For such a unique premise and concept, it’s surprising how unremarkable “Clown” ends up being, in the end. Despite its best efforts, “Clown” feels like a short film that perhaps should have stayed a short film, as most of its narrative feels spread out to fit a hundred minutes. And I don’t know how they’ll pull off a sequel, if the final scene is any indication. “Clown” probably watches a lot better as a short film, but it breezes through the premise in the first thirty minutes and stops being interesting by the end of the first hour. Kent is an average dad who finds out the clown he had booked for his son’s birthday has cancelled. Anxious to keep his promise of a clown, Kent goes rummaging through his basement and finds a clown suit locked in a mysterious chest.
Tag Archives: Thriller
Agonie (2016) [Fantasia International Film Festival]
A law student starts a fling with another student. A young ex-military trains to become stronger. The law student works out his bedroom kinks with his girl in increasingly violent ways. The ex-military discovers a potential new side to himself that he has difficulty accepting. Both lash out in violent ways, one going to an unexpected extreme. David Clay Diaz creates an almost sober drama with his script writing and direction. The film shows the lives of two early twenties men and how their lives evolve. Both of their stories evolve slowly throughout most of the film until each of their story’s end when things take a turn with acts of violence changing everything for both of them.
Both stories are strong character studies of two very different men. The calm and control of the first, his disconnect from most of society, lead him to being able to do despicable acts without anyone expecting it or knowing why. The second is more volatile but also more involved with others, he has a short temper that leads him to bad decisions and violence, but for him it’s anything but cold, he is more connected to his surroundings, creating a much different character. This dichotomy of types and style is artfully contrasted in how David Clay Diaz represents each of their lives, their surroundings, their families, and the characters themselves.
As both stories are contrasted, each has its lead character. The law student, Christian, is played by Samuel Schneider who plays charming with a very cold side, like a calculated man who knows when to be charming but who gets satisfaction from inflicting pain of increasing intensity. As the film goes by, his shows an increasing to complete disconnect with society, very little bring a reaction out of him. The performance by Schneider reflects this perfectly. Playing the other lead of Alex is Alexander Srtschin bringing a nervous, twitchy energy to his scenes, even the calmer ones to some extent. He shows his characters inner turmoil without saying a word. Both of them show talent and how great casting can make all the difference.
The film’s story is slow and dark, so the cinematography by Julian Krubasik matches this. His framing showcases the grey weather, the coldness of the stories and of life. His style fits the film and its characters, showing everything as it is, no sugar-coating, no adding any hope with happy images.
Agonie is a very cold drama with little emotions from the characters besides various forms of anger and indifference. The little bit of love that is shown is quickly snuffed out. According to the director’s IMDB page, his next movie is one titled Agony to come out in 2016, which sounds a lot like a remake, so see the original first if you can.
Fantasia International Film Festival ran from July 14th until August 3rd, 2016 and will be back in the summer of 2017.
Tank 432 (2015) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2016]
A military-trained group wakes up in a forest with no clue how they got there or how to make it out. They venture to a farm where they find dead bodies and live prisoners. Taking the latter with them, they head for a field where they find the titular tank and hole themselves up in it. While looking for a way out of their situation, things go from bad to worse.
Harmony (2015) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2016]
Health and happiness conscious people have found a way to live forever and without despair. In this utopian future, Tuan Kirie is an investigator for the health agency. As she breaks the rules at her outpost position, she is brought back to Japan where a sudden wave of suicides happens as she arrives. Tuan Kirie is dispatched to investigate these and she takes advantage of this to investigate her past as well.
The Love Witch (2016) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2016]
A witch uses love spells to get men enamored with her. Things go well at first, until the men become too attached and overly needy, at which point the love witch has to find a way to move on.
The Inerasable (2015) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2016]
A horror writer works on a serial using fan letters about paranormal activity in their lives. After receiving a letter about a haunting that rings a bell, she teams up with the student who sent it and they work to uncover where all the paranormal happenings in the area come from.
Dark Side of the Moon (2015) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2016]
Dr. Urs Blank is a successful lawyer with a pharmaceutical company hell-bent on becoming the biggest in its field in Europe. They ruthlessly merge with other companies and eliminate them. His work taking its toll on him, Blank goes through an accelerated mid-life crisis that brings him to try psychedelic mushroom with dire consequences on his psyche.
The film based on the novel by Martin Suter is adapted by Catharina Junk, David Marconi, and Stephan Rick. Their script is brought to the screen by Stephan Rick. This team creates an almost mesmerizing film in which we get to see a man go from a very business mentality, to a sweeter man, to a psychological break that leads to violence and out of character actions for the lead. The way this is shown is with a slow-burn of a film which takes its time to get to the point, but is absolutely worth it.
In the lead of Urs Blank is Moritz Bleibtreu turning in a nuanced performance of a man who thinks he’s going psycho after ingesting psychedelic mushrooms. His performance here is great and multi-layered; he gives his character depth and emotions, showing the right amount of guilt, of feeling lost, of despair. His character drives the film and his performance is pivotal, making it of utmost importance, which Bleibtreu grabs onto and for which he gives one the best performances of his career. Also, giving fantastically nuanced performances are Doris Schretzmayer as Blank’s wife Evelyn, Nora von Waldstatten as Lucille, and Jurgen Prochnow as Blank’s boss Plus Ott. The ensemble is very strong, a sign of good direction but also of good casting, done here by Veronique Fauconnet and Nilton Martins.
This reviewer being a photographer first and foremost, the cinematography for Dark Side of the Moon caught attention. Stefan Ciupek and Felix Cramer do an amazing job of framing the story and characters in a way that is stunning and that brings everything together. The fact that this was done by two persons shows how well they work together and adapt to each other’s style as never in the film does it feel as though two people did the cinematography, which is not an easy feat as each of them as his own style, his own vision.
Dark Side of the Moon is a slow-burn of a film, a stunning film, filled with great acting, and with a very good story. Not knowing it is based on a book until after watching it makes this reviewer want to track the book down and see what other layers to the story can be found there.
Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 14th until August 3rd, 2016.