October 17, 2013

Shield of Straw (Takashi Miike, 2013) | Lesson of the Evil (Takashi Miike, 2012)

Shield of Straw My first film at Fantasia in 2013 was Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw, one of the director’s contribution to the festival. Miike is a known workhorse, directing sometimes three films per year, in a myriad of genres and styles. Yet, there seems to be a connecting thread through his films, which feels harder to ascertain for me […]
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 […]
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 […]
April 20, 2010

Ip Man (Wilson Yip, 2008)

Ip Man, a martial arts master, must go against his own code of conduct to protect his fellow countrymen when war breaks out.
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.