¡Qué horror! 2014

Candidate #10

L'ÉTRANGE COULEUR DES LARMES DE TON CORPS 
(THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS) 
(August 2013)

Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet take their particular brand of neo-giallo--as seen in past ¡Qué horror! candidate Amer--even further in the kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria of L’Étrange Couleur des Larmes de ton Corps.

What begins with the mysterious disappearance of a wife very quickly leads us into a dizzying realm where narrative all but breaks down, and dream logic overwhelms the proceedings; this is like an Argento giallo on a bad acid trip. It’s about eroticism, obsession, and quite unsurprisingly, death.

I imagine, if you enjoyed Amer, then chances are, you’ll enjoy L’Étrange Couleur… as well.

But if your test drive of Amer wasn’t quite to your liking (and I did say it was the sort of film that wasn’t for everyone), then I’d avoid getting behind the wheel of this one too…

(L’Étrange Couleur des Larmes de ton Corps OS courtesy of grignoux.be.)

 

¡Qué horror! 2014

Candidate #9

COHERENCE

(September 2013)

"[Coherence] started with a test to see if I could shoot something without a crew and without a script.”
--James Ward Byrkit

Well, let me come right out and say that Mr. Byrkit and company aced this test.

The set-up’s simple: a group of friends get together for a dinner party, on the night that Miller’s Comet passes.

And what Byrkit and his cast manage to improv out of a limited budget, notecards, and short character descriptions is an exquisite Twilight Zone Chinese puzzle mindf*ck feature debut.

To say any more would be to say too much…

Seriously.

“We are visitors.”

--Em

(Coherence OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

PIMP MY STUFF
ALTERNATIVE ALAMAT Book Launch: July 25, 2014
(Contains “BALAT, BUWAN, NGALAN”)

So apparently, the date is sealed: July 25, Friday, 4PM: the launch of the "Expanded Print Edition" of Alternative Alamat--an anthology of short fiction that repurposes Filipino myths and legends into modern, 21^st century configurations--as well as 3 other new titles from Visprint.

Contained in AA is my contribution, “Balat, Buwan, Ngalan (A Myth for the 21^st Century),” which has very solid connections to all the work going on in the ‘Verse comic book titles, as well as my novella Parman (also from Visprint).

If you’re following the ‘Verse, or have read Parman (or both), you may want to check my AA contribution.

For more on the “Expanded Print Edition,” see here.

PIMP MY STUFF
ALTERNATIVE ALAMAT Interview
(Re: “BALAT, BUWAN, NGALAN”)

While we wait for the Alternative Alamat "Expanded Print Edition" book launch--at the moment still re-scheduled for July 25, Friday, at Powerbooks, Greenbelt--AA editor Paolo Chikiamco has posted an interview with yours truly here (at rocketkapre.com), where he asks me about my AA contribution, “Balat, Buwan, Ngalan (A Myth for the 21^st Century).”

The story's got some very solid connections to all the work going on in the ‘Verse comic book titles, as well as my novella Parman.

If you’re following the ‘Verse, or have read Parman (or both), you may want to check my AA contribution; to give you a better idea of what it's all about, check the rocketkapre interview.

And for more on the “Expanded Print Edition,” see here.

ALTERNATIVE ALAMAT Book Launch POSTPONED

Due to the approaching low pressure area (aka "Henry"), the Alternative Alamat book launch (which I mentioned here) is being postponed.
At the moment, the tentative date is July 25, Friday.
I'll put up another post here as soon as there's confirmation on the new date...

PIMP MY STUFF
ALTERNATIVE ALAMAT Book Launch
(Contains “BALAT, BUWAN, NGALAN”)

So, while Alternative Alamat--an anthology of short fiction that repurposes Filipino myths and legends into modern, 21^st century configurations--has been available in ebook format since December 2011, it’s only now finally coalescing into an “Expanded Print Edition” via Visprint.

I’ve been informed by editor Paolo Chikiamco that AA launches (alongside 3 other new Visprint titles) on July 19, Saturday, at Powerbooks, Greenbelt.

The entire event is scheduled from 11AM to 6PM, with the AA hour slotted for 3PM to 4PM.

At the moment though, I can’t say with 100% certainty that I’ll be present, but regardless, please feel free to attend, and if you haven’t encountered AA in its ebook iteration, then you can grab a dead trees copy of it.

Contained in AA is my contribution, “Balat, Buwan, Ngalan (A Myth for the 21^st Century),” which has very solid connections to all the work going on in the ‘Verse comic book titles, as well as my novella Parman (also from Visprint).

If you’re following the ‘Verse, or have read Parman (or both), you may want to check my AA contribution.

For more on the “Expanded Print Edition,” see here.

¡Qué horror! 2014

Candidate #8

ENEMY

(September 2013)

Based on José Saramago’s novel O Homem Duplicado (The Double), Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy is sly and subtle horror with a distinctly Cronenbergian air to it.

Here, Jake Gyllenhall plays History professor Adam Bell, who quite suddenly discovers he’s got an exact lookalike in actor Daniel Saint Claire (real, non-screen name, Anthony).

A fascinatingly oblique take on the doppelgänger idea, Enemy is a tale that’s more concerned with how the weird sh!t scenario impacts on the characters, rather than the whys and the mystery behind said weird sh!t scenario.

If you’re looking for clear cut answers without the slightest hint of ambiguity, then look elsewhere…

As he navigates the story’s unsettling and uncertain terrain with us, Gyllenhall is ably assisted onscreen by Mélanie Laurent (as Adam’s girlfriend Mary), Sarah Gadon (as Anthony’s pregnant wife Helen), and the radiantly awesome Isabella Rossellini (as Adam’s mother).

Given her presence in the senior’s Cosmopolis and A Dangerous Method and the junior’s Antiviral, Gadon’s presence only further enhances the Cronenberg echo here, while Rossellini adds just the faintest whiff of Lynch to the proceedings.

Certainly, this is horror that will not be to everyone’s taste, and that WTF ending will almost surely lose some people as well, but for my money, Enemy is a riveting narrative that is intent on exploring the inhabitants of a world with mysteries aplenty imbedded in its hidden architecture, a story that asks us to weave our own meanings out of the vague wisps and sinister tatters that are left to us as the end credits sequence begins.

Parting Shot: Nominated for 10 awards at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards (including Adapted Screenplay and Best Motion Picture), Enemy was ultimately honored with five: Achievement in Direction, Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Gadon), Achievement in Music – Original Score (Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans), Achievement in Cinematography (Nicolas Bolduc), and Achievement in Editing (Matthew Hannam).

It will be noted that Hannam is another Cronenberg connection, having also edited Antiviral.

It’s only fitting that David Cronenberg just also happened to be the recipient of a lifetime achievement award at the same Canadian Screen Awards night, where Villeneuve had this to say: "The thing that I admire the most about other filmmakers is when they are able to build their own world. And there's nobody like David Cronenberg."

(Enemy OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)