SITGES 2010 - Santa and a killer rubber against 13 assassins

Santa will never be the same

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.