lowlife ( film )
lowlife screens tonight at 9: 30 p. m. at park lane cinemas’ theatre 4. for more on the film, visit lowlife - movie. com .
toronto – canadian director seth smith ’s horror pic lowlife picked up the audience award for best feature at the atlantic film festival .
action - packed and unforgettable lowlife a highlight of the calgary film fest... intense. outrageous. unforgettable .
lowlife just had its world premiere at the 21st fantasia international film festival. no details on who will release it and when .
lowlife trailer will make you ask what the hell is going on | birth. movies. death .
fantasia 2017: a talk with the cast and crew of lowlife | birth. movies. death .
there are no featured audience reviews yet. click the link below to see what others say about lowlife !
darcy spidle and kate hartigan succumb to the effects of a strange starfish drug in the surreal halifax feature lowlife, premiering tonight at the atlantic film festival in halifax .
lowlife is one of those exciting feature debuts that announces the arrival of a filmmaker who instantly has your attention .
the most tragic character is also the major comic relief in lowlife. is it true that randy was based on eminem ?
lowlife is a weird, experimental feature that could very well draw a cult following. it could conceivably disappear just as easily .
lowlife is a visceral and truly singular experience that will leave you in shock... totally worthy of obsession .
regrettably, the film' s place - setting opening lays the scene for a different, more exciting film that never really unfolds .
earlier today, the first wave of titles for this year’s fantasia fest was announced. on that list, was an unassuming movie called lowlife. now that film has a trailer, and it’s nuts :
a seriously nasty treat... [ the ] bloody, bizarro highlight of this year' s fantasia film festival, ryan prows' lowlife lives up to its name and then some .
the black - and - white debut feature about a lonely musician’s descent into heavy drug use bowed at the fantasia international film festival in montreal, before impressing audiences in halifax, where the canadian director shot lowlife .
director ryan prows’ whimsically dark and fantastically entertaining film has emerged from left field to demand a place on your radar. set up a google alert for ‘lowlife release date’. you’ll be glad you did .
ryan prows’ tonally vibrant crime - thriller, lowlife, features a lot of amazing new talent that’s likely to make this a popular cult hit .
lowlife is a grim and dark story about real, damaged people that somehow also finds humor in the violent situations in which they find themselves .
after being visually dragged through the mud by a morning screening of the halifax - shot feature film lowlife, director seth smith’s suggestion of doing an interview amid the natural beauty of the public gardens was a welcome one .
with a bit of editing and smoother plot development lowlife could have been expertly unique, but as is, it kind of shoots itself in the face .
lowlife evolved out of smith’s film clips for dog day, which became increasingly more elaborate as he became more adept at the art form, climaxing with the epic medieval weirdness of the video for the song rome. at first it just seemed like a matter of adding a few lines of spoken dialogue to what was essentially a silent film form, but once smith got lowlife into gear, it bloomed from a 10 - minute short into a 98 - minute feature .
rarely does a film live up to its title as well as lowlife. equal parts absurd comedy and surrealist bloodbath, it’s a shocking and often - hilarious story of a bunch of derelicts told over a few days in los angeles .
lowlife is quite possibly the best film out of fantasia fest 2017. gripping, calculated, and air tight from start to finish... it puts newcomer ryan prows on the map as a director that we should all be following .
it' s one of the biggest film festivals in the... read more
the tangled plot is ultimately too simple, and the film' s sociopolitical commentary too paltry. but
lowlife
does have a refreshingly varied and up - to - date cast of characters. with seedy b - movies, just a little bit of ambition elevates the generic .
your film just had its world premiere at fantasia. how do you think the screening went ?
and revolution, rob stewart’ s follow - up to his award - winning sharkwater film, picked up the audience award for best documentary in halifax after the environmentally - themed film bowed in toronto .
i would recommend that everyone goes to see it because it’s a great film. less than one - tenth of the film is actually about grimsby, and most people are sensible enough to know that this film focuses on one particular type of person and that not everybody in grimsby is like that .
“lowlife does in a brisk 96 minutes what a 10 hour series does with the luxury of space and breathing room. to do this takes a bit of brio and a lot of talent .
lowlife is one of the best films of the year so far. it has a script that is sharp as hell, great performances, and direction that leads the entire circus with a deft command .
the tone of the film is very intentional. how much of that is what you set out to do, and how much evolved as the film was pieced together, through the five writers and ensemble cast ?
takashi and sachiko take a taxi in banda aceh. ©︎2018
the man from the sea
film partners
laut and ilma help a girl with heat exhaustion. ©︎2018
the man from the sea
film partners
blending extreme violence and uproariously funny dialogue, the film is most notable for its engaging characters .
every once in a while, you discover a movie at a film festival that’s just so above and beyond anything else you might see that it surpasses all possible expectations. that’s certainly the case with ryan prows’ feature - length film debut lowlife, an amazing genre amalgam that makes you laugh, puts you on edge, unable to fathom what might happen next, and ultimately spurs the realization that you’ve seen a possible game - changer .
lowlife seemingly came out of nowhere. ahead of major film festivals there tends to be a buzz around the “can’t miss” screenings. but, somehow, this rollicking mashup with a massive cast seemed to just magically appear at fantasia international film festival. the morning after the film screened to a cheering audience i got to sit down with a good number of the crew and cast to talk about how they thought their premiere went, how director ryan prows wrangled such a big and diverse cast, and how they created such dimensional characters in cinematic shorthand .
fujioka as the mysterious, magical man from the sea. ©︎2018
the man from the sea
film partners
fujioka brandishes the script, after reading his favorite line — which was dropped from the finished film. ©︎mance thompson
watching it again tonight in a half full microcinema, i realized how challenging and potentially offensive lowlife is. it’s a different beast in a small room where you can hear everybody breathing. and man do i love it .
a true discovery out of the genre - loving fantasia international film festival is their world premiere lowlife, the bold feature debut of director ryan prows. interweaving tales of a legacy - obsessed luchador, a pregnant recovering junkie, a corrupt ice agent, a desperate hotel owner, a not - so - dynamic duo of kidnappers, and a organ - harvesting pimp, the film winds an complicated and compelling narrative with a shrewd empathy and darkly comic twist .
[ ryan ] prows also has a more deft and adroit handling of race relations in modern america. while tarantino has always tackled race head - on, if often with too blunt a tool, lowlife manages to feed in more subtlety .
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deirdre crimmins is boston - based film critic who lives with two black cats, and her eternal optimism that the next film she watches might be her new favorite. she wrote her master’s thesis on george romero and still loves a good musical .
the tone was surprisingly light through most of the q & a, a relief after the film' s unrelenting intensity .
both shinobu terajima (left) and writer - director atsuko hirayanagi (right) have been critically lauded for the film .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
in addition to a lot of plot, lowlife has so many small moments that really develop character. one of my favorite moments is in the very beginning when teddy (mark burnham) is trying to find the end of a roll of tape .
we started shooting the film today and everything went smoothly on the first day, so let' s... read more
the fccj is home to japan’s only ongoing (free !) film series with english subtitles and filmmaker q & a sessions .
the first time i saw this film, it was an explosion. prime spot, world premiere at the fantasia film fest, packed concordia university theater. the crowd freaked out like a wild animal. no budget daringness — bombastic, clever, and grotesque .
the purpose of this document is to provide clarity for productions and camera vehicle companies that plan to film on the move in london, as to when a police presence is and is not required during filming. it also provides the same guidelines to borough film services
shiraishi (left) and yuzuki (right) recall the film' s infamously gruesome pearl scene, which the director added himself .
a true discovery... the film winds a complicated and compelling narrative with a shrewd empathy and darkly comic twist .
comparisons to quentin tarantino’s second film pulp fiction are inevitable due to the nature of the non - linear storytelling method used to further the story along. there’s a good chance tarantino’s still - unequaled early masterpiece is one of prows’ biggest influences, yet lowlife never gets too confusing by telling the stories out of order, because it’s basically just showing the same story from different perspectives and showing more with each retelling .
mix the insane violence and weaving vignettes of “pulp fiction” with the seedy underbelly of “breaking bad, ” and you have ryan prows’ directorial debut, “lowlife, ” a messy but ultimately interesting look a a group of downtrodden individuals who get mixed up in an organ harvesting scheme .
anticipating the next question, he continued, “i think for this film, i targeted it at the young girl who read us ‘swimmy. ’”
“lowlife” is broken into four interweaving vignettes that move back and forth through time, slowly revealing different sides to each character, coloring in the story, and tangling them up even tighter into a web of blackmail, deception, kidnapping, and revenge. and the film’s title can certainly be applied to every character in their own right, as each vignette reveals more about their character and the mess they all have found themselves in .
the legacy of quentin tarantino ’s “pulp fiction” looms the largest over “lowlife, ” with its flair for unexpected, quick violence, and interweaving vignettes. but there is also a touch of david lynch in the film’s unflinching exposure of america’s seedy underbelly. california might be the land of sunshine, celebrity smiles, and hollywood dreams, but it is also home to drugs, poverty, and gated homes that are armored against gun violence .
nice effort from some crazy pulp fans. all characters are equally epic and hilarious, everything a film this king might need. el legado es todo
something strange is lurking in the wilds of nova scotia. for their feature film debut, dog day frontman seth smith and divorce records / obey convention head honcho darcy spidle put their primary projects on the backburner to conjure the spine - chilling visions of lowlife. like a maritime twist on the blair witch, the black and white horror follows a drug - addled musician haunted by a ‘mudman’ and other creepy creatures. check out the trailer below :
the director attempted to set the record straight in a message posted to his website on june 6, protesting that “discourse surrounding this film has included both criticism and praise … [ arrived at ] by juxtaposing it against the values asserted by the current administration. ” he went on to write: “a film is not a vehicle to accuse, or to relay a specific message. if we reduce a film to this, we lose all hope for cinema to ignite a richer conversation. i have never made a film to praise or to criticize something. that kind of filmmaking is nothing but propaganda. ”
with a perfectly spooky shooting location in the weathered forests outside their front door, lowlife began as a more man vs. wild adventure. yet in seth’s words, their original intentions to create a survivalist story spun off into far more surrealist territory as the project took on a life of its own .
as these deeply flawed figures crash into each other’s lives, sparks fly along with one - liners, all gunning to a showdown with the big bad teddy. and after some unwieldy turns and awkward tone shifts, lowlife sticks the landing with a finale that is unnerving, satisfying, and suitably absurd .
this totally messed - up movie that deals with human sex trafficking, organ theft, hard drugs, organized crime and corrupt cops somehow manages to pull a few heartstrings by the end. lowlife seems to suffer from budget and casting constraints at the beginning—and you' d like to see a story this good have a little more technical polish—but things really pick up by the midpoint and lowlife wins you over, even as it pushes you away. the inclusion of ricardo zarate' s enforcer character (with a luchador mask and legacy to protect) and jon oswald' s ex - con character (a non - racist with a full - face swastika tattoo) were highlights for me and leant both laughs and tremendous heart to an otherwise grimy film. though an inexact and…
perhaps what ‘lowlife’ does best is expose the underbelly of an america that has always existed, but one that will certainly grow more dangerous and cutthroat under a presidency that continually fans the flames of anti - immigration sentiments and threatens to strip even the most basic healthcare from struggling communities who need it most. ”
lowlife is broken up into five segments, during the middle three of which—“monsters, ” “fiends, ” and “thugs”—we’re introduced to one character after the next, and prows’ camera shifts perspective in each vignette to someone who previously appeared to have a negligible role. this continues until a grand finale that brings everything together .
and while the special effects can be lacking at times and the acting occasionally stilted, this is where “lowlife” — and the horror genre as whole — shines the most: slipping in commentary about the neighborhoods many avoid in between a barrage of blood and bullets. there is even a glimmer of hope in to be found in the film’s grim and blood - soaked ending: a reminder that even the downtrodden can muster unfathomable courage and overcome an evil that seems unbeatable and everywhere at once .
by introducing its least likable characters in the film’s bloody opening sequence, “lowlife” starts out on shaky ground. the brutal disregard for human life is made all the more evident by the violence shoveled out against women. the audience can hear — but never sees — the men being killed, but are instead treated to the ogling of a young, beautiful girl, who is then designated for sexual slavery, while and an older woman is ruthlessly executed and carved open like a slab of meat .
this is one of those productions that some will love and some will hate. it really all boils down to whether or not you’re into avant - garde films. if you favor unconventional flicks that force viewers to absorb a story that really is no story, but more a twisted character examination, you’ll get a kick out of this. if movies like fear and loathing in las vegas grab your attention, maybe a film like lowlife will leave you feeling quite satisfied. i, for one, don’t really care for these kinds of pics. a quality story, or, at the very least some eye popping visuals and smooth action scenes are required to keep my tail planted in my seat. lowlife is bereft of both of most of those qualities, but there’s an audience for this one, there’s no doubt .
i don’t think there’s any snobbery in the film. it was actually heartwarming. nobby is a family man and he is loyal to his wife and kids, and loyal to his brother. the plot is about him giving up his adoption place so that his younger brother can have a nice life, so he’s a good character, not a lowlife. i think anybody would warm to nobby because his heart is in the right place and, in the end, he’s always doing the right thing .
lowlife is full of fun ideas and great performances of some really compelling odd - ball characters, maintaining a heavy sense of drama throughout yet frequently delivering comedic riffs. it' s a wild and thrilling story from start to finish. my movie of 2017 so far, and i expect to see it many times again once it becomes available .
tsuneishi also professed full faith in her director: “i personally agreed with [ williams’ ] commitment to depicting what he wanted to depict, and it’s up to each individual viewer to interpret the film in their own way. i thought it was a good opportunity to participate in the film, because by portraying these problems, it can instigate discussion. ”
i thought it was an excellent film. the action scenes would put any james bond movie to shame and the cast was brilliant. the whole cinema was laughing out loud .
shot in the woods near crystal crescent beach and at agricola street locations, smith pegs the budget for lowlife at around $ 5, 000, and most of that was for post - production expenses. casting friends and family, with a major role going to his dog woofy (under the more distinguished stage name woof alexander), he kept his crew small .
the innocent man wrongly accused, fighting for the elusive truth that will free him: it’s a familiar theme in literature and film, and it seems unlikely to ever wear out its welcome .
the tone for each section shifts dramatically. we go from abject horror of organ harvesting to s surreal luchador tale to ardent melodrama to a tarantinoesque crime comedy about too fools in way over their heads. it’s a disorienting experience, and a risky experiment. but by the time you get to randy lecturing keith that it’s prejudiced to judge him by his swastika tattoo, lowlife steps up to something strangely special. here, the team of screenwriters takes swings at tone - deaf pc culture with a white dude who argues the color on his skin shouldn’t matter, declaring, “not cool calling me a nazi. you don’t know my struggle. ” it’s a special mix of outrageousness and obliviousness that lowlife plays for laughs, and it pays off with big ones .
he admitted to being surprised about the approach taken by japanese media: “i keep hearing that either i or my film is causing quite a stir. but i would put a positive spin on this. it’s a welcome thing, because it’s no longer just a film being released. it’s gone beyond those boundaries and will reach many more people. so it’s not such a bad thing. ”
this is what happens when the comic book fanboys have taken over the asylum. it is damaged goods from the get - go, the kind of film grown in a petri dish in hollywood .
i feel as though the dc comics franchise may have publicly performed its suicide with this film. what began with a few interesting characters, dragged on into a 40 minute exposition of the film' s universe and a census of the overpopulated neighborhood. then the big baddie is revealed - - and it makes no sense. the wheels fell off the wagon from there. dreadful. absolutely dreadful .
let’s put it this way: lowlife lives up to its comparisons to the early work of the two davids of cinematic weirdness — cronenberg and lynch — as its two protagonists, asa (musician and divorce records / obey convention guru darcy spidle) and elle (kate hartigan), are caught in the thrall of a psychoactive drug obtained by sucking on the secretions of a rare freshwater starfish .
toei makes no bones about its intention to recapture the invigorating jolt with which that classic franchise was met. “to make a film about the wild way of life of outlaws in the showa period in the current heisei era is an ambitious act, ” read the production notes for the blood of wolves. “ [ it’s also ] a challenge to japan’s film industry, and to modern society itself. ”
“i think you have to take a different approach to a film like this. it’s not a commercial film and it didn’t cost a lot of money to make. we’re going to show it at a few genre - based festivals, but what we’re most interested in doing is touring it around like we’ve done with music in the past, and hope to set up a canada - wide screening in november .
the dark drama about an isolated teen facing accusations of planning a school massacre that terrifies a small town last week shared the best debut feature prize at the toronto international film festival with brandon cronenberg’ s antiviral .
production company: lowlife, llc cast: mark burnham, santana dempsey, nicki micheaux, shaye ogbonna, jon oswald, ricardo adam zarate director: ryan prows screenwriters: ryan prows, tim cairo, jake gibson, shaye ogbonna, maxwell michael towson producers: tim cairo, derek bishe, narineh hacopian executive producers: james norrie, robert bevan, cyril megret, ian davies, mark foligno, tor bengtsson, jake gibson, lauren lillie director of photography: benjamin kitchens production designer: callie andreadis costume designer: alicia ast editors: brett w. bachman, jarod shannon composer: kreng venue: fantasia international film festival
the bloody, bizarro highlight of this year' s fantasia film festival, ryan prows' lowlife lives up to its name and then some, spilling eccentric mayhem across several blocks of working - class los angeles and, among other unlikely things, eliciting sympathy for a man with a swastika tattoo covering his entire face. a captivating feature debut despite some missteps, it flashes back to a time when every other filmmaking newcomer wanted to be quentin tarantino; surprisingly, it does not provoke the weary eye - rolling that greeted so many of those films. boutique distribs should pay attention as it begins its festival - circuit run .
“i think of cinema as a means of escaping, and drugs can be the same way, so this seemed like a good way to do some artier, craftier things with a film, ” says smith .
the combination of uniqueness and limitations of the pic actually minimalizes what i can discuss. the truth is, there really isn’t much more to say for lowlife. it’s a weird, experimental feature that could very well draw a cult following. it could conceivably disappear just as easily. it’s tough to predict the future for this one, but if smith continues to make unusual features like this, he could well turn it into an embraced trademark style. lowlife isn’t your average flick, and i actually wouldn’t even consider it horror, but i was blown away by a few shots, and the concept as a whole was enough to make me think twice. oddball flick, and you may just find it gratifying. this is one that has to be seen to be properly judged, and chances are everyone’s verdict is going to differ to some degree .
visually, the film is too tightly wound: ryan' s character positioning is glaringly stagey, while the film' s overall look is drab. its production and costume palette consists of dull, earth tones, which are further dulled by cinematographer andrew dunn' s murky lensing. on the near - plus side, john mellencamp' s string - swept score grates and swirls, both ascendant and funereal, nicely amplifying the characters' tribulations .
even the infrequent filmgoer in japan knows that hirokazu kore - eda became the first japanese director in 21 years to win the coveted palme d’or at the cannes film festival on may 19, for his latest masterwork, shoplifters .
lowlife begins with a cop herding a group of illegal mexican immigrants into a van and taking them away. i almost want to stop synopsising after that and let you discover the rest for yourself because this is one wild ride. the protagonists include a luchador and a guy with a full - face swastika tattoo, if that helps give you an idea what you' re in for? to define the genre is tough - on one hand you could say it' s a comic book style crime caper but that would be so reductive towards what' s an incredibly smart, inventive, compassionate, funny, brilliant one - of - a - kind film .
“after living in halifax for most of our adult lives, we had all just moved to rural, coastal communities, ” darcy explains. “our concepts of urban and country were certainly shifting. there seems to be a particular kind of alienation that comes from living in the sticks that, for better or worst, forces a person inward. i suppose lowlife exploits this idea. on a more aesthetic level, i think using the forest and ocean in early spring gave our film a rugged look and feel. the actors and crew were always hurting, wet, and cold. it was often a brutal experience, and i hope it shows on the screen. ”
this sort of genre film should be my bag but i was so disappointed. it' s not that it' s bad it just doesn' t have anything that elevates it above any other indie films of this type .
those familiar with the work of actor dean fujioka, a homegrown megastar with a fervid asian following, may be surprised by his limited screen time in a film by a director whose leanings are resolutely arthouse, rather than commercial .
appearing for the q & a session following fccj’s sneak preview screening, the writer - director and her star admitted they are curious about audience reactions on the film’s home turf. said hirayanagi, “i’m grateful that oh lucy! is opening in japan, and i’m extremely curious about how the japanese audience is going to react, and how they’ll feel about this film. being here is kind of surreal, and at the same time, a dream come true. ”
after obliging everyone by opening the box and showing his prize, kore - eda recalled his cannes experience, and his elation at the praise of the jurors for the film’s directing and acting. addressing the elephant in the room, he then went on to say, “i’ve participated in many overseas film festivals since 2000, and there has been a lot of mention about the lack of criticism of japanese society and politics [ in the selected japanese films ]. i would say that this has to do with the distribution system in japan. oftentimes, the more major film companies will not handle films with heavy themes. this has resulted in the diminishing of the diversity and variety of japanese films at festivals abroad. ”
is the blood of wolves the first salvo in an electrifying new yakuza film franchise from toei studios? the film’s “planning producer, ” muneyuki kii, dares to hope so. its director, kazuya shiraishi, does too. and yuko yuzuki, the woman whose rough - and - tumble bestselling novel, korou no chi, reignited the studio’s passion for jitsuroku eiga (actual record films), says, without hesitation, that shiraishi’s the man if there are sequels in the offing .
terajima then shared her experience at her first awards ceremony in los angeles: “i was really busy at the time of the independent spirit awards, and could only fly over for 1. 5 days. the independent spirits aren’t as well known in japan as the oscars, and i was curious what it would be like. but being there, you really feel like america is the country of cinema. you feel that everyone’s so passionate about the film industry. i got to meet [ eventual best actress winner ] frances mcdormand, and she’d seen oh lucy! and told me it was a wonderful film. without going, you don’t realize the extent of the passion for film, so it was a really rewarding experience. ”
i was trying to work out which bits of the film were actually filmed in grimsby. they had made an attempt to make the streets look as though they were in grimsby, but i don’t think they were. there was a pub scene which was a 1960s pub that i do know in grimsby, but all the dock scenes were filmed in london. the railway station in the film isn’t grimsby railway station. it had an electric line, and there’s no electric line in grimsby .
i don’t think the fact that it was set in grimsby affected my enjoyment of the film at all. having lived in grimsby all my life, i could tell that it wasn’t actually filmed in grimsby. the accents weren’t from the local area .
shot in a desolate region of rock and snow in iranian kurdistan, the film deliberately leaves its setting anonymous and the nearby border unnamed: the better to describe a wholly interior hell. venue: berlin film festival (forum) cast: taraneh alidoosti, mani haghighi director: mani haghighi screenwriters: mani haghighi, amir - reza koohestani producer: mani haghighi director of photography: houman behmanesh production designer: amir - hossein ghodsi editor: hayedeh safiyari music: feuermusik sales agent: iranian independents 100 minutes .
shiraishi and yuzuki were at fccj to talk with the audience after our sneak peek of the blood of wolves. it marked the first time the film committee has hosted the author of the original novel on which a film is based, and the second time that shiraishi has been on the dais. he was at fccj with four other directors to kick off the nikkatsu roman porno reboot project in 2016, having directed dawn of the felines. it would go on to become the most successful of the five releases .
would you believe me if i told you that lowlife is about two complete losers who just want to get profoundly high? not smoke a little reefer and devour nine bags of nacho cheese doritos high, completely incapacitated, out of the gourd high. well, it doesn’t matter if you believe that or not, that’s exactly what this film is about. nothing more, nothing less. interesting as it is, that’s not to say that the picture is a disappointment, or lacks entertainment value, it’s just to say that this one is extremely limited in scope. unless you like to suck on star fish and trip out, you may find this one on the disappointing side. if that’s your bag, this one may open passageways you never even knew existed .
as starlings and chickadees twittered in the branches overhead, and red squirrels scampered through the bushes next to our chosen park bench, we got down to the business of discussing the debut film that charts a dark, downward spiral of drug addiction and spiritual decay .
the following three sequences in “lowlife” — “monsters, ” “fiends, ” and “thugs” — introduce us to the main players whose stories will interweave and finally come together for the final sequence, “criminals. ” the first vignette, “monsters” opens with a monologue in spanish spoken by el monstruo (ricardo adam zarate), a mexican wrestler burdened by the legacy passed down to him by his father, who became a mexican folk hero, prayed to by many of the characters in plight in the film. el monstruo speaks of being disgraced in his career, and it soon becomes evident that he’s prone to blackout rages, one stylistically accompanied by the sound cutting out, el monstruo silently screaming like “incredible hulk, ” and a quick cut to the aftermath, where disaster and lots of blood surround him .
fantasia is also immensely proud to have hosted
claymation horror
, a special live presentation from celebrated british stop - motion animator lee hardcastle; the debut performance of bestselling author grady hendrix' s oral history of modern horror novels ,
paperbacks from hell
; the launch of spectacular optical' s latest cinematic tome ,
lost girls: the phantasmagorical cinema of jean rollin
; and spectrumfest, a original short film showcase which seeks to empower those with autism by helping them express themselves through the creation and enjoyment of genre film .
noting that the film is “very exciting, but also very confusing” (a fair criticism, considering the intricately woven plot strands, complicated relationships between gangs, enormous cast of characters who appear fleetingly, and the frequent necessity for multiple english titles on screen at once) one fccj audience member asked for some elucidation of the film’s themes. responded shiraishi, “one very big theme is the notion of personal justice. this takes place in 1988, the final year of the showa era, and these days we still speak of the ‘showa male. ’ it was an era of many historical upheavals, such as world war ii. the number of people who lived during those times has dwindled, and their way of life is also disappearing. i wanted to capture the showa male and the showa way of life in this film. ”
being a debut feature, the film at times struggles to stay on track tonally - a graphic autopsy scene at the beginning seems to portend a much different kind of story - but once it rights itself, it' s off like a bullet from the chamber of a gun .
i didn’t find it offensive at all. you could have named the film after any town in this country and people would have said it wasn’t very complimentary to that town because every town has a bad area. it really could have been set in any backstreet area of any town .
as with the writer - director’s previous domestic dramas, shoplifters is a thoroughly engaging film, both gently comedic and heart - wrenchingly sad, and it features winning performances from a familiar — and much - loved — cast, including kore - eda regulars kirin kiki and lily franky. it also features a breathtakingly brilliant turn by sakura ando, collaborating with him for the first time. (the only moment of the film that can possibly be interpreted as subversive is when ando wears a t - shirt bearing the message freedom is never voluntary. it must be demanded by the oppressed. )
it is probably the most ridiculous film i’ve ever seen in my life. it was complete and utter nonsense, but – i have to admit – it was quite funny. it certainly wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea and it’s exceedingly crude, but you’ve just got to relax and enjoy it .
perhaps what “lowlife” does best is expose the underbelly of an america that has always existed, but one that will certainly grow more dangerous and cutthroat under a presidency that continually fans the flames of anti - immigration sentiments and threatens to strip even the most basic healthcare from struggling communities who need it most. while organ harvesting has long been a favorite of horror movies and urban legend, it’s not a far stretch to imagine the black market stepping in to fill a void, as it has certainly done in the past, especially when human lives are devalued based on their ethnicity and immigration status .
athe festival’s numerous world premieres included ryan prows' lowlife, steve mitchell' s king cohen, patrick demers' origami, ted geoghegan' s mohawk, giordano giulivi' s the laplace' s demon, navin ramaswaran' s poor agnes, gina haraszti' s geek girls, gela babluani' s money' s money, gabriela amaral almeida' s friendly beast, caroline labrèche and steeve léonard' s radius, robert morin' s le probleme d' infiltration, gabriel claveau' s punk fu zombie, and synapse films' 4k restoration of dario argento' s 1977 classic suspiria .
a japanese journalist asked whether kore - eda could possibly have “targeted the film at japanese politicians, due to its treatment of social problems” that are being overlooked. the director immediately responded, “not in particular. i say no because i’ve felt this way since the days when i worked in tv. one of my coworkers told me, ‘when you make a film, target it toward one individual and keep that person firmly in mind. if you do that, you’ll be able to reach many people. ’ i was in my 20s at the time, and i’ve continued to have this stance. ”
the movie' s other characters have almost all been forced into similar moral compromises, sometimes unwittingly. to go into much more detail would ruin some of the surprises in a script credited to prows and four collaborators, but as sordid as things get, the picture contains just enough tension - deflating comic moments to be called fun. (well ,
fun
for moviegoers unfazed by over - the - top gore .) bracing and well paced, it may occasionally stretch too far for an attention - getting quirk, but lowlife feels fresher than it has any right to be, given its ingredients .
filmed previously as the human comedy in 1943, this rebirth is almost a casebook study of how not to transpose “literature” to film. a heartfelt yet sodden directorial debut by meg ryan, ithaca is wordy and static. saroyan' s novel was a sharp smear on the fragility of life in a world of wild extremes and shifting circumstances. unfortunately, the film' s drama is enervated by incessant voiceover, background radio, newsreels, out - loud letter readings and other noise. while it reunites meg ryan and tom hanks, which might prove alluring in ads, hanks appears only in a tiny book - end role .
el monstruo will smash about back alleys, backyards, and phone booths, unfurling an absurd beginning to a potential redemption arc. but abruptly, we leave him to enter “fiends, ” an earnestly dramatic chapter that follows an alcoholic turned sober hotel owner (nicki micheaux), who is dealing with teddy to get a crucial operation for her ailing (and still drinking) mate. her story is tragic, spiked with bitterness and bad decisions, but a fragile ray of hope shimmers when her story abruptly collides with el monstruo. as the two join forces, lowlife leaps to “thugs, ” which is its most lively and insanely outlandish section .
the caper that ties all these characters together is better viewed than explained, particularly considering the playful chronology that prows puts forth. broken into three acts, the film shifts perspective from character to character. because five different screenwriters wrote it, the tone is all over the place, but it' s never distracting. instead ,
but the good news was quickly hijacked by right - wing japanese commentators, who — without viewing the film, and perhaps without having a clue that the bulk of japanese cinema does not treat the country’s social ills as if they are taboo subjects — immediately began condemning it for the damage it could cause to japan’s international reputation .
shiraishi has explored territory similar to the blood of wolves in his previous high - octane actioners the devil’s path (2013) and twisted justice (2016), both of which won numerous awards. but he hits a career high with his new film. the boisterous, brutal cinematic bombshell made its world premiere in udine, italy at the far east film festival in april and has already been booked for extensive international festival play. should it prove to be a commercial hit at home, there’s every chance that toei will move forward with yuzuki’s just - released kyouken no me (literally eye of the mad dog), the second in a planned trilogy .
“the fantasy / drug concept was a way to allow us some experimentation in filming and not have to commit to a realistic, linear narrative, ” he says. “as for the black and white look, i thought it would go nicely with the movie’s dark tone, and it seemed like an interesting take on a psychedelic drug flick. the name lowlife came from a prop we had on set. i had made up a bunch of fake book spines for a bookshelf shot, and over time, seeing it in the scene, it just sort of summed it all up... and maybe reflected how we were feeling making it. ”
“we were very lucky to be able to find that house, which we used for the location shots. i think it’s a big factor in the success of the film. my request was to find a single - story house surrounded by tall buildings, and my amazing crew found it. we actually shot some of the interiors on a set that reproduced interiors from the house. thanks to the wonderful production design, even i can’t recall exactly which scenes we shot on location and which were on the set. it was really believable that these people were living together in this house, and i think it’s one of the main characters in the film. ”
fukada explained, “the idea for the film came from a visit i made to banda aceh back in december 2011, to shoot a tsunami symposium. it was really interesting, because i discovered big differences in the way [ indonesians and japanese ] view life and death. that’s what stimulated me to consider shooting against that backdrop. ”
shiraishi continued, “the [ cigarette ] lighter that ultimately went to tori matsuzaka in the film — he actually took that home with him. he said, ‘i’m gonna keep this until the next time we meet. ’ so if there’s another project with this series, i would be more than happy to take up the challenge. ”
in fact, oh lucy! does spend substantial time on hartnett’s turf. hirayanagi herself is based in the us, after growing up in japan, going to the us as a high - school exchange student, and then graduating from new york university’s tisch school of the arts in singapore. her thesis film was a short version of oh lucy! , which went on to win nearly 40 awards around the globe, including prizes at the cannes, sundance, toronto and sxsw film festivals. although she was courted to direct other projects, she decided to first explore lucy’s story further, and with initial funding from sundance and japan’s nhk, went on to craft the feature version .
sharvan and jack went to lisbon for a few days to visit our good friend jorn. we decided to film the trip and everything around it, we had some really good times, shitty and smooth weather, and met the nicest dude johan! thanks jorn for the hospitality, showing us the city, the good times, just everything !
the first chapter, “monsters, ” begins with a steely close - up of the el monstruo (ricardo adam zarate), a luchador in a baby - blue western suit monologuing about his family’s legacy of churning out wrestlers who are heroes to the people. he laments that he is small, and a disappointment to the legacy. but oh, how he dreams to do right by his ancestors. but who is he talking to? cut to a wide shot, and revealed is a bored mexican girl, draped in a bubbly pink quinceać±era dress, her arms crossed, her face annoyed. this ludicrous contrast is the first hint of lowlife ’s deeply bizarre brand of humor .
“another idea that made its way into the film came from research we did at a facility for abused children. there was one girl who came back from school with her [ heavy backpack ] and we asked what she was studying. she pulled out this japanese picture book called ‘swimmy, ’ and started reading. the facility workers scolded her for taking up too much of our time, but she wouldn’t stop. she read all the way to the very end, and we all clapped, and she just beamed. i imagined that she probably wanted to read it to her parents, and that left a really deep impression on me. so i had the boy read ‘swimmy’ in the film .
well, there you go. i’m interested this, if only because it appears to take place in roughly the same area / time frame, and i tend to enjoy crime movies like that. on the other hand, i really just want to know what the heck is going on. hopefully i get a chance at this year’s fantasia film fest .
i’ve said it a couple times before but i’ll say it again, ifc midnight tends to overhype their films. yes there have been films that lived up to the hype and then there’s ones that haven’t, i was really scared that lowlife was going to be one of those movies where it just didn’t live up to the hype. luckily i was proved wrong, this movie is surprisingly very dark and exactly what i was looking for... . different. the movie has this really really dark humor that actually works quite well, also found this movie somewhat disturbing in a way. just how they handled the subject matter was just really surprising and something you seriously would not expect, i also found…
lowlife is a 2012 canadian psychological horror film directed by seth smith . it was first shown at the 2012 fantasia international film festival , then the atlantic film festival where it won the audience award for best feature . in november 2012 , the filmmakers organized a diy canada-wide theatrical release in 25 cities reaching every province and territory , screening in independent theaters and alternative venues . 
lowlife is a 2012 canadian psychological horror film directed by seth smith. it was first shown at the 2012 fantasia international film festival, then the atlantic film festival where it won the audience award for best feature. in november 2012, the filmmakers organized a diy canada-wide theatrical release in 25 cities reaching every province and territory, screening in independent theaters and alternative venues.
lowlife is a 2012 canadian psychological horror film directed by seth smith. it was first shown at the 2012 fantasia international film festival, then the atlantic film festival where it won the audience award for best feature. in november 2012, the filmmakers organized a diy canada-wide theatrical release in 25 cities reaching every province and territory, screening in independent theaters and alternative venues.