Depending on your viewpoint, things are bad out there. So how can a film festival that trades in all things horrific, fantastical, absurd, and on-the-margins be cleansing? I’d say that because most of the films at this year’s edition of Austin’s Fantastic Fest fall into the outer reaches of cinema both mainstream and (very) independent, it creates a calming universe that allows film lovers to meld into a celebration of the extremes. Horror and fantasy have always positioned their fingers on the cultural pulse more than any other genre, and it’s times like these that we need community and exaggerated expression to release something together. Fantastic Fest 2025 will certainly deliver on that.
At first glance American-born French filmmaker Eugene Green seems like a unique choice for Fantastic Fest. But watch his latest film, The Tree of Knowledge, and within the first five minutes, all suspicions will be cast aside. Culminating as a bit of his greatest hits from previous films- mixing farcical fairy tales with an almost Bressonian economy and off kilter sense of humor- his latest film is all those things and more.
Teenager Gaspar (Rui Pedro Silva) wanders away from home in Lisbon and at first, he’s a stranger in his own land as tourists have overtaken the cobbled streets and statued vistas. He barely registers for them besides giggling selfies and a comment of “he’s so cute” by a blonde in glasses who doesn’t even slow down her vehicle. He soon meets The Ogre (Diogo Doria), a man whose made a pact with the devil and can make people transition into animals with the swipe of his hand. Fearing the malicious nature of The Ogre, Gaspar wanders away from him too with a donkey and dog in tow and they encounter further unique figures, complete with a princess and her own ideals about the past.
Like his previous films The Living World (2003) and Waiting for the Barbarians (2017), Green is attempting to swipe at something through the ghostly reverberations of classic storytelling. He could easily comment about his (probable) frustrations with the lazy tourist wave that envelopes most quaint European areas, but instead he comments on it through Grimm-like fairy tale allusions. In this way, it’s actually funnier. This is the type of film where the actual devil finds people through geo-location and charges for his additional services are rendered payment via a soul. This is the type of film where young love is hampered by the witchery of one of them being an animal, but the bond is no less sincere. And this is the type of film whose method of austere mise-en-scene and direct camera conversation may be off-putting to some. But if one allows themselves to go with it, Green’s uncanny images and ideas are distinctive and lovely efforts that blend old-world charm with a new wave flare for human connection. I was completely into its mannered wavelength.
A perfect companion piece to Green’s film is Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s The Ice Tower, which spins its own unique fable of queens and castles and snow-covered mountains… all at the feet of another young runaway seeking to escape the imbalances of life.
Orphan Jeanne (played so sensitively by newcomer Clara Pacini), walks away from her foster home and settles into the basement of a large warehouse, only to discover it’s the film set for a lavish film production starring Marion Cotillard as some sort of witch queen buried in a snow-covered set. It’s not long that Cotillard notices young Jeanne and takes a kinship to her. In hushed point of view shots and quiet intensity, The Ice Tower slowly inhabits these two women’s idolization and curiosity about one another, even as Cotillard’s movie-star tirades continually halt all progress on the film itself. Seeping in some Bergman-esque allusions to identity and possession, Hadzihalilovic steers the film into some unique territory without losing grip on the film’s dreamlike aesthetic.
Those familiar with Hadzihalilovic’s temperament will find a lot to enjoy here as well. Her films are almost somnambulistic in the way they lurch forward, often dealing with the blurred perspective of children set adrift in a terrifyingly unfamiliar adult world. The Ice Tower continues that fascination. It looks absolutely incredible, alternating between low-lit lamp interiors and blackened movie-set ice sculptures that topple at the edges of the frame, and features two knock-out performances by Cotillard and Pacini as women interiorizing two separate sets of emotions. Like Green’s The Tree of Knowledge, these two films establish one of the festival vibes with efforts that dance in the margins of something ethereal and imaginative. The Ice Tower also posits the idea that the most poisonous fairy tales are those that feature one person seeking to fulfill a void and the other seeking to exploit it.
Vastly different from the first two films, Dean Francis’ Body Blow meets at the intersection of a Bruce LaBruce film and the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple (1984). It’s also considered a “gay noir” if that description is more fitting. Obviously constrained by its budget in visual schematics, but wildly overblown in mood and acting, the film roars on all cylinders even if the actual narrative is a bit haggard.
Australian policeman Aidan (Tim Pocock) is transferred to a vice unit where he’s hooked up with partner Steele (Sacha Horler). A simple night out on the town at the local bar, Frankie’s, introduces Aidan to barkeep Cody (Tom Rodgers) and all of Aidan’s seriously constricted sexual impulses come pouring out, leading the duo to a spree of bloodshed.
Not quite the hedonistic corruption laid bare like other noir films, Body Blow does weave an ingenious narrative where everyone is positioning for something and the past looms like a blackmailed shadow. The film also recalls so many past noirs and effectively washes them with a vibrant queer lens. I’d be curious to see what director Francis could do with a larger budget.
Fantastic Fest continues through September 25th. For tickets and information, visit http://www.fantasticfest.com
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