JOE DANTE in Sitges 2010 - Picture by Gerard Fossas
Genre masters Joe Dante (Germlins), Paco Plaza ([REC]) Vincenzo Natali (Splice), Xavier Gens (Hitman) and Ryuhei Kitamura (The Midnight Meat Train) have signed up to direct segments of new horror omnibus feature Paris I'll Kill You, which Instinctive Film and Reverence are producing.
Obviosuly this film is in some way a spoof of Paris, Je t´aime, that indi film where filmakers like Coen Brothers, Gus van Sant, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer or even Wes craven made segments of the movie. The producers are pitching Paris I Kill You as the first of a possible "horror city" franchise, again aping Paris je t'aime producers, who spun off the romantic capitals format with New York, I Love You and planned versions for Shanghai and Jerusalem. Let see what happens with the first one before getting ready the other ones...
If you take a moment to look back and think about which ones have been the most successfull Spanish movies of the last years you´ll probably notice something: all of them have been genre films, horror films. REC, The orphanage, Pan´s labyrinth, 28 weeks later or Buried. Apparently there is a feeling growing worldwide claiming that Spain is living what they call "The Golden Age of Spanish movies". This feeling has been discussed in the just finished International Sitges Film Fest after watching Spanish movies like Secuestrados (Kidnapped) or The new daugther.
Ivana Baquero - The new daugther
The new daughter tells the story of a recently divorced man and his two children. Their fragile family situation gets even weirder when the big daughter´s character suddenly changes right after they arrived to their new house. The reasons for this happening? It could have something to do with a mysterious mound in the garden. We were all keeping an eye on director Luis Berdejo. His career in the short film field was insultingly promising and Sitges already considered him a regular in its program. His coming-out in feature is big-time, with a movie starring Costner and based on a story by the master of intrigue John Connolly. Ivana Baquero, the kid from Pan´s labyrinth returns to genre films to prove that her talent goes beyond the innocent character of that movie. Perhaps was the hand of Hollywood producers but one can´t help the feeling that the movie could be much better with a few changes on the script and the way the story is told. Anyway, the fact that Berdejo’s film debut has been made in Hollywood says a lot about this idea of the Spanish Golden age in horror films, because they are being called to work in Hollywood.
The other big Spanish film of this year´s Fest was Secuestrados (Kidnapped). A wealthy family that's just moved into their new mansion is held up by three hooded men. Right when the criminals appear to have everything under control, one of its member's aggressiveness starts to cause blood to be shed. Miguel Ángel Vivas creates a suspense and violence filled movie, halfway between thriller and horror with realistic overtones. Made with just twelve sequence shots, Secuestrados grabs the spectator by the throat with a surprising and bloodcurdling opening scene and doesn't let go until the shocking, bloody end.
There were more Spanish films such as The possession of Emma Evans, Agnosia or Julia´s Eyes, but we´ll talk about them soon. For now, here it is the trailer of Secuestrados, the film which won best movie and best director awards at Fantastic Fest 2010.
Well, that was it. Sitges 2010 has already finished. After 10 days watching about five movies per day, after so many press conferences and a few interviews, the 43th fantastic and horror film Festival of Sitges has came to an end. Rare Exports: a Christmas tale was the winner of this year. Jalmari Helander won the best director and best movie awards, but the film also won the award for the best cinematography. The film is quite fun, "original and fresh", according to the jury of the festival.
There were a few movies we all wanted to check out. Monsters, Gareth Edward´s debut on a feature film was one of them. After being sell as The War of the worlds meets Jurassic Park, I would say there´s nothing like that on the movie. Monsters would be much better described as a road movie with creatures hiding in the shadows. A friend pointed out that Monsters was like Before the sunrise with aliens. And I must admit, he' was right. The film is definitely not what you think it is, but I think you´ll love what it really is. Pay attention to the first sequence of the film, where the director shows something really important for the story and "only 10% of the audience notice it the first time they watch it", told me the director in a quick chat we had after the screening.
If there was a mad movie everyone wanted to see was Rubber. The story of a killer rubber. Crazy, funny, "an homage to the no reason" as one of the characters point out in the first scene of the movie. Not for nothing the movie has won the best movie in Fantastic section by the Carnet Joven jury. It also won the Silver Meliés to the best european movie and the Citizen Kane award to an up-and-coming director for Quentin Dupieux.
The great Hammer productions are also back. At least, that is what they are trying to sell to the audience out there. Let me in, remake of Let the right on in, is the first movie of the new era of Hammer productions. Matt "Cloverfield" Reeves made a really good movie: dark, deep, scary and sweet. The only problem is, the original was made just a couple of years ago and it was such a masterpiece that it still remains in some viewers minds. For all you guys who hasn´t watched the first one yet, Let me in will surprise you as a really great movie. Matt Reeves shoot it perfectly, but it lacks that magical feeling I experienced watching the first one. The best about Let me in are without any doubt, the actors performances: from Chloe Moretz (this girl is just amazing) to Kodi Smit-McPhee, all the cast is perfect.
This is me with Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee
Takashi Miike´s 13 assassins is the story of an elite group of samurai, each with their own deadly skill, who plots to ambush Lord Naritsugu on his annual journey home from Edo. While the first hour of the film is pretty calm and philosophical about Samurais rules and ethics, the second half of the movie is a bloody festival of action, swords and blood. Almost one hour of never ending swords fights made the film won the Audience Award.
We are the night was described by a fellow in the press room as "sex in the city with vampires" and he had a point. I mean, the film is not as glamorous as the tv show or the movies where Sarah Jessica Parker buys shoes but you actually could see moments which resemble to Sex and the city style. This film is as funny and entertained as you could ever desire. It goes again with the cool vampires style started with Blade but it has some of the orignal problems of vampire myths. The film won the special jury award no without a bit of controversy.
We are the night, and the night is fun
Every year there are a couple of unknown movies that suddenly win a place within the group of the best movies of the Festival. The perfect host and Kaboom were the good surprises in this 43 Sitges Film Festival. The last one is the story of Smith’s everyday life in the dorms: hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor. Tripping on some hallucinogenic cookies he ate at a party, Smith is convinced he’s witnessed the gruesome murder of an enigmatic Red Haired Girl who has been haunting his dreams. What he discovers as he tries to find out the truth leads him deeper and deeper into a mystery that will forever change not only the course of his young life but the destiny of the entire world. Funny enough to watch it, specially for teenagers exploring their sexuality and looking for adventures to spice their life up.
The Perfect host tells the story of an ex-con who realizes the robbery he had meticulously planned has wound up being front page news. Desperately needing to hide until things die down he manages to crash a residence where the owner is having a dinner party. A perfect hideout if it wasn’t for the host... If you considered Frasier’s fussy brother to be a charming, harmless character, wait until you see his darkest side in this unpredictable psychological thriller where appearances can be mortally deceptive and surprises come one after another.
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