted to make a different film, drawing atmospherics and musical cues from 1950s haunted-house narratives and mixing them with the slacker humor of CLERKS. Ultimately, THE INNKEEPERS is enjoyable, but far from outstanding—especially if one considers the glorious crop of economic genre films this edition of Fantasia had to offer (Larry Kent’s EXLEY and Mike Flanagan’s ABSENTIA, which I haven’t reviewed but are both great, come to mind). The last frame, leading to a patience game that could’ve redeemed the film entirely, will disappoint with its obvious resolution, and, in engaging with the viewer so directly, substantiates the fleeting feeling of dissatisfaction THE INNKEEPERS might leave you with. West’s next project shall prove interesting, but in the meantime, allow me to go back to Jocelin Donahue and HOUSE OF THE DEVIL.

The rest of the night redeemed the experience entirely, as I ended up staying up all night with Josh, programmers extraordinaire Mitch Davis and King-Wei Chu and other Fantasia luminaries—after which I got home completely dead, slept for four hours and then got up for another day of insanity…

Real-time update: Fantasia is over! As it became quickly evident that a daily blog structure was impossible—unless writing about Fantasia in September was something that made sense to anyone—I have decided to finish with two more write-ups, dedicating one to short films and finishing it all off with a review of the silent classic THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which was the closing event and accompanied by a lovely orchestral score. Stay tuned…

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