RVIFF Day 3: Geomancer vs. Evil Grave, Sea Priestesses vs. Corrupt Modernity, and Mads Mikkelsen vs. the Jutland Heath
September 8th, 2024 | Robin
A Ken and Robin Consume Media Special Feature
Mami Wata (Nigeria, C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi, 2023, 4) The adopted daughter (Evelyne Ily Juhen) of an untouched village’s intermediary to the sea goddess struggles to protect it from the encroach of corrupt modernity. Impassioned allegorical drama shot in a striking digital black and white that transforms the actor’s patterned costumes into stark graphic elements.
The Promised Land (Denmark, Nikolaj Arcel, 2023, 5) Stubbornly determined veteran 18th century officer (Mads Mikkelsen) vies for a noble title by promising to successfully cultivate the Jutland heath, gathering misfit allies and enraging a sniveling, murderous rival landowner (Simon Bennebjerg.) Thematically a western, but also in its emotional performances, narrative sweep, and depiction of landscape as divine antagonist, a drink from the well of David Lean.
As far as actual history is concerned, this turns out to be one of those “don’t look up the real guy” movies.
Scarlet (France, Pietro Marcello, 2022, 4) Girl grows from infant to young adult (Juliette Jouan) in an interwar French village whose churlish residents treat her talented woodworker father (Raphaël Thiéry) as an outcast. Lyrical, novelistic drama shows the difference between sincerity and sentimentality.
Cliff Walkers (China, Zhang Yimou, 2021, 4) Communist commandos paratroop into occupied Harbin to perform a mission, unaware that they’ve been betrayed to the puppet government’s secret police. Snowy period espionage action-thriller where nearly every character is engaged in at least a double game.
Exhuma (South Korea, Jang Jae-hyun, 2024) Hired to lift a curse afflicting a rich family, a team led by a mercenary geomancer (Choi Min-Sik) and a blunt shaman (Kim Go-eun) removes their grandfather’s coffin from his inauspicious grave, digging up more than they expected. Investigative folk horror flick packed with scares, curveballs, and fun character moments.
Just when I thought the South Korean film industry had already laser-targeted my interests, it puts the star of Old Boy in a movie about a feng shui expert conducting an occult investigation. It even features creepy foxes, which by reality-shattering coincidence also appeared as an emergent recurring motif from my Yellow King playtest series.
However until James Gunn greenlights a Justice Society of America movie where the golden age heroes hang out with a disturbingly friendly blood robot, I assure you nothing weird is going on.
For the third year running, my wife Valerie and I are attending our own at-home film festival. It takes the place in our hearts and vacation plans formerly reserved by the Toronto International Film Festival. The Robin and Valerie International Film Festival is the cinema event you can play along with at home, with a roster of streaming service and SVOD titles. Its roster includes the foreign, independent and cult titles we used to love to see at TIFF, but cheaper, hassle-free, and on the comfort of our own couch. Daily capsule reviews roll out throughout the festival, with a complete list in order of preference dropping a day or two afterwards. Review ratings are out of 5.
If you enjoy this special text feature of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast and don’t already support our Patreon, consider tossing a few bucks in the tip jar. Or check out my book on action films and their roleplaying applications, Blowing Up the Movies. Or the roleplaying game inspired by the Hong Kong films I first encountered at TIFF, Feng Shui 2.
