Fantastic Fest 2008

Lars von Trier’s ANTICHRIST may be the most provocative and controversial film of the last 30 years. It is explicit, it is challenging, it is grotesque, it has been called offensive, misogynistic and dangerous…but it has also been called a masterpiece and perhaps the Danish auteur’s finest work.

Charlotte Gainsbourg (who won best Actress for the role at Cannes) and Willem Defoe star as an unnamed couple seeking comfort in their country home after the sudden death of their child. While in their forest retreat, as summed up by the unofficial slogan of Fantastic Fest ‘09, “chaos reigns.”

See this movie.

It opens at the Alamo Ritz this weekend. For those who can’t wait, we have added a midnight screening on Thursday, Nov 19. Tickets and info for all shows available here.

Praise for Antichrist:

“This is von Trier’s biggest accomplishment. He has created a world that is true to its own ghastly, shifting logic.” -Sukhdev Sandhu, Times [UK]

“Sure to shock, offend and astound in equal portions while proving hugely divisive over the nature of its content, ANTICHRIST is arguably the most visually striking of his career, certainly the most transgressive, and ample proof that cinema is still more than capable of shocking.” -Todd Brown, Twitch

“WHAT IS CERTAIN IS THAT SERIOUS FILM PEOPLE ON SEVERAL CONTINENTS WILL BE TALKING ABOUT VON TRIER’S LATEST AFFRONT, DEFENDING OR DERIDING IT, FINDING IT HARD TO IGNORE. SHORT OF A FLAT-OUT MASTERPIECE, WHAT MORE CAN MOVIES OFFER?” – Richard & Mary Corliss, Time Magazine

“A MUST SEE…SOME KIND OF MANIACAL MASTERWORK. SOME OF THE IMAGES CREATED BY VON TRIER CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

“I Don’t think I breathed for the last half – out of shock, out of stress, out of disbelief. This is to say that von Trier had us all.”  – Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe

“…I would be lying if I didn’t admit that this impossible movie kept me hooked from start to finish.”  – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“Whether this is a bad, good or great film is entirely beside the point. It is an audacious spit in the eye of society. It says we harbor an undreamed-of capacity for evil. It transforms a psychological treatment into torture undreamed of in the dungeons of history. Torturers might have been capable of such actions, but they would have lacked the imagination. Von Trier is not so much making a film about violence as making a film to inflict violence upon us, perhaps as a salutary experience…
ANTICHRIST is powerfully made film. The performances by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg are heroic and fearless. Von Trier’s visual command is striking. And if you can think beyond what he shows to what he implies, its depths are frightening. IT IS A REAL FILM. Von Trier has reached me and shaken me.” – Roger Ebert ,Chicago Sun-Times

No, it’s not a movie about the late, great asskicker Charles Bronson.  It’s a movie about the notorious British inmate Michael Peterson, whose self-chosen alias Charles Bronson only skims the surface of how much ass he kicks.  This movie is the real deal and it took Fantastic Fest by storm.  And now it opens for a full theatrical run in Austin!  OK, it’s not at the Alamo, it’s at the Arbor cinema, but whatever, we don’t care.  This movie is too good not to hype.

Tom Hardy plays Peterson with so much vengeful humor, you can’t take your eyes off him.  So good, in fact, he’ll be stepping into Mel Gibson’s shoes as the new Mad Max in George Miller’s sequel FURY ROAD!

But Hardy’s not the only one to watch- best keep your eyes on director Nicolas Winding Refn too.  He creates in this film such a unique vision, so vaudevillian violent, we can’t wait to see what he serves up next.

Fantastic Fest programmer Blake Etheridge spoke with Refn recently and recorded a video ‘hello’ to the Fantastic Fest audience.  Check it out here! He couldn’t make it to the fest this year because he and his wife just had a new baby, but plan on seeing him at Fantastic Fests to come.

If you were lucky enough to catch BRONSON at Fantastic Fest, then tell your friends to go see it.  And you should go see it again.

Two simple if nihilistic words uttered by one self-disemboweling fox in Lars von Trier’s ANTICHRIST have the cultural momentum to become THE catchphrase of the decade and, God willing, one hell of a self-fulfilling revelation.

Vulture, New York Magazine’s culture blog, picked up on the story, and once again our beloved Fantastic Fest and Mondo Tees have been inextricably tied to the phenomenon.

Read the whole article here.

CHAOS REIGNS!!