"Top Ten" List - #5

 5. The Acquired Tastes 

This is the “key lime pie” category (h/t NATURAL BORN KILLERS). Most of these movies have a weird tang that can be off-putting, but the off-putting-ness has its own satisfaction or thrill. Basically, all of these movies are wackadoo as all get-out, but I think I love them because of it?

Flux Gourmet

This is director Peter Strickland’s follow-up to the incredible IN FABRIC, and I think his films are getting progressively weirder and I am here for it. The movie takes place at an artistic institution (more of a retreat), whose director is played by Gwendoline Christie. The group in residence during the film is a band that specializes in “sonic catering” – a kind of extreme ASMR in which the musicians make weird and disturbing noises with various foods. The movie follows their day-to-day rituals and activities (there’s an exercise they regularly do where they pretend to be in a supermarket and the director gives them various strange and really specific scenarios), and we see the power struggles and creative crises play out in public and in private. And there are some out-there subplots, like an assistant who suffers from excessive and uncomfortable flatulence. Everyone here is committing to the bit one thousand percent. Gwendoline Christie and Fatma Mohamed are especially game (if you’ve only ever known Christie as Brienne of Tarth, her performance here is spectacularly different). I don’t feel like this is as strong as IN FABRIC (and I still think DUKE OF BURGUNDY and BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO are my favorites of Strickland’s films that I’ve seen). But this was enjoyable in a “wow, I really just watched that” kind of way. (Available on Shudder and to rent on other streaming services.)

Glorious

This feels very Lovecraftian, and while it’s an original story, the character of Ghatanothoa comes from Lin Carter’s Xothic legend cycle, which is based on Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. So it’s indirectly Lovecraftian, I guess. The story revolves around a man who, hungover, stops at a rest stop and has a strange encounter with the man in the next stall by way of a glory hole. But it’s not what it sounds like! The man in the next stall is not a man but a demigod, whose father is trying to find him so he can use him to destroy humanity. The demigod, Ghatanothoa, needs something from Wes (the hungover man) in order to transcend the physical plane, elude his father and prevent humanity’s destruction. This is quite a short film, but it still feels a bit thinly stretched. It all takes place in the bathroom, and while the two actors (one of them Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons, playing Ghatanothoa) make their exchanges compelling, I think it could have been even stronger as a maybe 30-minute short film. (Available on Shudder and to rent on other streaming services.)

Kids vs. Aliens

One of my favorite experiences from Fantastic Fest, this is Jason Eisener’s first feature film since his 2011 film HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN. According to Eisener, both films take place in the same universe – the Hoboverse, if you will (I just made that up, please don’t blame Mr. Eisener for that) – and I find that fascinating. Like HOBO, KIDS VS. ALIENS is pretty brutal, but KvA is a *bit* tamer, thankfully, as its main characters are children. This reminded me a lot of THE GATE, especially its older sister / younger brother dynamic, and I really liked it overall. All of the kid characters are great, with nary a cloying over-wise Fanning type in the mix. While there sadly is no adorable ginger death metal kid (i.e., Terry in THE GATE), there *is* an amazing ginger kid in the person of Jack, who for my money is the MVP of the entire movie. The kids in the movie are amateur filmmakers (occasionally joined by the older sister) and the aliens have a very B-movie aesthetic (almost as charmingly ridiculous as the little aliens in the opening of NIGHT OF THE CREEPS). This movie is steeped in such childlike glee that I couldn’t help but be won over by it. I am really excited by the prospect of seeing more of this universe, either in film or TV form.   (Premiering on Shudder on 1/20.)

La Pieta

This won Best Picture at Fantastic Fest, and the director – who introduced the film at the screening I went to – was so bonkers and unpredictable that I had no idea what to expect. (He got lost going souvenir shopping in Austin while we watched his film and was unable to attend the post-screening Q&A; I hope he made it home alright.) The movie centers around a codependent mother-son relationship that becomes more and more toxic after the son is diagnosed with cancer. The film takes place in 2011 and we see lots of news reports about North Korea and Kim Jong-il, leading to a bizarre but surprisingly apt analogy between the relationship between this mother and son and the relationship between the North Korean government (especially Kim Jong-il) and its people. The movie has a very aggressive style with an almost suffocating pink and gray color palette (the art decoration of the mother’s house alone should be in a museum). And the whole thing is incredibly over-the-top and operatic. In a good way. (Not yet released.)

Leonor Will Never Die

I missed this at Fantastic Fest but finally caught up with it a couple months afterward when it was released in theaters. My main takeaway from this movie is … GIVE ME MORE ELDERLY WOMEN AS ACTION HEROES. The movie follows Leonor, a retired screenwriter who is known for writing great action movies. She is living with her son and the situation is not ideal for either of them, for many reasons. Leonor finds an ad looking for screenplays, so she pulls out an unfinished script and starts tinkering with it. While working on it, she becomes the victim of a freak accident when a television falls on her head and lands her in a coma. While unconscious but not exactly asleep, she finds herself as a character in her own movie, affecting the story and trying to figure out the ending. This was really great and unexpectedly emotional (Leonor’s story about Ronwaldo’s namesake is devastating). And I know it’s become a cliche to end a movie with a musical number, but I loved this one. (Available to rent on streaming services.)

Moonage Daydream

This movie is certainly an experience, and I loved seeing it at the Lincoln Square IMAX with the director Brett Morgen in attendance. I’m not sure how much new stuff we’re actually learning from it, despite the use of tons of never-before-seen concert footage, photos, interviews, etc. I consider myself to be a fan of David Bowie, but I’m not nearly as knowledgeable about his career or the breadth of his musical oeuvre (or filmography, for that matter). As such, I was pretty overwhelmed by this and found myself wondering if I was even a true fan at all. This isn’t a documentary by any known standards; it’s much more of an overall impression and headspace. It’s fascinating to see his evolution as an artist as it’s presented here, and yet there’s so much that’s left out. I’m not sure how to even evaluate it except that it’s an experience I’m glad I had. (Available to rent on streaming services.)

Smoking Causes Coughing

I’d only ever seen one of Quentin Dupieux’s movies before this, but that movie was RUBBER and it was about a rubber tire that kills people, so I was here for whatever this filmmaker was about to give me. The main characters in this movie are a group of avengers that call themselves Tobacco Force and are sent on a compulsory teambuilding retreat. Much of the movie is a bit like an anthology movie, with the characters telling scary stories that are dramatized for us. There’s an apocalyptic threat that feels a bit tacked on and inconsequential, to be honest, though it does culminate in a hilarious ending. My favorite bits, though, were the random details of this skewed universe. I love that the Tobacco Force are famous and that families want “us-ies” with them. I love that the team’s boss is a rat puppet who is a real ladies man, despite constantly secreting some kind of ooze from his mouth (and, you know, being an anthropomorphic rat). I love the 24-hour convenience store in the team’s cabin that’s staffed by just one person who has to sit there all day and all night until one of these five people decides they want something. This is a bit more fun than RUBBER, if a little less focused. I loved it. (Not yet released.)

Three Thousand Years of Longing

It’s been seven years since we’ve had a George Miller-directed movie (2015’s FURY ROAD) and while this wasn’t *precisely* my jam, there’s a lot to love. This movie is essentially an anthology story wherein Idris Elba’s character, a djinn who grants wishes, is summoned (unintentionally) by a scholar played by Tilda Swinton. Having a very comfortable life and being educated enough to know how all wish-granting stories inevitably end, she resists making any wishes. He then tells her three tales to explain how he became imprisoned in the bottle she released him from, and by the end she has decided on her first wish. This is beautiful, with some really stunning visuals. The love story is a bit odd to me (though perfectly understandable that a woman would make a wish to be Idris Elba’s lover), but I do love the interplay between Swinton and Elba and their characters’ perspectives. My favorite thing about the movie, though, is how different it is from what George Miller tends to be known for. I think, when we look back on his career, the Mad Max films stand out as his most iconic achievement. But it gives me such joy to know that he can also make a film like this (not to mention THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, BABE: PIG IN THE CITY and the HAPPY FEET movies). (Available to rent on streaming services.)

Triangle of Sadness

This was the much-hyped closing film of Fantastic Fest, and while I was meh on the director’s previous film, THE SQUARE, the trailer had me pretty excited for this. I think most of the movie has unfortunately been overshadowed by the extended “vomit” sequence, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s one of many movies this year that comments on class and satirizes the super wealthy. And while there’s plenty of that biting satire and class commentary in the first half – Yaya and Carl’s discussion about who pays for what, the rich woman who thinks she’s giving the poors a real treat by insisting on their abandoning their duties and going for a swim, and of course the Captain and Dimitry literally having an argument about socialism and capitalism – the second half takes it to another level by completely upending the established class structure. Everyone in the cast understands the assignment, but Dolly DeLeon is the MVP (in every way) and I’m fully behind the campaign to get her an Oscar nod. (Available to rent on streaming services.)

Unicorn Wars

Honour! Pain! Cuddles! A French-Spanish anti-war animated film with the animation style of an uber violent My Little Pony is something you’re either going to be into or you’re not. I expected this to be bonkers but I didn’t expect it to be as sincere as it is. The story’s main conflict is a war between religious zealot teddy bears and environmentalist unicorns, and it is surprisingly gory and obscene for an animated movie. (Definitely not for kids – in addition to the violence, there is drug use and a few teddy bear penises.) There is a secondary plot revolving around two of the bears who are brothers who have sustained a lifelong rivalry for their mother’s affections, going back to just after their birth. If the combination of cute and brutal appeals to you, this movie might be right up your alley. (Not yet released.)