MOVIES

Fantastic Fest founder offers 10 must-sees at the festival

Among many, many favorites, Tim League picks a few movies you shouldn't miss

By Chris Garcia
AMERICAN-STATESMAN FILM WRITER
Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Tim League, co-founder of Fantastic Fest and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, offers 10 picks for the festival in his own words.

He does it with this caveat: 'Bear in mind that I have programmed 95 percent of the features in the festival personally and I love everything that we are playing. There are a lot of gems that aren't on this list.

'The following are 10 films/events that I am either excited about seeing for the first time or that I love and I am looking forward to sharing with an audience.'

'Antichrist' — One of my favorite films at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Lars von Trier is always exciting, but this year's film, a very personal exploration of arrogance and depression, is one of my favorites of the year so far. The audience at Cannes was wildly divided. Hundreds exited the Palais as the movie turned intense. At the end of the film, half the crowd was standing and cheering while the other was angry and screaming. To me, that reaction spells success. (6:45 p.m. Friday, Alamo South)

'Crazy Racer' — Mainland China's film industry is coming into its own. If you love what Hong Kong movies used to deliver back in Stephen Chow's glory days, check this out. Hao Ning's film is bursting with singing and dancing Chinese Supermen, bumbling police investigators, even more bumbling apprentice criminals, double and triple-cross assassination attempts, muay Thai gymnastics, triad gangster shootouts, explosions and plenty of both bike and car chases. (7 p.m. Monday and 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, Alamo South)

Fantastic Fest in 3-DWe are outfitting the Alamo South with Sony 4K digital projection and RealD 3-D in time for Fantastic Fest. We'll be showcasing new 3-D films such as 'Toy Story' and 'Toy Story 2,' but we're also bringing in 3-D production experts from all over the country for a panel and presentation, offering filmmakers a primer on what they need to know to be able to shoot in 3-D. The panel is free to Fantastic Fest badge holders. (Panel is at 9 a.m. Sunday, Alamo South)

'Gentlemen Broncos' — Jemaine Clement, Sam Rockwell, Mike White and writer-director Jared Hess ('Napoleon Dynamite') are coming to town to celebrate the world premiere of their new comedy. We saw a very early cut of the film this spring and were totally charmed by it. Following the screening, we're hosting a rager of a party at the Highball. This will be the first sneak peek at the new space. (7 tonight, Paramount.)

'Human Centipede' — Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser), a leering, sepulchral surgeon from Germany whose specialty is separating Siamese twins, evolves his craft by sewing together living beings at the 'mucous-cutaneous zone' in order to create Siamese triplets with a single digestive system. (11:59 p.m. Saturday and 11:55 p.m. Wednesday, Alamo South)

'Love Exposure' — A devoutly religious young man masters the art of up-skirt photography in an effort to save his father's soul and meets his true love in the process in this four-hour epic from Sion Sono, director of past Fantastic Fest audience favorite 'Exte: Hair Extensions.' (2 p.m. Sunday and 1:45 p.m. Monday, Alamo South)

'A Town Called Panic' — Will Horse find true love? Will Steven fix his tractor? What will it take to stop the underwater pond dwellers from stealing the walls of Cowboy, Indian and Horse's house? Yes, boys and girls, it's the feature version of 'A Town Called Panic,' the demented cult Belgian animation sensation. And, yes, it is truly a sight to behold — a very odd sight that will confuse some while leaving others on the floor gasping for breath from laughing so hard. (10:30 p.m. Friday and 11:45 a.m. Sunday, Alamo South)

'Morphine' — A vastly inexperienced rural doctor develops an unquenchable thirst for the morphine in the hospital medicine supply room. 'Morphine' is another dark tale from Aleksey Balabanov, director of last year's Fantastic Fest critical sensation 'Cargo 200.' (1:50 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Monday, Alamo South)

'Mandrill' — The dynamic duo from Chile, Marko Zaror and Ernesto Diaz Espinoza, are returning to Austin with the world premiere of their new action thriller. Zaror plays Mandrill, a young hitman who will not relent until he has exacted bloody revenge on the man who killed his mother many years ago. (7:15 p.m. Sunday and 4:15 p.m. Monday, Alamo South)

'Survival of the Dead' — George Romero returns to Fantastic Fest for the U.S. premiere of his latest zombie opus. The action centers on two warring clans of Plum Island. One wants to kill every zombie on the island; the other tries to protect undead family members until a cure for 'zombieism' is found. (9:45 p.m. Saturday, Paramount)