{"id":31593,"date":"2019-07-28T19:11:17","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T23:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=31593"},"modified":"2020-07-29T11:12:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T15:12:12","slug":"riot-girls-2019-fantasia-festival-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/28\/riot-girls-2019-fantasia-festival-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Riot Girls (2019) [Fantasia Festival 2019]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I wasn\u2019t too interested in the premise of \u201cRiot Girls\u201d upon first glance, but it inevitably won me over with its execution and I came to appreciate (and kind of love) how fun and unique it was. The whole idea of high school cliques becoming the tribes of the post-apocalypse is rife for satire, and Jovanka Vuckovic has a great time with her concept. \u201cRiot Girls\u201d is both a teen drama comedy, and a fun bit of post apocalyptic fodder that you could easily digest right down to the last bite. I loved the whole punk rock, pulp comic book aesthetic, and the way it embraces its fantasy trappings like \u201cThe Warriors\u201d did long ago.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A mix of \u201cDegrassi,\u201d \u201cThe Warriors,\u201d \u201cLord of the Flies,\u201d and \u201cClass of 1999,\u201d Jovanka Vuckovic\u2019s post apocalyptic monster is set after the end of civilization. Most of the adults have died from a deadly plague that rots them from the inside out, and now all that\u2019s left are groups of teenagers. They\u2019ve all broken up in to their own tribes, the “East Side” and the “West Side.” Now they do nothing but fight for control of the remaining resources. When the leader of the “East Side” is kidnapped during a botched theft by the “West Side,” it\u2019s now up to his sister Nat, her girlfriend Scratch, and new member Sony to rescue him. Under the thumb of the “West Side,” the clan of fascist wealthy jocks in Letterman Jackets, Jack looks for a way out, as the leader Jeremy threatens to murder him.<\/p>\n

If I have a complaint is that Jovanka Vuckovic\u2019s film is a bit tonally confused, but that thankfully isn\u2019t a big mark against the film. Primarily the film is played like an apocalyptic fantasy where just about everyone are split in to their own fractions and engage in very violent warfare with one another. The heart and soul of \u201cRiot Girls\u201d is Madison Iseman as Nat, and Paloma Kwiatkowski as Scratch, both of whom garner a ton of chemistry as a couple at odds with each other during their rescue mission. They come to terms with a lot of conflicts and hidden feelings about their romance, and have to overcome a ton of unusual obstacles along the way. Kwiatkowski is especially great as the mohawked girlfriend to Nat who is tough as nails, but held back by impulsive decisions.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Munro Chambers who is great yet again as the villain of the piece. He harbors his own secret all the while never being afraid to make examples of his troops when they fail him time and time again. Chambers is such a versatile actor and he feels right at home here. Writer Katherine Collins introduces us to a unique and bizarre apocalyptic world where characters are forced to engage in sadistic acts of violence to survive, all the while enjoying a good punk rock jam every so often. Director Vuckovic packs the film with some excellent music, including 45 Grave\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s Party Time.\u201d As someone with a weak spot for fodder like \u201cThe Domestics\u201d and \u201cClass of 1999,\u201d I was hooked on \u201cRiot Girls\u201d from minute one.<\/p>\n

Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 11th<\/sup> to August 1st<\/sup> 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wasn\u2019t too interested in the premise of \u201cRiot Girls\u201d upon first glance, but it inevitably won me over with its execution and I came to appreciate (and kind of love) how fun and unique it was. The whole idea of high school cliques becoming the tribes of the post-apocalypse is rife for satire, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2497,1284,12],"tags":[58,259,794,874,906,1033,1087],"class_list":["post-31593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasia-fest","category-festivalsevents","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-dark-comedy","tag-post-apocalypse","tag-romance","tag-science-fiction","tag-teen","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31593"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31621,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31593\/revisions\/31621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}