{"id":35715,"date":"2021-08-24T02:49:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T06:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=35715"},"modified":"2021-08-24T02:49:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T06:49:43","slug":"the-sadness-2021-fantasia-film-festival-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/24\/the-sadness-2021-fantasia-film-festival-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sadness (2021) [Fantasia Film Festival 2021]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Director\/Writer Rob Jabbaz\u2019s \u201cThe Sadness\u201d is easily the starkest and most depressing commentary on humanity that\u2019s been produced in the last ten years. Humanity during the COVID era (?) has revealed a lot about itself during a pandemic that\u2019s almost proven apocalyptic, and Jabbaz jumps on true events to deliver a message to his audience. Sadly, the message isn\u2019t hopeful. Or optimistic. And no, it\u2019s not at all cynical. It\u2019s truth. It\u2019s a clear cut exploration of civilization, and how easy it is (and can be) for everyone within to turn on each other, and descend in to absolute chaos, sadism, and delirium.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sadness\u201d is set during what seems like a long quarantine as a pandemic has overtaken Taiwan. Although the government is anxious to get back to normal, scientists are warning about a new variant called the Alvin Virus that\u2019s similar to rabies, sadly falling on deaf ears thanks to talking heads on the internet. Young couple Jim and Kat (co-stars Berant Zhu and Regina) awaken ready to take on their day, and as Kat travels to work on the train, Jim is faced with the first gore soaked, horrifying explosion of the Alvin virus. As he struggles to look for a way to help Kat and bring her home, the pair experience parallel confrontations with the new strain of the virus.<\/p>\n

As everyone devolves in to murderous, raping, cannibalistic, sadistic, merciless maniacs, Kat and Jim try to figure out how to make sense of something that has spread like wildfire. One of the biggest aspects of \u201cThe Sadness\u201d is that there clearly is no rhyme or reason for the Alvin virus or its effects. Jabbaz takes apparent inspiration from films like \u201cRabid<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe Crazies,\u201d and \u201c28 Days Later<\/a>\u201d not really examining humanity\u2019s fall, but putting a mirror up to our face and show us his easily it takes for us to descend in to madness. Much of the brilliance of \u201cThe Sadness\u201d is the ambiguity of the Alvin virus and how much of it is at play. Perhaps the Alvin virus is very much causing its victims to become murderous, depraved psychopaths, or perhaps it\u2019s one gigantic case of hysteria.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the people that have bore witness to the effects of the virus have somewhat sub-consciously played along, giving in to their inner depravities. The Alvin virus doesn\u2019t so much seem to work by infecting its victims, so much as it appeals to the victims\u2019 deepest depravities. While much of \u201cThe Sadness\u201d depicts sheer acts of disgusting gore and torture, the recurring message embedded within the narrative of \u201cThe Sadness\u201d is: does it, or will it, take that much for humanity to descend in to sheer blood soaked madness? When resources are scant, and all sense of law and order are gone, would we give in and shed all fa\u00e7ade of morality? Would we struggle to maintain some sense of order?<\/p>\n

Would it even be worth it to sustain an illusion of civility when the world is circling down the drain? Within all the blood, and gore, and dismemberment, and nauseating oozing of bodily fluids is a very volatile and relevant statement about the world, and how easily functions that keep us orderly and sane can break down in the face of a menace that fully conveys how primal and savage we are. \u201cThe Sadness\u201d might polarize many, but you can\u2019t deny that director Rob Jabbaz delivers a mesmerizing warning that should be heeded.<\/p>\n

The Fantasia International Film Festival runs every year, and this year runs virtually from August 5th until August 25th.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director\/Writer Rob Jabbaz\u2019s \u201cThe Sadness\u201d is easily the starkest and most depressing commentary on humanity that\u2019s been produced in the last ten years. Humanity during the COVID era (?) has revealed a lot about itself during a pandemic that\u2019s almost proven apocalyptic, and Jabbaz jumps on true events to deliver a message to his audience. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2497,12],"tags":[113,302,367,419,477,703,906,1012,1087,1116],"class_list":["post-35715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasia-fest","category-movie-reviews","tag-asian","tag-drama","tag-foreign","tag-gore","tag-horror","tag-mystery","tag-science-fiction","tag-survival","tag-thriller","tag-torture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35715","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=35715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35717,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35715\/revisions\/35717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}