A beautiful but deadly MI6 agent is sent to Berlin in 1989, right at the time the wall is about to be taken down, so that she can navigate her way through the cities and the web of spies and double agents there to get her hands on a list of them with powerful information.
Napping Princess (Hirune-hime: Shiranai watashi no monogatari) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
Kokone escapes everyday life by dreaming about Ancien, a princess in a land ruled by a car-obsessed king. In her real life, things take an odd turn when her father is arrested at the start of her last summer before graduation and just a few days before the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. This leads Kokone to use skills she didn’t know she had and come into her own.
Cold Hell (Die Hölle) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A female cab-driver in Vienna witnesses the aftermath of her neighbors brutal murder. As she tries to escape the killer and protect her loved ones, one unlikely person comes to her aid against his own reservations.
Born of Woman 2017 [Fantasia International Film Festival]
Last year saw the first time where the programmers at the fest felt a need to have a short film block dedicated entirely to women-made short genre films as they had received a big selection of very strong titles. This year continues this with its second edition or the 2017 edition. Here are short reviews for each film involved in it this year (in no particular order).
Bitch (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A stay-at-home mom is overworked, under-cared-for, and finally snaps. As she turns into a dog version, or a literal bitch, her clueless husband wants to save face more than anything else.
Wu Kong (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
Based on the legend of the Monkey King, Wu Kong is a retelling of Sun Wu-kong’s story where he is born and sent back to his mountain where he is raised and trained by a monk to then go create some mayhem and cause some changes in the realm of Heaven.
Dead Shack (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
For folks experiencing zombie fatigue, “Dead Shack” might be the small movie that cures your unrest for the sub-genre. Director-writer Peter Ricq and co-writers Philippe Ivanusic, Davila LeBlanc twist conventions rather well while also introducing a dashing but complex horror villain to boot. “Dead Shack” is a fun and very funny mix of genres that has a good time implementing the zombie sub-genre without bogging the entire movie down in typical cinematic tropes and heavy handed overtones. The zombies here are more devious plot devices that allow for a ton of gore and splatter, and director Ricq never shies away from the gooey and red stuff.