I have to say I liked a lot of what director Alex Kruz brings to the table in terms of a film that’s very much about fate, and purpose, and existence. While “Fallen” can be tough to follow in its first few minutes, Kruz does manage to really catch the audience up. “Fallen” wears its influences on its sleeve, relying a lot on spirituality to punctuate what is in its core a tale about love and finding love.
Tag Archives: experimental
Megalomaniac (2022) [Fantasia 2022]
A woman living with her brother is tormented by her coworkers while he commits crimes she has no idea about. Soon, their worlds merge.
Short Films for You! France Edition
Today is Jour de la Bastille, which means, we should celebrate France. So, for this week’s crop of Short Films for You! we have 6 shorts that are either French or take place in France. These are all subtitled in English or shot in English. Without further ado, les voilà:
Phil Tippet’s Mad God (2021) [Fantasia Film Festival 2021]
Phil Tippet’s animated love child has been a highly anticipated and much talked about project for years. Tippet is a man whose career is absolutely historic. He’s a two-time Oscar winner, and Ray Harryhausen disciple who’s been the special effects wizard behind films like Star Wars, Robocop, Jurassic Park, and Starship Troopers, respectively. And that’s just a fraction of his massive iconic career. So it is fascinating to see something so unique, bizarre, and yet absolutely engrossing as “Mad God” come from the man.
Touch Me in the Morning (2006)
Giuseppe Andrews’ “Touch Me in the Morning” is comprised of mainly a man throwing a lot of camera errors towards the audience presenting it as arthouse chic. It watches like a pointless exercise towards the audiences’ attention span. The dialogue rambles endlessly (most times I had to turn up my volume to hear any dialogue), the narrative is almost non-existent, and there are a myriad odd and incredibly mind-numbing musical numbers that aren’t catchy or fun.
VHYES (2020)
It’s hard to imagine a more bizarre experimental movie I’ve come across in years. Jack Henry Robbins’ film “VHYes” at its best is a funny, smart, experiment with nostalgia, while at its worst, it feels like a weak pilot for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim expanded in to a near feature length movie. Some might appreciate the jarring changes in tone and bite size comedy that is peppered throughout “VHYes” and while I thought it left much to be desired, it also had a lot going for it, with some fascinating commentary about nostalgia and memories. It really wants to be “Amazon Women on the Moon,” at the end of the day, but it ends as a mildly fascinating meshing of genres, and comedic bits.
Away (2019) [Fantasia Festival 2019]
Gints Zilbalodis’s “Away” is one of the most dazzling and fantastic animated movies I’ve seen in years, and I’d be stunned if it isn’t appreciated as a masterpiece down the line. Zilbalodis spent years on this work of love committing to every facet of the production himself, and completing what is a tightly packed and briskly paced epic adventure film that is also deceptively simple in its presentation and delivery.