Fantastic Fest 2008

Brief Summary: Acclaimed Russian director Aleksei Balabanov interweaves stories of cowardice, corruption and horror set against the backdrop of the birth of perestroika in the Soviet Union. Full Description: The title of Russian director Aleksei Balabanov's twelfth film is a military term for the coffins transporting dead soldiers back home during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The effects of that decade-long conflict provide a unifying theme for this ugly, highly controversial noir that recalls the work of Gaspar Noe and Michael Haneke but with a distinctly Russian point-of-view. CARGO 200 begins in 1984 with the introduction of two brothers: a Soviet Army colonel, and the head of the Faculty of Scientific Communism at Leningrad University. The university professor travels to visit his mother in a remote town. When his car falters, he stops at a rural farmhouse occupied by a husband, wife and their Vietnamese farm hand. The professor engages in a philosophical argument about the existence of God with the family patriarch, whose heated criticisms of official atheism are fueled by Utopian dreams and vodka distilled in the family barn. Meanwhile, a young man and the daughter of a Soviet bureaucrat meet at a party. The couple decides to take a drive, and their destination is the rural farmhouse. Lurking in the shadows of the farmhouse is Zhurov, a character vaguely based on Russian serial killer Gennady Mikhasevich. Although Mikhasevich was simply a depraved lunatic, Balabanov presents Zhurov as an emblem of both human perversion and the manifest corruption of the Soviet government. Zhurov’s appearance signals a series of loathsome events that form the rest of the film's narrative, and culminates in an outrageous but fitting ending that ignores all boundaries of restraint. Balabanov’s portrayal of human misery in mid-80s U.S.S.R. is complemented by a dank visual palette that is rife with rotting apartments and offices, rustic grotesquenesses and bleak industrial landscapes. His choice of music, including 80s-era Russian pop and the prominent use of Mozambique singer Afric Simone’s song Hafanana, adds a layer of perverse irony to the film. In a 2007 Wall Street Journal interview, Alekesi Balabanov spoke of CARGO 200 in the following terms: "I show what filth we lived in. Society was sick from 1917 onwards." In light of Balabanov's remarks, CARGO 200 might best be summarized as a grim epitaph for the death of the former Soviet Union. (Rodney Perkins)

A man awakens several times at once and is forced to team up with several versions of himself to discover what's gone wrong. Appearing as part of the SHORT FILMS OF NACHO VIGALONDO program. CLICK HERE for details.

Brief Summary: A serial killer is preying on call-girls from various escort agencies. In the midst of police indifference and incompetence, Jung-Ho (Yun-Seok Kim), an ex-cop-turned-pimp must dust off his old flatfoot skills to find the killer and save the life of one of his girls who has gone missing. Full Description: I sat on the Asian Features Jury at the Puncheon International Fantasy Film Festival this year. Of the 32 films in competition, our jury unanimously decided THE CHASER to be the grand prize winner. This is a return to form for the Korean crime film after a string of fairly disappointing efforts. The story is gritty and intense, the pacing taut, and the performance of lead actor Yun-seok Kim is phenomenal. Korean genre films sometimes manage to pack in a much wider array of emotional notes and complex character interaction than their American counterparts. In much the same way that THE HOST was a dysfunctional family drama that happened to have a monster running a muck, THE CHASER is a tender portrait of a jaded, hard-boiled ex-cop who realizes that he still has deep pathos and compassion beneath his stony veneer. And there's bloody rampage serial killer on the loose. THE CHASER was a box-office hit in Korea this year, topping the charts until the blockbuster THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD took top honors. Look for the American remake, by the same production team behind Scorcese's award winning film THE DEPARTED, to begin production soon. (Tim League) Plot Summary The debut feature from award winning short film director Na Jong-Jin, THE CHASER, tells the story of Jung-Ho, a former cop turned pimp. Think for a moment about what sort of cop would choose to become a pimp in his post-law enforcement career and you have an immediate grasp of Jung-Ho. He is a surly, foul tempered, hard talking man driven by the pursuit of easy profits. And Jung-Ho is in a bad mood because a number of his girls - girls who he effectively owns, having bought out their bad debts - have recently gone missing. Jun-Ho believes a rival pimp is simply stealing his girls and reselling them for profit but the truth is far worse. There is a serial killer on the prowl, one that has not been detected because he preys exclusively on call girls hired from a variety of escort agencies. When the call comes in for a girl one night, Jung-Ho realizes too late that the client's phone number matches the number used to book sessions with a pair of his missing girls, and he rushes off to protect his investment. The rival must be captured and taken out of the picture. But while a chance encounter leads Jung-Ho to the correct man, his girl Mi-Jin is nowhere to be found, and the client - Young Min - is spouting nonsenses about having killed a dozen women. It's enough to bring Young-Min to the police but the killer is smart enough to give them only enough to taunt but not enough to actually charge him or even hold him for an extended period of time. And so the chase is on. It is not a chase to find the killer - he has already been found - it is a chase to find the girl. If they can't find her - or other significant evidence - within twelve hours, Young-Min must be set free. (Todd Brown) Check out the Korean trailer here .

Brief Summary: The director of ONG BAK returns with his new protégé, who was in training for five years for this role. Jeeja Vismistananda portrays an autistic girl who learns martial arts from watching Tony Jaa and Bruce Lee films so as to exact revenge on those who bankrupted her mother. Full Description: It's been a looooong time since ONK BAK first clued us in to the awesome new wave of Muay Thai action films. As fun as it was, the quickly-produced Jaa/Prachya follow-up THE PROTECTOR was honestly a bit of a let down. Meanwhile, two years into production on his directorial debut, Tony Jaa is hermiting in mountain caves trying to meditate his way into a grip on his runaway-budget sequel ONG BAK 2. Director Prachya Pinkaew, however, has kept his vision and is back with a vengeance. For five years, he groomed the cherubic Jeeja Vismistananda into a furious hellcat of a Muay Thai action star. While maybe not up to the raw athletic talent of Tony, she more than delivers in agility, speed and raw charm. Perhaps the most buzzed-about feature of this year's lineup, CHOCOLATE lives up to the hype. Watch the trailer and you know that this is action only developing Asian countries with little to no litigation industry can provide. Bone-shattering, painful, brutal and death-defyingly dangerous stunt work with no wires, no stunt doubles, and full, bloody raw-force contact. The plot...sure, it's a bit by the numbers, a classic revenge story with a novel twist. The heroine is autistic, which subtly plays out in her martial arts style. Honestly though, I can't tell you what ONG BAK was about other than some vaguely-explained idol thievery. The first 3 times I watched it was without subtitles, and it didn't matter one lick. CHOCOLATE follows that vein. Once she develops her rib-cracking Muay Thai chops (from absorbing all required combat skills from a Tony Jaa/Bruce Lee TV marathon), the plot turns Zin (Jeeja) from one battle into the next. The action culminates in two final scenes that are worth the price of admission alone. The first is a classic dojo-style battle against what Toronto Midnight Madness director Colin Geddes describes as a "breakdancing crackbaby." The next, an extended brawl fought entirely on four stories worth of narrow, precipitous ledges, all without safety nets, or seemingly any safety concerns at all. The legend of Jackie Chan lives on in Thailand with a whole new crop of fearless athletes charging recklessly ahead with only one concern: not their lives, nay, our sacred amusement. (Tim League) CHOCOLATE is sponsored by Big Top Candy, Austin's ridiculously addictive vintage candy shop, who will be supplying cocoa goodness at both screenings. If you are in from out of town, do not miss a chance to stop by this quickly established Austin landmark.

The follies of youth are lost on the old. Nacho Vigalondo stars as a man driven over the edge in a gaming arcade. Appearing as part of the SHORT FILMS OF NACHO VIGALONDO program. CLICK HERE for details.

A man combs a semi-sentient metropolis to create his own personal symphonic Frankenstein! Live action animation combines with an arguably musical score to create a short that's guaranteed to be unlike anything you've ever seen. Appearing as part of the ANIMATED SHORTS program. CLICK HERE for details.

Again, we've gotta keep this one under our hats, but rest assured that FF '08 is gonna go out with guns blazin'!

A gripping tale of high-impact, two-fisted science fiction in the 25th Century!!! Kind of. Appearing as part of the SHORT FILMS OF NACHO VIGALONDO program. CLICK HERE for details.

To ward of defeat in his future life, a dying ninja warrior wishes to be reincarnated with a skin of steel. He returns to modern-day Korea as a coffee vending machine. Appearing as part of the ANIMATED SHORTS program. CLICK HERE for details.