Fantasia International Film Festival is back with a vengeance for its 2023 rendition! From impressive animation to road trip horror, we are here to put five overlooked movies on your radar. Check out our picks after the jump…
APORIA
This year, Judy Greer is truly having a moment. The legendary actress, who has starred in everything from Darren Stein’s quirky Jawbreaker to last year’s vastly underrated Reboot, wowed recently with her heartbreaking performance in Tribeca’s Eric LaRue. Now, Greer headlines sci-fi drama Aporia, from writer/director Jared Moshe. A script rich with moral quandaries gives Greer ample room to stretch her dramatic chops, again filling the shoes of a loving mother who struggles in her attempts to connect with her child. A fascinating, grounded approach to time travel, Aporia will be a definite must-watch for fans of Greer, or sci-fi in general.
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK
Come sports fans, come animation buffs, come consumers of impeccably-crafted dramas! Eye-popping, stunningly-realized animation is becoming all the rage lately, and Japanese import The First Slam Dunk, based upon the popular 90s manga and anime series, arrives at the festival to continue this trend. Follow complex teenager Ryota (Shugo Nakamura) as he brings his lightning speed and whip-smart intelligence to the court of the Inter-High School National Championship. For what essentially boils down to one feature-length basketball match, The First Slam Dunk overflows with more suspense and nail-biting tension in its final act than many other generic sports flicks put together.
MOTHER LAND
South Korea’s first stop-motion animated movie in 45 years has finally arrived in the form of Park Jae-beom’s lush and emotional debut, Mother Land. The film tells the story of a nomadic tribe, and a tight-knit family within it who are faced with an impossible situation. Little Krisha’s mother falls ill after saving the girl from certain death, in the midst of helping to herd hundreds of reindeer across the land. At the advice of a spiritual Shaman, Krisha sets off deep into the wild, accompanied by her baby brother Kolya, to track down the legendary Master of the Forest. It is said that only The Master will know the way to stop her mother’s suffering. Running just over an hour in length, Mother Land still manages to be an impressive technical accomplishment in animation—its story of going to any lengths for family will speak to many people, regardless of an obvious foreign language barrier.
Red Rooms
(Written by Allison Brown) Red rooms are a commonly known dark web urban legend. In these spaces void of ethics, murders are live-streamed by taking anonymous bids from sick clientele for indescribable, revolting mutilation. Director Pascal Plante builds a near-future world where this myth has come to fruition as a result of faster Tor streaming rates in captivating thriller Red Rooms. True crime enthusiasts will eat this up as they watch lead Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) take her interest one step further by attending a serial killer’s trial in court. This is quintessential viewing for those looking for a more realistic portrayal of the dangers of the deep web.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
Nicolas Cage somehow delivers one of his most unhinged performances yet, while keeping it grounded in the grittiness of the movie in Yuval Adler’s demented new road trip horror/thriller, Sympathy for the Devil. This twisted little treat should give genre fans everything they want and more from one of cinema’s most reliably talented performers; Cage, who also produces, knows exactly what he’s doing. Essentially a two-hander, Joel Kinnaman impresses as an unsuspecting character credited as “The Driver,” whilst Cage portrays “The Passenger.” Sympathy for the Devil quickly becomes a high-octane thrill ride filled with gunshots, Molotov cocktails, “cheddah,” and Cage’s hilarious outbursts of manic energy. Any fan of Cage or Kinnaman will not want to miss a single frame.
For more information about this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival, including ticketing and the entire lineup, please head over to the official festival website for full details.