MAY 14 — I love recommending films to friends, colleagues, acquaintances and whoever else out there who’d listen. I’ve probably been doing it since after high school, ever since I got a part-time job and had enough of my own cash to rent or buy VHS tapes (yes, it was that long ago) of films that I thought would be interesting to watch.
It’s a thirst (or hunger) for films that will probably never, ever be quenched, and no matter how busy I am with my job, my band or my personal life, I’d still try my best to squeeze in some movie watching into my daily schedule, which means that because there are only so many films playing in Malaysian cinemas, a dive into the netherworlds of obscure arthouse films, indie films and B movies is always needed to feed my movie fix, hence the neverending list of movies that I keep recommending to you, dear readers, every week.
Things are not gonna change this week though, as I’ve sifted through quite a few more movies that probably very few people have heard of before and have found myself a mixture of good and decent genre fare, interesting stuff and even failed experiments that are still worth watching. So off we go then!
The Demolisher
Winner of the Best Canadian Feature award at the 2015 edition of the Fantasia Film Festival, an Official Selection at Sitges, and garlanded with rave reviews from respected publications like The Hollywood Reporter, the Roger Ebert website and popular genre websites like Bloody Disgusting and Ain’t It Cool News, The Demolisher is a truly polarizing genre film that you’ll either love or hate exactly because of what makes it stand out from most of the genre pack — it’s visually stylish as hell.
Filled to the brim with slo-mo sequences that can sometimes be truly awesome to behold, The Demolisher is that brave and rare little film that almost completely dispenses with exposition and any attempts to explain the psychology of its lead character, even if the film itself is about the mental breakdown of said lead character, a vigilante killer seemingly out to get the members of a particular gang.
Combine that with its pretty neat non-linear editing scheme, then you’ve got yourself one totally involving yet potentially frustrating movie experience (because of its refusal to play by a lot of movie rules). See it and decide for yourself. I found myself frustrated at first, but then gradually got sucked in until I kept on thinking about the movie even days after.
Darling
Not content with watching one stylish film about the psychological or mental breakdown of its lead character, I decided to give another one a try in the same week, and boy did it take a toll on me. Like The Demolisher, Darling is also distinguished by its staunch refusal to explain things to the audience, preferring to remain cryptic and then shock its audience with seemingly random acts of violence that actually have reasons behind them.
But where this one clearly differs with The Demolisher is that even at the end of the movie, it all still feels a bit random. Never mind its obvious tip of the hat to Roman Polanski’s apartment trilogy (Repulsion, The Tenant and Rosemary’s Baby), the slow but violent descent into madness experienced by the lead character here, who’s hired as a caretaker for a mysterious and creepy big old house in Manhattan, just never convinces, despite Lauren Ashley Carter’s magnetic performance in the lead role. If arthouse horror is your thing, then this one might be just for you. Not me though!
Road games
After that much atmospheric and psychological terror, it’s pretty refreshing to encounter a simple, old school “terrorized hitchhiker” film. The thing about genre films is that because they follow their genre’s rules, you can pretty much telegraph the films’ plots right from the very beginning, so the fun is in the journey.
Some films, like the first two I mentioned above have their fun defying or frustrating our expectations. Some, like this one, derives its pleasures from the complete familiarity of its “two strangers meet while hitchhiking, then get picked up by a weirdo foreigner” plot, and provide us with more potential pleasures from the many possible twists that may or may not happen, based on the many tantalising clues that writer-director Abner Pastoll has carefully laid on the floor for us to discover.
It’s a French film, with mainly English dialogue, keeping with what’s starting to look like a new trend for European horror flicks to be in English (for obvious commercial reasons), as its hero is an English guy, so the twists and turns in its plot won’t surprise fans of modern French horror classic Haute Tension (aka High Tension), but it’s still a fun ride all the same.
Uncanny
Probably the biggest surprise for me on this whole list, as I’ve barely even heard or read anything at all about this little lo-fi sci-fi film, and only decided to give it a watch because of its interesting-sounding premise, this smart little three-hander is a real marvel of sharp writing, brilliant conception and top class acting from its very small cast of characters.
Set wholly in an apartment, the film is like a male (or gender reversed) version of Ex-Machina, as it’s about a female journalist given a week to spend with Adam, a robot with uncanny human-like qualities, and its creator, the reclusive David.
As both creator and robot start to feel attracted to the very pretty journalist, a psychological game of one-upmanship develops between the two of them, resulting not only in an electrifyingly tense love triangle between the three, but also a plot with plenty of red herrings and surprises. Despite obviously being made on a tiny budget, Uncanny is every bit as good as Ex-Machina and, dare I say, even more emotionally satisfying.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
