As we head full-bore into the weekend, after Canada Day and before Independence Day, our friends in Switzerland are focusing on presenting wonderful genre films to fully engage the hearts and minds of wise local citizens and discerning visitors.
Today's lineup includes Falcon Lake, touted as a "ghostly summer story" -- one of our writers claims it is very good, though his review will have to wait a bit -- as well as Shin Ultraman, a Japanese film described as "nostalgic Kaiju eiga," which is enjoying its International Premiere and definitely sounds like my kind of jam.
What can we tell you about films we have already seen and reviewed? Please click through the gallery below for brief impressions.
Something in the Dirt
Screens today at 16:45, again on Wednesday evening, and a third time next Saturday afternoon. Visit the official festival page to learn more.
Your afternoon automatically got better if you have decided to see the latest from Aaron Moorehead and Justin Benson. Sarah Adina Smith also stars.
"Recently arrived in a low-grade Los Angeles rental, Levi Danube meets and quickly befriends his new neighbour John Daniel, who has been living in the building for about 10 years. He tells Levi his new apartment hasn’t been occupied for a long time. He quickly understands why when strange things start appearing in his home. With John’s help, he will try to make sense of them by filming every step of his investigation."
Reviewing the film out of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, our own Shelagh Rowan-Legg wrote in part: "Delving once again into the metaphysical and its shadowy yet pervasive hold, Something in the Dirt takes a labyrinthian walk through the minds of two lonely and somewhat shifty men, something of a return to Benson and Moorhead's indie roots and yet an expansion on the unique world they've created in their films."
The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future
Screens today at 14:30, again on Monday afternoon, and a third time next Friday evening. Visit the official festival page to learn more
Who doesn't want to watch a movie about a singing cow? "A melancholy tale" is the festival's brief description. Our own, very busy Shelagh Rowan-Legg caught this film, directed by Francisca Alegria, out of the Miami Film Festival earlier this year and concluded in her review that it:
"Creates a deeply affecting mood, as the song of the earth slips into your ears and into your bloodstream. It asks us of the price we're willing to pay as we cause (either passively or actively) our and the earth's destruction, and how we can decide to leave it behind, if we have the courage."
Sally forth, courageous festival moviegoers!
Hypochondriac
Screens tonight at 22:15, again on Monday evening, and again Thursday evening. Visit the official festival page to learn more.
In the festival's brief synopsis: "A young potter's life is shattered when past traumas resurface. As his body gradually stops functioning, a monster emerges. Flesh and spirit in conflict." What did our own J Hurtado think when he reviewed the film at SXSW earlier this year?
"A fascinating vision of the many ways in which damage endured in our youth can revisit us when we least expect it, there’s enough new here to warrant a recommendation, even when all the pieces don’t quite fit."
Men
Screens this evening at 19:15, again on Tuesday evening, and a third time on Friday evening. Visit the official festival page to learn more.
Over the past few years, writer/director Alex Garland has carved out a distinctly twisted slice of demented, compulsively watchable cinema. I'm afraid, though, that my esteemed colleague J Hurtado has a few cautionary words to keep in mind, which he recorded in his review out of SXSW this year:
"More muddling than menacing, Men may be effective in delivering its message – presumably that all men are dangerous, as in this film, they all are – but as a narrative film it’s a damp squib. Inscrutable by design, Men revels in misdirection and metaphor, but never builds the narrative structure to hold any of its many ideas together."
Oof! Will you heed Mr. Hurtado's words? Or throw caution to the wind and go anyway? As always, dear reader who is mulling things over in Switzerland right now, the choice is yours.
Deadstream
Screens tonight at 0.30 -- or maybe I read that wrong and it actually screened last night? In any event, it will screen again on Tuesday evening. Visit the official festival page to learn more.
From the title alone, I was afraid this might be a doomsday drama about the death of streaming services in general, but it turns out I was colossally mistaken; it's actually … well, let me turn you over to my colleague J Hurtado once again:
"Tackling the cesspool that is for profit livestreaming was a risky move, but Deadstream captures its potential with gusto. Beyond creating a perfect host in Shawn, the script also does a bang-up job capturing the fickle nature of nerds behind keyboards, with the intermittent comment checks either fearing for Shawn’s life as things get really out of control or making sure he knows how bored they are and that they are logging off."
Visit the official festival page to learn more about today's programming.