Take-5: 28th BIFAN ’24
Calling all nerds. If you’re looking for that buzzy scifi flick you keep hearing about or the next big thing in horror, BIFAN’s got you covered.
The 28th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) wrapped up on July 14, and as it does every year it gathered the most notable genre films from around the world in one spot – about 20 kilometres and KRW1,800 from Seoul – for a giant love-in. The pre-eminent festival of its kind in Asia opened with the fantastical wrestling romance Love Lies Bleeding and closed with Hong Kong hit Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. In between the festival looked back on sexploitation cinema of the 1940s to 1970, and the career of Son Ye-jin (The Classic), and looked forward with a special programme of AI films in BIFAN’s first international AI film competition. Francis Galluppi’s roadside diner crime thriller The Last Stop in Yuma County turned out to be the big winner of the year, but the fest had plenty of other craziness to choose from. Look for these five, hopefully coming soon to a theatre near you.
CUckoo
| Director: Tilman Singer, Germany/USA | Section: Bucheon Choice
Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer stars as an American teen who relocates to the creepiest German resort ever with her dad after her mother’s death. She’s barely there a hot minute before the freaky secrets, shrieking spectres and odd occurrences start piling up. Tilman Singer follows his sleeper hit Luz with an exploration of grief that doubles as an unconventional chiller channelling Cronenberg, Lynch and Alpine horror, and featuring a stellar turn by Dan Stevens, again proving he’s the movies’ secret weapon. The title says it all.
Scorched EArth
| Directors: Thomas Arslan, Germany | Section: Mad MaxX
Okay, it’s part of a trilogy, but it’s worth going back to In the Shadows (2010) to start Thomas Arslan’s Troyan Trilogy. Twelve years after his armoured car robbery, analogue ex-con Troyan returns to a digitally transformed Berlin. Facing obsolescence but desperate for work, Troyan (Misel Maticevic) takes on an art heist that spirals out of control – fast. Arslan’s languidly paced, introverted neo-noir might be too laid back for some, but its slow burn moral dilemma is a refreshing tonic to the hyper-stylisation of most crime thrillers.
The debate over the nature of consent, power dynamics, and our collective blindspots are at the heart of Strange Darling, a serial killer thriller in six chapters. The action starts with a terrified, blood-covered woman running through a forest – Chapter 3 – and follows the last day of a serial killer’s spree. Trust us, you can’t be sure of what’s going on. Director JT Mollner fucked with our preconceived notions in his revisionist western Outlaws and Angels, and he pulls that trick off again, aided by towering performances from Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner.
Tatsumi
| Director: Hiroshi Shoji | Section: Bucheon Choice
Gangster dramas about a conflicted thug trying to do the right thing are a dime a dozen, but Hiroshi Shoji has found new ways to tell that story. Yakuza cleaner Tatsumi gets tangled in a web of theft, mistaken identity, youthful folly, murder and revenge when an exes’ sister rips off the gang, leaving him to navigate a way out of trouble – for both of them. Gritty and violent, lyrical and raw, Tatsumi is remarkable for its contemplative tone and willingness to watch its characters grow, far from the glamour of Tokyo.
The Tenants
| Director: Yoon Eun-kyeong, South Korea | Section: Korean Fantastic
Are the neighbours crazy? Is subletting the bathroom an option? Can I live in the city? Am I losing my mind? Those are some of the questions that creep up in Yoon Eun-kyeong’s futuristic nightmare that’s also a reflection of 2024. The Kafkaesque scifi-mystery touches on economic inequality, the need for Seoul’s city dwellers to get creative in their housing, a competitive environment, and the stresses it all puts on mental health. This is the definition of dystopian, shot in gorgeous dystopian black and white.