description: comedy, 2 men applying for the same job, christmas, creme, celeberty, sex, abused of rape, sponsoring
(Geoffrey): (rating 6.5)
There is a man with a wife and child, who sells stemps door by door, pretending it is for a good cause. He decides to apply for a job. At the same time, another man, who is divorced and has to pay his wife quite some money and who cannot. They both apply at the same time and they are told they have to compete with eachother till the end of the week. They have to convice eachother that the other one should give him the job.
The man with the wife and child get's a strange creme during christmas eve. Everytime he puts on that creme he is seen for a famous singer and has no trouble getting everything done. This leads to funny situations you can imagine and eventually gets him in trouble (how weird?).
I have to say that I was mislead, because I continuous had the feeling it was all a setup by the other guy competing with him. Since I am mislead, I consider that a plus for this movie. Overal the acting was not incredibl good, but ok .It has some good humor here and there. The end is a little bit overdone and looses some points. Overal, it is ok, but not briljant.
Crème fail.
Links: AFFF / imdb
Fun concept for a short film, perhaps even for a feature, but then they should have spent more time fleshing out the inner logic of the story.
About twenty minutes into the film the main plot with the "magic" perception changing crème starts, almost without any introduction. He receives it as a present for Christmas, which in itself doesn't feel like it matches his personality (since he doesn't really show interest in personal hygiene etc). They should have spent more time setting up giving him this present, perhaps his initial resentment to the present, then reluctantly starting to use it.
Soon he starts to notice that people respond in a different fashion to him, far more enthusiastic than before. He somehow immediately links this to the crème - again, too fast.
Later on when everyone else is falling for his crème based charmes, two other strange things happen. Of all people surrounding the protagonist, the other sales guy seems to be immune to the effect the crème has without any explanation.
And when the protagonist reaches a moment of insight after nearly being caught for raping a girl he seduced, he feels remorse and gets rid of the crème - only to conveniently forget that remorse when a police officer comes knocking on his door and asking questions. I can't make heads or tails of this.
Although this film has its funny moments, overall it is disappointing and doesn't feel like it is in the shape it ought to be. Good idea on paper, bad execution.
Rating: 4
Links: AFFF / imdb
Fun concept for a short film, perhaps even for a feature, but then they should have spent more time fleshing out the inner logic of the story.
About twenty minutes into the film the main plot with the "magic" perception changing crème starts, almost without any introduction. He receives it as a present for Christmas, which in itself doesn't feel like it matches his personality (since he doesn't really show interest in personal hygiene etc). They should have spent more time setting up giving him this present, perhaps his initial resentment to the present, then reluctantly starting to use it.
Soon he starts to notice that people respond in a different fashion to him, far more enthusiastic than before. He somehow immediately links this to the crème - again, too fast.
Later on when everyone else is falling for his crème based charmes, two other strange things happen. Of all people surrounding the protagonist, the other sales guy seems to be immune to the effect the crème has without any explanation.
And when the protagonist reaches a moment of insight after nearly being caught for raping a girl he seduced, he feels remorse and gets rid of the crème - only to conveniently forget that remorse when a police officer comes knocking on his door and asking questions. I can't make heads or tails of this.
Although this film has its funny moments, overall it is disappointing and doesn't feel like it is in the shape it ought to be. Good idea on paper, bad execution.
Rating: 4
A crème to change people's heart and mind... you know you're worth it
Links: AFFF / imdb
Add a dash of fantasy to a sad unfortunate salesman and what happens? Things get out of control, that is what happens and that's what you expect. The many Charlie Chaplin posters hint from the beginning: this is an old-fashioned Shakespearean farce with some drama on top.
A simple story filmed in a simple way, and it works. Nothing gets over the top, and it suits the makers. The story could've been a bit more condense, but all-in-all an enjoyable watch.
Rating: 7
Links: AFFF / imdb
Add a dash of fantasy to a sad unfortunate salesman and what happens? Things get out of control, that is what happens and that's what you expect. The many Charlie Chaplin posters hint from the beginning: this is an old-fashioned Shakespearean farce with some drama on top.
A simple story filmed in a simple way, and it works. Nothing gets over the top, and it suits the makers. The story could've been a bit more condense, but all-in-all an enjoyable watch.
Rating: 7
A man gets a special creme from Santa Claus which makes him very popular when put on his face. Since the man is looking for a job he uses it to get a job and earn money. The whole movie shows the adventures of the man.
The movie is shot on video. Some actors seem to come from a local amateur theatre with faces made of wood, no expression at al. The story is funny.
Rating : 7
The movie is shot on video. Some actors seem to come from a local amateur theatre with faces made of wood, no expression at al. The story is funny.
Rating : 7
description: Death, the final frontier? I don't think so. We have clones, astronauts, twin children, a single mother, crying wife, death in the family, space suite, ghosts and memory issues.
(Geoffrey): (rating 9)
Let me first start that the atmosphere in the movie is magic. When you read the description, you probably expect a lot of action and sci-fi, but that is not the case, on the contrary, if there is cgi used in this movie, I have not noticed it very much, besides the astronaut in space, seeing earth.
This is a movie of a twin brother who's brother drowned when they were young and he takes the blame for it. They used to trick their mother in pretending they were eachother, but she never feld for it. A mother knows. The brother alive is an astronaut when he grows up and he agrees to have a clone of him created if he somehow passes away early. The wish of his mother was that she would die earlier than he. At this time, his mother is very ill and she dies at the same moment as her son in space. The clone is created, not known by his wife who is very troubled by it. A clone is created, having some memory issues and escapes. Another clone is created with no memory issues and is set the find his brother clone.
This is definately not an action movie, but a well done drama. The story is magic, so is the music and the filming locations. Definately a see again movie someday.
(Geoffrey): (rating 9)
Let me first start that the atmosphere in the movie is magic. When you read the description, you probably expect a lot of action and sci-fi, but that is not the case, on the contrary, if there is cgi used in this movie, I have not noticed it very much, besides the astronaut in space, seeing earth.
This is a movie of a twin brother who's brother drowned when they were young and he takes the blame for it. They used to trick their mother in pretending they were eachother, but she never feld for it. A mother knows. The brother alive is an astronaut when he grows up and he agrees to have a clone of him created if he somehow passes away early. The wish of his mother was that she would die earlier than he. At this time, his mother is very ill and she dies at the same moment as her son in space. The clone is created, not known by his wife who is very troubled by it. A clone is created, having some memory issues and escapes. Another clone is created with no memory issues and is set the find his brother clone.
This is definately not an action movie, but a well done drama. The story is magic, so is the music and the filming locations. Definately a see again movie someday.
To be, not to be, to be, perhaps to be, not to be, to be
Links: AFFF / imdb
The opening shot of this film is telling: one continuous take that runs about five minutes, with a slow push in and track out dictated by the movement of the characters. Elegant, sparse, no thrills, no accidents. This style is used consistently throughout the film. Constrained, never losing sight of the drama, underlining the emotions.
In the film they talk about "resonance", a metaphysical concept describing how the soul wanders after death and tries to reconnect to a reinstated (cloned) body. Fascinating subject matter! The focus is not so much the tech behind cloning (we never see how they produce a full grown adult clone including a full memory dump) but the philosophical questions relating to the subject. And to shed even more light on the subject, the notion of having an identical twin ("a natural clone") is included in this exploration.
But what really sold me was the overarching theme of redemption, about second chances, about changing life, and how difficult (but necessary) it is to get closure. Definitely someone to keep an eye on, this Kanji Nakajima.
Both the style and the substance really worked for me. I was touched and left pondering after seeing this film - exactly the type of residue that only few films leave me with.
Rating: 9
Links: AFFF / imdb
The opening shot of this film is telling: one continuous take that runs about five minutes, with a slow push in and track out dictated by the movement of the characters. Elegant, sparse, no thrills, no accidents. This style is used consistently throughout the film. Constrained, never losing sight of the drama, underlining the emotions.
In the film they talk about "resonance", a metaphysical concept describing how the soul wanders after death and tries to reconnect to a reinstated (cloned) body. Fascinating subject matter! The focus is not so much the tech behind cloning (we never see how they produce a full grown adult clone including a full memory dump) but the philosophical questions relating to the subject. And to shed even more light on the subject, the notion of having an identical twin ("a natural clone") is included in this exploration.
But what really sold me was the overarching theme of redemption, about second chances, about changing life, and how difficult (but necessary) it is to get closure. Definitely someone to keep an eye on, this Kanji Nakajima.
Both the style and the substance really worked for me. I was touched and left pondering after seeing this film - exactly the type of residue that only few films leave me with.
Rating: 9
clones and relatives of deceased astronaut struggle with existence
Links: AFFF / imdb
It is frowned upon by serious people who know better to describe something in terms of other somethings of similar origin. Or, to refer to Russian "Solaris" or a dash of "Gattaca" when trying to describe the mood would be utterly wrong. It would be, really, since referring to those films probably gives you the wrong idea anyway. This film was so much slower, as Asian films tend to be, stretching shots into forever without hardly any (camera-)movement. So much more "meta" in subject and story.
Wonderful, intriguing film. What is the self, is it unique, and if so, in every aspect? How "real" is a clone of something unique? How unique? It is suggested that a clone keeps the soul from entering nirvana, pulling some part of it back. Yet it is not created out of the very same uniqueness?
Who are we to tinker around with the very existence of a human, cloning him at will. Because we can, doesn't mean we should. What is it that we want back when a beloved one dies? Why are humans scared of clones, if they enable the dead to return? What difference makes the knowledge whether a person is a clone or not?
Humans: often over-exposed backgrounds (windows etc). First clones: darker backgrounds, third clone, the one who seems "free" from a bonding with the soul; more over-exposed backgrounds again.
This whole entry is rubbish since I was quite impressed with the film but I haven't found the right phrasing yet. Later, when everyone has moved on to more recent entries, I come back and change it into something better.
Rating: 9
Links: AFFF / imdb
It is frowned upon by serious people who know better to describe something in terms of other somethings of similar origin. Or, to refer to Russian "Solaris" or a dash of "Gattaca" when trying to describe the mood would be utterly wrong. It would be, really, since referring to those films probably gives you the wrong idea anyway. This film was so much slower, as Asian films tend to be, stretching shots into forever without hardly any (camera-)movement. So much more "meta" in subject and story.
Wonderful, intriguing film. What is the self, is it unique, and if so, in every aspect? How "real" is a clone of something unique? How unique? It is suggested that a clone keeps the soul from entering nirvana, pulling some part of it back. Yet it is not created out of the very same uniqueness?
Who are we to tinker around with the very existence of a human, cloning him at will. Because we can, doesn't mean we should. What is it that we want back when a beloved one dies? Why are humans scared of clones, if they enable the dead to return? What difference makes the knowledge whether a person is a clone or not?
Humans: often over-exposed backgrounds (windows etc). First clones: darker backgrounds, third clone, the one who seems "free" from a bonding with the soul; more over-exposed backgrounds again.
This whole entry is rubbish since I was quite impressed with the film but I haven't found the right phrasing yet. Later, when everyone has moved on to more recent entries, I come back and change it into something better.
Rating: 9
Having the director present at a screening and doing a Q&A afterwards really adds something to experiencing the film, and (not surprisingly) positively influences your opinion about the film. No wonder Stingray Sam is currently #1 in the audience award poll :-)
I've shot a handful of short videos today and pieced them together to give you an impression of what a day at the imagine / Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival feels like:
I've shot a handful of short videos today and pieced them together to give you an impression of what a day at the imagine / Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival feels like:
A run in the morning so felt quite smug about myself the rest of the day. Add the fact that most people had to go to work today, and you can say it's been a pretty good fifth day!
Day of diversity with masterclass, shorts and sneak preview. Cynical: the only "normal" film sucked.
Note to self: bring extra bread for the AFFF-mice that run around in the theatres. Herman showed us an excellent place (2 doors to the left) to get coffee. Still wondering what the hell the difference between "espresso lungo" and "espresso ristretto" is, besides the extra 10 cent for a large of the former. No googling, this needs to be done properly, with tasting buds and sharp questions towards baristas.
Just finished dinner.
On a completely unrelated note: read this morning that J.G. Ballard died. Sad. Last thing I read by him was his novelle "Concrete Island", started and finished within 4 hours in a nice bar near Oxford St, Sydney. A hero has passed away.
Well, today I had to go to work for a works council training. I am way behind with reviews of the last few days. and today I only saw one movie: I'll never die alone.
So how's today? I had 3 doubles espresso's and 2 coffee to keep me a little bit active for the training. Unfortunately it was extended and diner began at 21.00 (that is in Zeist), while I had to be in Amsterdam at 22:10. So I only had time for appertisers and after that I left at 21:15. At 22.04 I arrived in the garage in Amsterdam, near the cinema. I just arrived in time for the movie at 22.09 :-). Seeing the movie I almost regret I did not stay longer for diner, since I ordered (and later canceled) a great salmon and 'sweet sushi' for desert.
Overal I still feel quite ok, though my eyes are getting more and more dry after 0.00 hours :-). Today was a little bit slow on the movies, but tomorrow we'll start again.
So how's today? I had 3 doubles espresso's and 2 coffee to keep me a little bit active for the training. Unfortunately it was extended and diner began at 21.00 (that is in Zeist), while I had to be in Amsterdam at 22:10. So I only had time for appertisers and after that I left at 21:15. At 22.04 I arrived in the garage in Amsterdam, near the cinema. I just arrived in time for the movie at 22.09 :-). Seeing the movie I almost regret I did not stay longer for diner, since I ordered (and later canceled) a great salmon and 'sweet sushi' for desert.
Overal I still feel quite ok, though my eyes are getting more and more dry after 0.00 hours :-). Today was a little bit slow on the movies, but tomorrow we'll start again.
description: young women, travel by car, almost dead girl, horrible rape, beaten, male hunters (redneck wannabe's), revenge
(Geoffrey): (rating 1-3)
To be honest, I had my doubt after seeing this movie. I somehow have the feeling that the movie was made badly on purpose. There are so many bad things in this movie: Camera work (light effect), thin story, thin plot, unnaturally bad acting, bad sound and so on. Everything is bad.
the story starts with some young women who find a girl shot next to the road. it seems she was shot by hunters. They take her tot the police station and it seems that one of the hunters also is the head of the police station. The hunters go after the girls, rape them horribly and beat them as well. Two girls don't survive, the other two girls take revenge.
The hunters becomes the hunted in the end. I don't know what the director wanted with this movie, so it could either be a 1 because there is nothing good about the movie, or a 3 because I might have missed something.
(Geoffrey): (rating 1-3)
To be honest, I had my doubt after seeing this movie. I somehow have the feeling that the movie was made badly on purpose. There are so many bad things in this movie: Camera work (light effect), thin story, thin plot, unnaturally bad acting, bad sound and so on. Everything is bad.
the story starts with some young women who find a girl shot next to the road. it seems she was shot by hunters. They take her tot the police station and it seems that one of the hunters also is the head of the police station. The hunters go after the girls, rape them horribly and beat them as well. Two girls don't survive, the other two girls take revenge.
The hunters becomes the hunted in the end. I don't know what the director wanted with this movie, so it could either be a 1 because there is nothing good about the movie, or a 3 because I might have missed something.
If you want to see an exploitation movie, this is it. The movie is about four girls who are brutally raped by three men. During the rape scene (which lasts about 20 minutes) I almost walked away because I couldn't take it. But fortunately it ended soon thereafter. Revenge time for the girls.
The gore in this movie is well done. Not over the top. They only should have showed more gore when the rapist payed the consequences of their actions. Many scene's where too long in my opinion. Sound was also not 100%. You hear that they added environmental sounds afterward. The movie had a 70s exploitation movie feel to it. Don't know if that was deliberate or because they used video to shoot it. There was one shot I will remember : Two surviving girls listen to the last rapist being eaten by wild hogs. The shot shows the faces of the two girls, one with hitting marks and blood. Justice is done.
Rating : 4
The gore in this movie is well done. Not over the top. They only should have showed more gore when the rapist payed the consequences of their actions. Many scene's where too long in my opinion. Sound was also not 100%. You hear that they added environmental sounds afterward. The movie had a 70s exploitation movie feel to it. Don't know if that was deliberate or because they used video to shoot it. There was one shot I will remember : Two surviving girls listen to the last rapist being eaten by wild hogs. The shot shows the faces of the two girls, one with hitting marks and blood. Justice is done.
Rating : 4
As nasty as they wanna be
Links: AFFF / imdb
The film starts intriguing, with the full credits of the film at the start, including three title slides mentioning the films and film makers who have inspired the people involved in this film.
I'll never die alone is one of the most gruesome films I have seen this festival, possibly of the last few years. Although it is far from a pleasure to watch, it didn't hit me as hard as for instance Irreversible did. There are two main reasons for this.
First of all, I don't understand why all the characters behave in such an alienated way to shocking events such as finding a person covered in blood, being confronted with rapists, seeing your friends being tortured. The behaviour as portrayed by the characters in the film didn't feel realistic and believable to me, which makes it more difficult to empathize with them.
Second, on a technical level the film was substandard. It was shot on DV, had a lot of shots that were either soft or plain out of focus, some of the shots were really jittery, and the composition felt odd / careless at times.
All and all I wonder if this film really is that much better than the other torture porn films as of late. Maybe this film is less sensational, but it's not as much under the skin as it should be.
Rating: 4
Links: AFFF / imdb
The film starts intriguing, with the full credits of the film at the start, including three title slides mentioning the films and film makers who have inspired the people involved in this film.
I'll never die alone is one of the most gruesome films I have seen this festival, possibly of the last few years. Although it is far from a pleasure to watch, it didn't hit me as hard as for instance Irreversible did. There are two main reasons for this.
First of all, I don't understand why all the characters behave in such an alienated way to shocking events such as finding a person covered in blood, being confronted with rapists, seeing your friends being tortured. The behaviour as portrayed by the characters in the film didn't feel realistic and believable to me, which makes it more difficult to empathize with them.
Second, on a technical level the film was substandard. It was shot on DV, had a lot of shots that were either soft or plain out of focus, some of the shots were really jittery, and the composition felt odd / careless at times.
All and all I wonder if this film really is that much better than the other torture porn films as of late. Maybe this film is less sensational, but it's not as much under the skin as it should be.
Rating: 4
after being raped, the two (out of 4) surviving girls kill their agressors
Links: AFFF / imdb
Links: AFFF / imdb
I can't thing of a single reason to watch this film. It's gruesome, it doesn't tell a story, merely describes some horrible events. It doesn't raise questions or emotions. Bad script, bad acting, bad camera-work. Must consider this a film of the exploitation genre because I simply have no idea where else to put it.
"This realy hapend" is the very first badly translated subtitle. Well excuse my heart of rock and soul of stone but So. Fucking. What. Don't think it's the genre or style that puts me off and makes me hate it. "Irreversible" is one of the most horrible films I've ever watched, yet has some really strong intriguing aspects.
Totally crap
Rating: 2 (there was one audio effect that was okayish)
WYSIWYG
Links: AFFF / imdb
I can vividly imagine how the pitch went for this film, without a single word of the screenplay even being written by then: "Think Shaun of the Dead but then with lesbian vampires instead of zombies!" Brilliant.
It's one of those films that delivers exactly what you expect it to. Over-the-top characters, rapid-fire jokes and nudity, cheesy lines of dialogue, icky but not gory.
Rating: 7
Links: AFFF / imdb
I can vividly imagine how the pitch went for this film, without a single word of the screenplay even being written by then: "Think Shaun of the Dead but then with lesbian vampires instead of zombies!" Brilliant.
It's one of those films that delivers exactly what you expect it to. Over-the-top characters, rapid-fire jokes and nudity, cheesy lines of dialogue, icky but not gory.
Rating: 7
Lesbian Vampire Killers was the surprise movie this year. Fun movie without any pretentions but to give 90 minutes of entertainment. The gore is very present and the vampires bleed white blood, which flows alot throughout the movie.
Rating : 8
Rating : 8
lots of aforementioned lesbians-with-a-bite getting killed, stabbed and splutted to death
Links: AFFF / imdb
"Shaun Of The Dead" meets "Bram Stoker's Dracula". 80% of the former, 20% of the latter. Funny enough in its kind, and not bad, but during the film I was already thinking about watching "Bram Stoker's Dracula" again to see how such a film really should be done.
The Big Bad Miss (with a very bad hairday), Scantily Clad Queeny Vampire, had the Sauron Subwoofer at her disposal. Didn't help her either.
And what's up with zombie-girls and their arms, like they heard of Indian dancing but never really understood it? Same for CGI blood. Please people, make it stoooop.
Was reminded of something the director of "The Burrowers" said during the Q&A: it's so easy to show monsters (and dead breasts) these days that directors seldom let a possibility go by.
Rating: 7
- animation of man in cablecar who sneezes so loud the whole damn thing falls apart. But there's always ducktape!
Rating: wonderful - Belgian "Of Cats and Women" about revenge and a very dead cat.
Rating: ok - animated magic show, in a kind of Max Magazine style
Rating: okayish, bit too long - German zombie-hunters, with light social reference to the increasing age of retirement
Rating: fun - Whiplash: life-action to animated cells
Rating: ok - Wing, a girl wishes the best for her grandma, turning her into a goldfish so she can swim back to China
Rating: definitely ok - Milbe, life-action to stop-motion, with weird scarabee-ish animals
Rating: ok, fun enough - Lazarus Taxon: very grim story of a man trying to safe his dead daughter. Reference to Christianity's "..this is my body.." ?
Rating: good - Italian movie about some serious revenge of little kids towards a granny who destroys their ball
Rating: good - Mama; very short scary-zombie film, well-done but not original
Rating: ok
Overall Rating: 7
Good stuff is coming from Korea. The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a western set in China around World War 2. A train is robbed by the bad guy, during the robbery the good guy tries to kill the bad guy and meanwhile the weird guy steals the map the bad guy needed to steal. This setting is the beginning of an action packed journey through barren plains in Northern China, bandit villages and ultimatly to the place where the map leads them.
High production value and very accessible to western audience.
Rating : 8
High production value and very accessible to western audience.
Rating : 8
Eastern Western
Links: AFFF / imdb
Compared to Takeshi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django this Asian western is more true to the genre. It is definitely funny but never completely over the top and too meta. For a western it is quite action packed with really long chase and fight sequences. The camera work consists of classic western style framing (extreme close-ups of eyes etc), but also modern style whip zooms and fast tracking shots. Strange choice though for very dominant yellows and greens in the interiors in the first act of the film.
Rating: 7
Links: AFFF / imdb
Compared to Takeshi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django this Asian western is more true to the genre. It is definitely funny but never completely over the top and too meta. For a western it is quite action packed with really long chase and fight sequences. The camera work consists of classic western style framing (extreme close-ups of eyes etc), but also modern style whip zooms and fast tracking shots. Strange choice though for very dominant yellows and greens in the interiors in the first act of the film.
Rating: 7