November 26, 2010

Secret Reunion (Hun Jang, 2010)

A federal agent meets a spy, Ji-won, who had escaped from North Korea, they play a game of cat-and-mouse, keeping an eye on one another.
June 29, 2010

20th Century Boys Trilogy (Yukihiko Tsutsumi, 2008-2009)

WHAT IT IS: Kenji, a failed musician turned convenience store clerk, notices about a terrible (but familiar) virus outbreak in Africa. When a popular doomsday cult surfaces branding the symbol Kenji conceived as a child with his friends, world events take on new meaning. Someone is using the Book of Prophesies Kenji wrote years ago as a blueprint for the […]
December 5, 2010

The Housemaid (Ki-young Kim, 1960; Sang-soo Im, 2010)

The Housemaid (Ki-young Kim, 1960) is one of the oldest films known to have survived South Korea’s evolution from Third-World country to G20 powerhouse. The print shown at Fantasia this year was restored by Martin Scorsese’s World film Restoration Foundation in tandem with the South Korean government and follows The Housemaid (Sang-soo Im, 2010) remake’s stellar performance this year at […]
October 17, 2013

My Fantasia 2013: Preamble

Fantasia 2013 started with a change of venue (the Concordia Hall theater is gone for now, under construction), and we were welcomed back to the Imperial theater on Bleury Street. It’s an old new home since the festival started out showing films at the Imperial way back when. On March 16th at 1PM, the tickets for the festival go on […]
February 26, 2013

Mitsuko Delivers (Yuya Ishii, 2011)

Mitsuko Delivers is a great beginning to the festival for me, starting with what could be the best acting performance of the year. Riisa Naka plays the eponymous Mitsuko, an energetic and pregnant young woman who travels back to her old stomping grounds and quickly befriends a cast of quirky local characters, forcing them to seek happiness, whether they’re open […]