Sitges ‘09 Reviews Part Two: Doghouse, Macabre, Heartless

To see Shelagh’s first batch of  reviews from the 2009 Sitges Film Festival, including Splice, Amer, Cargo and TiMER be sure to click here.

Probably the best night I had at Sitges was not at a film, but at a party (like all good festivals, the parties are great). This one was set up by the Film Festival Mafia, a group of film festival hounds of which I am now a proud member. But this was no ordinary party – it was karaoke. You have not lived until you’ve seen the guys from Fantastic Fest in Austin tear their shirts off and rock some Guns ‘n Roses. Oh, such memories. But back to the movies.

Doghouse – Directed by Jake West. Starring Danny Dyer, Noel Clarke

The British have a knack for combining horror and comedy. And while this zom-rom-com is not in the same league as Shaun of the Dead, it certainly adds a fun new twist to the becoming-tired-at-lightning-speed zombie subgenre. A group of male friends, in an effort to cheer up one of their lot as he heads for a painful divorce, go to a small town in rural England where the population is 75% female. But as they arrive, it turns out that that 75% have turned into zombie-like creature who will attack anyone with an excess of testosterone.  Politically correct, this film is not; but that’s a good thing. Indeed, it makes as much fun of the way men stereotype and generalize female behavior as much as exposing some of that behavior, which I can say as a woman, is accurate and embarrassing. While the film strays into certain cliches (all the men represent a type, and you couldn’t see these varying types actually hanging out together for example), there are enough laughs and originality to sustain the 90 minutes.  Apparently there’s a “cathouse” script in the works. Now that I will see.

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Sitges ‘09 Reviews Part One: Splice, Amer, Cargo, TiMER

Last February when on holiday in Spain, I was fortunate enough to meet Mike Hostench, co-director of Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, the largest fantastic film festival of Europe and one of the largest and most important in the world. His enthusiasm convinced me to attend the festival last month. Believe me, when you’re sitting on a resort restaurant patio surrounded by some of the biggest names in genre cinema it can be hard to motivate yourself to go to a movie; but it was not hard at Sitges considering the plethora of offerings.

Europeans have a very different attitude towards genre film (by genre I mean science fiction, horror and fantasy). Rather than being a niche market that caters to a certain type of individual, genre film is welcomed and watched by a hefty portion of the population. It is not cult; it is (almost) mainstream. This also leaves the field of what is considered genre very wide open. This can be detrimental, but in Sitges case it works very well. Here is a sampling of some of the strange and wonderful (though not always both) films I saw.

Splice – Directed by Vincenzo Natali. Starring Adrian Brody, Sarah Polley

One of the most anticipated films of the year, Splice definitely does not disappoint. In fact, it dares to go places no American film would – but of course, it’s written and directed by a Canadian, filmed in Canada with a Canadian star. And it’s about genetic manipulation. Brody and Polley are a husband and wife scientific mastermind team who specialize in mixing up the DNA of various animals in order to create new pharmaceutical products to cure humanity’s ailments. In order to maintain funding, they secretly combine the DNA of several animals with human DNA; low and behold their experiment works and an artificial womb gives birth to Dren, a human-bird-horse-I don’t know what else hybrid. The scientists hide her, educate her and ultimately imprison her.  They bond with her as parents, but in the end they are not her parents, but her creators – and there is a world of difference between these two roles. The former is nurturing in order to allow the offspring to survive on its own; the latter is controlling, wanting their own vision to supercede any independence of the creation. Perhaps this is why Nietzsche said that God is dead; creations are more trouble than they are worth (creators too). How can you separate your emotions from your work when the thing you create is alive and sentient? How can you hope to control it? Are there things that science simply should not do? While Polley is her usual boring self (sorry, her acting has never impressed me), Brody gives a fantastic performance as a man caught between his work and his heart (and occasionally his libido). This is Natali’s best film since Cube.

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District 9 Review

2009 has been an incredible year for science fiction films.  Duncan Jones’ impressive Moon and James Cameron’s super-hyped Avatar can consider themselves in extremely good company with District 9.  Director Neill Blomkamp has a very bright future ahead of him. Based on Blomkamp’s short film Alive in Joburg, District 9 is quite simply one of the most impressive films I’ve ever seen from a first time director, period.  Spoilers to follow.

The movie is not without its shortcomings; at times the film lacks discipline and suffers from directorial overindulgence.  Blomkamp was given free reign by producer Peter Jackson — a luxury many directors would kill for — and it shows.  But that new director naïveté helps the film as often as it hurts it.  Moments of selfish excess aside, the film is full of brilliant set pieces and quiet character moments.  District 9 is easily one of the most unique and original film I’ve seen in years.

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Moving Up: Exclusive with Defying Gravity’s Dylan Taylor

From commercial funny man (pepsi,  pizza pops, bud light), to movie slow poke (Tideland,  Charlie Bartlett), to the biggest House Party animal in last year’s under-performing (though not without its moments) original Comedy Network series, Toronto actor Dylan Taylor has been on the up and up for a few years now. You could even say he’s been getting high ever since high school but never dreamed he’d one day be taking a trip beyond our atmosphere. Okay, perhaps Dylan isn’t actually leaving earth anytime soon, but Steve Wassenfelder, the immature genius he plays on Defying Gravity, is.

“I’ve often been cast as slow, dimwitted characters. This time I’m a theoretical physicist, maybe the smartest guy on the ship, but also the youngest, which we sometimes see with my video game obsessions and juvenile attitude towards girls.”

Astronauts (Dylan in the middle) in awe at the contents of Dork Shelf.

The primary concentration of the show is a six year mission visiting seven planets manned by eight people from four countries (got all that?).  Because the show is set in the not too distant future (including flashbacks, the story takes place roughly between 2040 and 2060), much of it will be grounded in a recognizable reality. As Dylan informs us,  “the fashions on earth haven’t changed all that much and a lot of the gadgets are the same that we have now, only better.”   They seem to be taking the smart route of not expecting the audience to completely suspend disbelief and are attempting to show a lot of the realities of space travel. For example, how people and things react to zero gravity is a constant concern. “But there’s also an ominous mystery element to the mission, plus our characters have the added pressure of being seen by millions of people on earth who watch us on TV like a reality show. The writers have done a really great job planning the entire series’ arc.”

Production of the Fox TV/ Omni film co-produced series wrapped the first 13 episodes only a few weeks ago in Vancouver, with news of its early August premiere on ABC reaching the cast only a week ago.

“Just before getting the role, I was starting to get in shape, probably the best I’d been in years.”  Says Dylan, “I was a little worried because casting directors who had seen my previous work would be expecting a certain type. Sure enough they wanted me to put some weight back on for the role, which I did, but not much when they decided that after 5 years of training my character would have slimmed out a bit, like Barney in The Simpsons before he went to space. In the deeper flashbacks I’ll look more like the comic book guy.”

The great thing about a science fiction TV series, is there’s lots of room for special effects, action, comedy, romance, allegory and character development. And Vancouver is no stranger to Sci-Fi serials either (X-Files, Smallville, Battlestar Gallactica). Many of the major creatives behind the show have a pretty impressive track record going into this, including the pilot episode’s director David Straiton (House), executive producers James Parriott (Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty) and Michael Edelstein (Desperate Housewives), and of course the always likable face of star Ron Livingston which was all over one of my all-time favourite mini-series, Band of Brothers.

With so much going for it, it’s hard not to think that Defying Gravity is poised to succeed. “It’s the best thing to happen to space since Bowie, I’m hoping they get the rights to that song too.”

It will be aired on CTV in Canada and ABC Stateside. The first two episodes premiere on Sunday, August 2nd at 9pm, with a regular time slot commencing the following Sunday.