A cadre of Norwegian and Asian filmmakers – and even one Hungarian tour de force – drove the week of Fantastic Fest 2010 to its conclusion Thursday night.  Below are a few notes about some of the highlights and absolute messes that I saw. (Full disclosure: my position as Senior Programmer of the Asian Film [...]

“Get in line soon.  The way you’ve treated your body, you don’t have much time left.” German director Damir Lukacevic’s science fiction piece “Transfer” is a bittersweet, heartbreaking look at identity, love and aging.  Crisp and somber, the new film works off the notion that “personality transfers” can prolong life by taking the thoughts and [...]

“We keep things to ourselves here.” The Korean film “Bedevilled” begins as a slow-burn comeuppance thriller, quiet and deceptive in its approach.  When a financial advisor, forced on vacation after striking a co-worker, arrives on the island where she grew up, the dynamic between the handful of villagers remaining there is apparent from the word [...]

“How do you like the Land of the Northern Lights?” The first thing you notice about “Rare Exports” is how crisp and clean the film is, which neatly matches its cold, winter setting.  When excavators bring up sawdust-filled samples from deep inside a mountain, the owner pushes everyone to act nice and dig fast…they have [...]

“Things got a bit interesting up there.” Day 5 got off to an improbably roaring start with yet another Asian winner, the South Korean action/drama “The Man from Nowhere”.  The SK film industry has a firm grasp on how to successfully mix genres and get the most impact without watering down any aspect of a [...]

Sunday was Day 4 of Fantastic Fest 2010, and while Elijah Wood roamed the Alamo Drafthouse lobby, the Arcade was struck and Tim League was being battered by Michelle Rodriguez, there were actually films to watch.  Strangely, the day started and ended with a couple of originals, with two lesser works in between.  Foreign is [...]

“How can fire be good or bad?” Indian writer/director Bala’s “Naan Kadavul” is not quite as inscrutable as, say, “El Topo” by way of Bollywood, but the new film is a bit of weird overload, even by Fantastic Fest standards.  Beginning with a father searching for the son he abandoned as a child, the film [...]

“It’s time to settle this account.” Hans Petter Moland’s “A Somewhat Gentle Man”, like “Golden Slumber” the day before, comes out of left field with humor, heart and a neat sensibility that makes a terrifically winning final product.  From Norway, the film stars Stellan Skarsgard in a masterful performance as Ulrik, a man who’s just [...]

(Steve Norwood’s ongoing coverage of Fantastic Fest begins.  Check out the full roster of films at www.fantasticfest.com.) “You got anything stronger than DMT?” “Enter The Void”, Gaspar Noe’s first-person narrative assault on the senses, is courageous in its calculation.  It is a raw, nerve-jangling experience that should not be missed for the sheer audacity of [...]

Fantastic Fest‘s Founder and Festival Director Tim League takes a few moments away from busily scheduling the upcoming 2010 festival week to answer a few questions from RCC Editor-In-Chief Steve Norwood.  Austin’s premiere genre festival, Fantastic Fest has been dubbed “the geek Telluride” by Variety and “the most important film festival in North America” by [...]