LOLA - Edinburgh Film Festival

 
LOLA is a science fiction fuelled wartime film that feels like a capsule moment in time but in fact impacts the whole world. With a love story and family bond broken, the film’s human elements surround this marvellous machine and its pained creator who seems to both hate and love what they have done. LOLA isn’t an easy film to define, nor is its story one that has quite been made before but not everything is perfect with this unusual film.

Full review - Filmhounds HERE.

Sharp Stick

Lena Dunham has been out of the mainstream since Girls ended in 2017. Much controversy and angst surrounded the TV series but didn’t capture the essence that her feature film, Tiny Furniture, had created. As this was the film that seem to be her breakthrough and what got her a blank deal with HBO, you would think the inspiration would leak through to the series. Now, 12 years after her last film, Dunham brings us Sharp Stick which actually has some of the same humour as her breakthrough. But it is clear Dunham has changed and developed over the years, reflected in this story and its characters.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

The Island of Lost Girls

 

Family videos are usually only fun to make and watch for those involved and can be a personal adventure that doesn’t quite translate well when shared outside the circle. The Schmidt family have tried to make a combination of a fictional story mixed in with real family members playing a version of themselves. The Schmidt family are no stranger to this way of filmmaking, having debuted another film, The Incredible Adventures of Jojo (and His Annoying Little Sister Avila) at Fantasia back in 2015, but with this follow up, they’ve taken risks which on the whole do pay off.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

Relax, I'm From the Future - Fantasia Film Festival

 

Every time travel film ever has always struggled with the laws and logic of the actual science. Sometimes to the point where you lose sight of the story being told and end up confused and disappointed. Time travel does come with its own issues and if it not the main focus, can ruin a great film. Relax, I’m From the Future quickly dispels the annoying and distracting elements that come with this subject and we are left to enjoy the comedic characters and excellent stylings of Rhys Darby who very easily steals the film. It really doesn’t matter whether the filmmakers have got time travel ‘right’, what’s more important is that we have a good time watching it play out. 

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

Sissy - Fantasia Film Festival

There have been a stream of films and TV shows about the darker side of social media and influencers. Treading lightly on certain issues and how trying to keep up appearances burns people out and questioning their honesty. This has taken form in various genres and on the surface, Sissy could easily be lumped in with the rest of the horror and dark comedy blends out there. Luckily, Sissy offers an off kilter and simpler approach to ‘the other side of influencers’ and puts a spotlight on a fractured character that has never healed from childhood bullying trauma. It’s twisted and fantastically executed, with the ray of deadly sunshine that is Aisha Dee, our Cecilia aka ‘Sissy’. 

 

Cecilia is a self-proclaimed mental health advocate, in other words, an influencer. One day she bumps into her old childhood best friend Emma who has she hasn’t seen in years. After a drunken night and wanting to reconnect, Emma invites Cecilia to her intimate hen do. But has also invited Alex, Cecilia’s bully. Old wounds are reopened and Alex, jealous of Cecilia’s success and unwilling to forgive her for past events, the weekend takes a surprisingly deadly turn as Cecilia’s already fractured facade begins to break.

Full review at Filmhounds HERE.

King Knight

 

Stories of redemption can cover any genre, some being those of the grittier and more violent nature. Usually associated with thrillers, westerns and crime, King knight takes a gentler approach that is surprisingly wholesome and slightly comedic. Bearing the tagline ‘not your basic witches’ sums up this story about a leader who hasn’t been completely honest with those he loves and those that follow him. Witches, spells and rituals all do appear in the story but its not really about being Wiccan, it’s about being honest and true to yourself, and seeking redemption along the way.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

Incredible But True - Fantasia Film Festival

 
The simplest of ideas can become the most complex stories. Delving deeper into an idea that on the surface seems bizarre and too ridiculous to comprehend, along comes Quentin Dupleux with another strange tale that literally no one thought of making. Dupleux’s films are that of fantasy and other genres mixed in bottle and sprayed out to its’ audiences that they are a perfect fit for Fantasia Film Festival. Incredible But True is another success in this writer and director’s catalogue of the strange an unusual.

Middle aged couple, Alain and Marie’s lives are completely altered when they buy a house in a quiet suburban neighbourhood after discovering the powers of a hatch in the basement. Warned upon moving in, the hatch allows you to travel 12 hours into the future and also makes you 3 days younger. While Marie becomes obsessed with the hatch, Alain tries to live a normal life. Alongside this issue with the house, Alain’s friend and boss Gerard, has problems of his own, specifically with his technology enhanced genitals.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.