While film festivals are always a great opportunity to see future awards contenders and international prestige films, those are all of secondary interest to me. When I build my festival schedule, I like to prioritize the weird, gonzo genre stuff that turned me into a cinephile in the first place. Be it time loops, karate fights, or vampire road trips (quite literally the three topics covered in the following reviews), these are the bizarre midnight films best enjoyed with a raucous crowd, a crispy soda, and a tub of popcorn that you know will make you sick, but you keep on munching anyway.
Half (dir. – Samjad)
There’s almost nothing to this movie beyond surface-level pleasures. An opening title card indicates that the lead characters are a half-vampire brother/sister duo, meaning that they aren’t harmed by the sun and are difficult to kill. They are essentially Blade, only there are two of them, and Blade is likely doomed to be just one guy forever, Mahershala Ali be damned (it’s okay, his latest movie was better than his Blade ever could have been anyway). After a pointless opening scene which establishes that the leading lady doesn’t speak for whatever reason, we are thrust into the present day, where our heroes (?) are car-jacked by a group of professional thieves.
These thieves don’t account for the half-vampireness of it all, and when the sun sets on the two presumed corpses, and their vampire-healing abilities kick in, and now they have to kill everyone. And that’s exactly what they do.
The title Half is obviously in reference to the monster genome of the protagonists, but it could also be applied to the script — the whole thing feels half-written. The vampires don’t really do anything vampire-y outside of being durable and strong (no blood drinking), there’s a half-formed mythology that doesn’t make much sense, and the film culminates in a final scene that is ostensibly some sort of stinger, but what exactly it presumes to he stinging is hard to figure.
And ya know what? I don’t care.
At this point in the festival, my brain is so filled with stories and trivia, my body so empty of sleep and nutrition, that a run and gun (and stab and stab and stab) actioner is just what the doctor ordered.
It’s clear that Half is a lower-budget production, and that the filmmakers are trying to build a foundation upon which a franchise can be born. The fisticuffs are in the vein of John Wick, only much sloppier, and much more drenched in blood and guts. The scrappy nature of it all is part of the charm, but I can see how many would find it grating and amateurish. I personally know of 3 folks who walked out of the film, and I don’t blame them.
But me? Shoot that dumb, ugly shit directly into my veins.
Arrested Memory (dir. – Sabu)
When a detective accidentally lets his entire squad die during a botched sting operation, the resultant stress gives him a case of amnesia. It’s science, don’t ask questions. With no memory of who he is or what’s going on, but with plenty of cases on his docket, Detective Lee (Shin’ichi Tsutsumi) is tasked with solving a kidnapping. What follows is a madcap odyssey of violence, gunplay, and slapstick comedy.
When I sat down for this one I had no idea it was supposed to be a comedy, but the true nature of the film was immediately apparent. After the violent opening scene, the comedy bits start hitting at a wicked pace and never stop. From henchmen (or decidedly not henchmen) being kicked out of windows, to cops looking to acquire meth so that the surprisingly helpful addict can come out of withdrawal and continue being a better detective than any of the actual detectives, it’s remarkable how silly this midnight crowd pleaser manages to be, and at such a consistent level. It’s one of the rare comedies that doesn’t exhaust the audience, despite never taking its foot off the gas.
Visually, Arrested Memory takes a page from the John Woo/Jonnie To era of ‘90s actioners, leaning into the style in order to subvert it with comedy. Even the fight choreography employs humor with a straight face: Detective Lee is clearly a good fighter, but after his umpteenth over-the-shoulder throw, you’d think he’d try a different move. He does not. It still works every time.
Like Half, this flick will likely only reach peak entertainment value in the right setting alongside the right people, and while it’s the objectively better film of the two, it will similarly fade from memory on account of it being mostly a style exercise. Except for Ming, the utterly perplexed detective who can’t manage to land a single win throughout the course of the film. I will never forget Ming, our ACAB king.
Five More Minutes (dir. – Javier Ruiz Caldera)
When it comes to sheer ingenuity and entertainment value, this film, which I’ve buried at the bottom of a post for some illogical reason, is easily my fav of the festival. As a fan of Timecrimes, River, and any of a number of films that make clever use of time-fuckery, I knew going into this one that I was in for a treat. But in a genre that seems to have run the tap dry on new ideas, this hilarious, surprisingly violent sci-fi comedy manages to break new ground.
Antonio and Barbara (Berto Romero and Belén Cuesta) are a couple in crisis. As advised by their marriage counselor, they decide to spend a weekend at a swank rental home in order to repair their failing relationship. Their son is safe with Grandma, and all amenities, as assured by their host Carlos (Javier Cámara) have been taken care of. After some bickering on the ride over, the couple begins their tour, but pretty quickly they find themselves experiencing some sort of cosmic error. They are stuck living the same five minutes over and over again. But there’s a catch: just because the timeline resets doesn’t mean there’s an absence of consequences. Injuries remain, alcohol impairment doesn’t fade, and the dead stay dead. Soon, these consequences pile up, and it’s up to the couple, and their increasingly erratic host, to minimize damage and try to break out of the loop. It will require communication … their only weakness.
The ensuing narrative is endlessly inventive in the myriad ways that the broken timeline escalates the situation and forces the troubled couple to rediscover what brought them together in the first place. The developments are frequently shocking and darkly humorous, with a sustained tension that ratchets upward in five minute increments.
The filmmaking is remarkably tight, adhering to the timeline with precision (I counted the loops and ran it against the runtime and it’s right on the money). Where this exceeds the other two movies in this post is in the character development. So many time loop movies are focused on the plot, with character concerns running a distant second. This is not the case here. I found myself invested in the central relationship, and the actors make it feel genuine. This is precisely how an embattled couple would behave in such an insane situation.
Me? I’d be more apt to behave like Carlos, unfortunately.
Who am I kidding? I’ll never own a house, let alone an extra house I could rent to others.
