Day 3 - Part 2
Le Grand Chef (Yun-su Jeon)Nintendo DS has awesome games where instead of being a half-orc pirate or a space mariner you’re simply a lawyer, a doctor or a cook. And that’s the reason why I thought an Asian movie about Chefs can be great fun. They know how to make the most mundane activities exciting and surprising.
In Le Grand Chef, we have two cooks competing in a national contest. What can you expect? Well, the best question would be what not to expect, because that’s what the movie throws at you. We have people getting poisoned by one of those crazy Pacific fish. We have a frantic competition to see who finds the best charcoal, and how that unfolds in a convoluted family intrigue. We see one of the cooks sacrificing a dear member of the family as the only way to keep in the competition. And we learn the amazing secret for a sublime ramen.
The tone is goofy, the movie looks great and the actors play along in light, tongue-in-cheek, but solid performances. Although it’s based on a manga, the plot flows naturally and the different episodes suddenly reveal a greater purpose: The movie firmly states some lessons about the Korean pride and culture while tackling the slippery subject of the Japanese domination of the past. It’s deep stuff. While we basically eat to stay alive, we shouldn’t fail to see there’s a lot more than our old sack of bones we’re keeping alive with every dish. What we eat reflects who we are, it’s a cultural value ingrained from generations of ancestors. This, and not saturated fat, might be the reason why fast-food sucks so hard. McDonald’s might be a place full of bad food, but the real problem is that it is a place full of sad people. Let’s learn with the Korean.
…And I mentioned Nintendo, a Japanese company, to justify why a Korean movie could be fun. After watching the history lessons in Le Grand Chef, I should never commit this mistake. Oh well. I’m living proof some idiots just never learn.
Audience rating: 5 claps
Audience best reaction: In every funny scene, a girl that would laugh EEK EEK EEK. I swore there was a poodle in the room. Also, the tender scene where a cow weeps.
Before the Fall (F. Javier Gutiérrez)When Le Grand Chef ended in one theatre, this Spanish movie had already begun in the other. I come in running and, sure enough, it’s packed. I don’t want to disturb people again, so I walk slowly, leaning against the walls ninja-style, using my best owl vision to find somewhere to sit, and hit my head against a spotlight in the wall. Hard. Still thinking of my dear fellow moviegoers, I bravely hold the natural expression of pain shaped as a combination of shouting and cursing. But the spotlight does a loud TOIIIING sound and everybody turns their head to check who the idiot is. I wonder if spotlights can laugh, those bastards.
The movie has a very intriguing scenario: A meteor will crash on earth and all life will be extinct in 3 days. There’s nowhere to run. Amidst the chaos in the city, the movie’s hero and his mother decide to reach the rest of the family in the Spanish countryside. There, they find a house with 5 kids, and no TV signal. Nobody there knows about the upcoming fate. Should they tell? And should they also tell that a psychokiller just released from the prisons - the wards went home and unlocked the cells - might be heading their way seeking revenge?
I was thought using psychics to know how long your life would be was a bit stupid. Knowing when you’re going to die is a lot worse than not knowing. All your future plans become meaningless with the sudden realization of the pointlessness of it all in proportion to death. That's what the people in this movie must face. Cling to whatever is important to you for the remaining days, because that’s all you’ll get. For a grandmother, it’s joining the family and trying to make the best of the 3 days. For a psycho, it’s getting his revenge before nature takes the chance away for good. For the struggling and bitter uncle, there’s no point in anything.
This brings two different interesting aspects. First, it’s refreshing to see an anti-hero that has a reason to act like an asshole different from “Look how cool and cynical I am”. He reserves to himself the right not to give a damn and spend his last moments alone with his ghosts. Which are many, as he is the family loser.
Second, how enjoyable a movie can be when every single person is expected to die at the end? Quite enjoyable, is the surprise answer. The suspense works fine, making for a quite uncomfortable watching experience.
There’s another chilling factor: Only 2 in the cast of 7 are adults, excluding the killer. So, if there are victims in this psychopath movie, chances are children will get murdered. Waiting to see if the director would go that far shows one of the refreshing aspects of Fantasia Festival. There’s no taboo in showing things that are a no-no in American productions, if it will serve the purpose of the plot. Actually, if any kid will be killed, it would be an act of mercy, as our anti-hero keeps brutalizing them. It reminded me to my road trip around Spain and how I was shocked by how uncontrollable the little kids were, always running, shouting like crazy and vandalizing every piece of medieval architecture they could put their tiny hands on. This Spanish flick knows they deserve every kind of suffering coming their way.
The movie looks beautiful, it’s very directed and acted, and the intensity is there all the way. The only thing I found a bit wanting was the final confrontation. It holds together by the intriguing plot, but on the other hand it’s a killer movie with not enough blood, gore and no humour to speak of. I’m more into suspense than killings, but Before the Fall is a clever movie, although one that might not leave a long aftertaste.
Audience rating: 3 claps
Audience best reaction: The thick silence after a certain scene with a shotgun.
After the bleak flick I need something fun to do, so I pass by a costume party where everyone was wearing bling. One guy knows I had tickets for a load of movies in Fantasia and offers money for my [REC] session the next day. An opportunity for profit! However, for the sake of my personal movies ritual I’d rather not give up my place in the first potentially truly scary movie in the Festival.
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