Fantastic Fest 2022: Dispatch 3
The serial killer movie has been done before — a lot. But every once in a while, a film will come along and blast away your expectations. Japanese director Shinzô Katayama’s Missing blends different genres and storytelling techniques into a cohesive and satisfying story, subverting genre norms while exploring deep family connections. Gone is the rainy weather and cat-and-mouse games with detectives; instead, the action unfolds through the eyes of a young girl looking for her father. Desperate for money and willing to do just about anything, the father plans to find a serial killer and claim the reward money. When he goes missing, she goes looking.
The daughter finds more than she could have ever imagined, but it’s also at this point when the film shifts and becomes completely different in tone and also point-of-view. Artfully directed and beautifully photographed, MIssing is not what you’re expecting, yet it's everything you want out of a film like this. Full of imagery that will haunt you and emotional gut punches you won't soon forget, Katayama’s winner is best approached with minimal knowledge about the story — all the better to enjoy this wild ride. Grade: A-minus —Joel Winstead
Writer/director Carlota Pereda’s strong new film Piggy may have won “Best Horror” film at Fantastic Fest, but it’s somewhat of a stretch to place it within that genre. The Spanish filmmaker’s feature-length expansion of her 2018 short film, Cerdita, follows overweight butcher’s daughter Sara (an electric Laura Galán) as she navigates an especially torturous day of bullying. The journey finds her crossing paths with a Ben-Foster-looking drifter (Richard Holmes) who may or may not be somewhat of a white knight, killing various local wrongdoers while also punishing seeming innocents. Though a fair amount of blood is shed, it’s far more in line with that of a thriller. But whatever you label Piggy, the high production quality, tonal command, and engrossing performances make it well worth your time. Grade: B —Edwin Arnaudin
If you’re anything like me, every now and again you stumble onto something that immediately makes you think, “Where the hell has this been all my life?” Such is the case with the long-running New York City cable access show Stairway to Stardom. From 1979 to the early-’90s, host Frank Masi and his wife Tillie produced the wildest talent show on Earth, right from their Staten Island basement. For years, the worst — and by "worst" I mean the absolute best — singers, dancers, comedians, magicians, and all other manner of entertainers were invited to showcase their budding genius on the smallest of stages, all in the hopes of getting noticed by a manager, booker, or agent. You can probably guess how that worked out for them.
Now, the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) has compiled some of the show’s weirdest moments into a digestible montage of mediocrity that I simply cannot get enough of. My only complaint about The Stairway to Stardom Mixtape is that it isn’t nearly long enough to satisfy my morbid curiosity about this sometimes unsettling, sometimes depressing, but endlessly entertaining piece of Americana. From the fashion choices to the songs about hairdressers, from the Christian rock to the the comedy bits about persistent child abuse, The Stairway to Stardom Mixtape has just enough schadenfreude to take the edge off my short term fixation, but not nearly enough to feed my long term habit. Please, AGFA, give us more. Grade: B —James Rosario
Documentary filmmaker and journalist David Ferrier is well known for having the uncanny ability to find trouble. In Tickled, what started out as a curiosity about professional tickling turned into something much bigger and darker than you can imagine. Ferrier’s journalistic sensibilities give him access to people and places as he explores humanity's dark and macabre side, and Mister Organ is no exception.
Starting off in a similar benign manner as Tickled, this time the director focuses on an antique shop owner obsessed with the car park in front of her store and only having customers park there. After watching the store and watching car after car get booted, he begins to ask questions and soon begins the descent into something more. A man, Michael Organ, associated with the shop owner, begins to insinuate himself into the situation, and begins to push back against Ferrier's requests for interviews and even takes him to court. Naturally, this behavior only makes Ferrier dig deeper.
As the story progresses, an emotional see-saw game unfolds, creating what becomes the crux of the film. The titular Mister Organ is such an enigma and the back-and-forth emotional manipulation is pretty surreal to witness. While not as satisfying as his previous works, this is still a fun watch and Ferrier is consistently compelling. Grade: B —JW
(Photos courtesy of Fantastic Fest)
