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It’s been a good two years since the full return to an in-person experience at the Fantasia Film Festival, with a few in-person events last year. Speaking from the past five years of experience, Fantasia with a full audience is the best possible way to enjoy the festival with everything that makes it special, including CJLO DJ’s and meowing cat noises. For the newcomers, the Fantasia Film festival is a premiere genre film festival that finds its own niche audience and runs from July 14 to August 3 with its central location being around the Concordia SGW campus, downtown area. Nothing beats the air conditioned hall theater at Concordia’s SWG Campus on a hot and muggy July day as you're being entertained with a film for two hours more or less. 

Remi Caron's Fantasia picks:

The Festival kicks off July 14 with their opening film Polaris, a film from director KC Carthew, that describes itself as a Sci-Fi Eco-Adventure about a girl named Sumi and her adoptive polar bear mother who live in a snowy, post-apocalyptic world, having to battle a group of nomadic warriors. Once they are separated by these warriors, Sumi must use her magical powers to survive and make it to the North Star, Polaris. On August 3 the closing film will be the Cannes sensation from South Korea, Next Soshee from director July Jung; a drama about a girl named Soshee that works at an abusive telemarketing office that later takes a turn into a detective drama once something happens to Soshee. However, another highlight for the closing night of the festival would be the A24 slasher horror film Bodies, Bodies, Bodies from director Halina Reijn starring SNL alum Pete Davidson. 

I always like to start off the festival circuit by exploring the films in the Documentaries From The Edge section. Director Alexandre O. Philippe is a film historian when it comes to documentaries about the subjects of film. His next project at this years Fantasia festival, Lynch/Oz, takes a look at the parallel connection between David Lynch’s film Wild at Heart and Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz. Musical documentaries are also a big festival favourite. This year there is Sirens from director RIta Baghdadi focusing on the Middle-East’s first all female metal band, Slave to Sirens from Lebanon. 

Nothing says A24 Vibes more than the Camera Lucida section at this year's festival. If you are looking for more of a sonic and visual sensory experience to your films, the two that immediately stick out to me are Harper’s Comet from director Tyler Taormina and Topology of Sirens from director Jonathan Davies. On the international front you have the debut horror film Chorokbam from South Korean director Yoon Seo-Jin and from Japan, Just Remember directed by Daigo Matsui; a COVID romance spanning six years told in non-chronological order. 

Looking further down at the Selections 2022 of the festival besides the aforementioned Bodies, Bodies, Bodies some more of the highlights include one of the masters of horror cinema, Dario Argento returning with his new film Dark Glasses, a film about a sex worker who’s blind and under siege by a psychopath. There’s also the horror/thriller from director Andrew Semans, Resurrection, starring Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth which critics are calling career defining performances. Fantasia Festival favourite director Mickey Reece is back this year with his new film, Country Gold. 

Spotlights at this year’s festival include House of Psychotic Women: 10th Anniversary from director Kier-La Janisse, Korean Animation Spotlight and Spotlight on Queer Genre Cinema. There are the films that are on an official jury competition to win a special award in the Cheval Noir section, the animation section Axis, bold independent and filmmakers who are the staple of Fantasia Underground and past Fantasia gems that are highlighted in Fantasia Retro. Québec films are highlighted in Les Fantastiques Week-Eds Du Cinéma Québécois & Genres Du Pays and Canadian films are highlighted in the Septentrion Shadows section. Not to be missed is the Fantasia staple  DJ XL5’s Ultimate Zappin’ Party and as well Artist Talk: John Woo who is this year’s recipient of 2022 Fantasia Career Achievement Award. For the kids friendly fair, check out My First Fantasia. 

Dany Aubry's Fantasia picks:

To my great delight I have once again been provided with the honour and the privilege of attending the Fantasia Film festival. Unlike the last two summers, this summer I'll be downtown in the presence of my Fantasia family to hear them imitate the cat's meow, which I deeply missed. For the time being, there are just three films that really stand out to me, reflect what's going on in the world today.

What to do with the Dead Kaiju? is a comedy from Japan, directed by Satoshi Miki about a late monster known as a Kaiju which had humanity living in fear. However, the dead body of the monster decays in a way that can potentially explode, therefore once again putting humanity in jeopardy. It is then left up to one man to prevent the explosion from occurring. What interests me about this film is that it isn't any ordinary monster movie, it is a monster movie spoof which looked very funny to me. Within the trailer, the characters express themselves comically, therefore I feel this movie has the potential to lift the spirits of those who are feeling sad or depressed.

Whether the Weather is Fine is a  Drama from the Philippines, directed by Carlo Francisco Manatad. After a mother and son endure and survive the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan, their struggle for survival continues as they embark on a quest to search for their loved ones. As I watched the trailer for this film, I felt that the acting within it looked very promising, and outlined how important it is to not take what you have in your life for granted.

The Fifth Thoracic Vertebrae is a fantasy-horror film from South Korea directed by Syeyoung Park about mold that was found on the bed of a couple who split up and grows into a creature that steals people's vertebrae. Within the film trailer, I felt that the special effects looked very neat, and the sound score appeared to suit the mood of what was occurring within the scenes.

Although What to do with the Dead Kaiju? is indeed a comedy film, it somehow reflects what's going on in the world today in the respect that we oftentimes feel that we are just going from one crisis to another which puts us in a perpetual state of "fight or flight" mode. Whether the Weather is Fine is a painful reminder of how sad it was to be separated from our loved ones during the pandemic lockdowns. The Fifth Thoracic Vertebrae is a good example of how in this day and age, science fiction is increasingly becoming acknowledged as science fact.

Remi and Dany Host At The Movies every Tuesday morning from 8-9 AM only on CJLO 1690 AM. They will be covering the Fantasia Film Festival weekly on the CJLO online Magazine.  

Not everyone is lucky enough of having a workplace that’s at least a smidgen enjoyable, as evidenced in The Malicious Basement Theatre Company’s What About Albert?, written by Xander Chung. The plot follows a day in the shift of two part-time workers, a grill sergeant named Pod (Jordan Prentice) and fry cook named Pick (Fanny Dvorkin), in the hell-scape of the fast food chain they work at. Pod is the quirky but insolent worker who sees the meaninglessness of what he believes is a crummy part time job and constantly expresses his resentment towards management while Pick on the other hand, foils Pod; obedient to the bureaucracy of the workplace and worships the manager even when they’re not physically present.

The show’s description states it’s a “Godot inspired fever dream”, however, Jean-Luc Godard is who immediately came to mind while watching; the play feeling profusely influenced from the French new wave genre. In the post-war world of the late '50s, French new wave directors felt that cinema at the time was lacking in humanity and depth, so they decided to forego all the normative film conventions by focusing on the mundanity of life as a form of resistance, but also as a mirror of the underlying emptiness and despair within society. This skepticism also permeated within the philosophies that are entrenched in French new wave films, such as existentialism. The use of colour is also a notable convention of Godard’s films, utilizing vibrant primary colors to contrast said mundanity of life. In What About Albert? Chung specifies the use of color a little more intricately; the only pops of color being the bright yellow and red uniform Pick and Pod wear or the red food wrappers that blanket the floor against the grey monotony of the rest of the setting.

It’s the play’s absurdity that makes it an effective 21^st century interpretation of a Godard film. Absurdity works as a double-entendre in the play, as the word denotes a branch of existentialism that expresses the tension of life being meaningless as it cannot be backed by rational thought, as well as denoting a type of surreal humour. Scholars argue that we have moved from postmodern times, to metamodern times; a combination of modernism’s stride for authenticity and meaning, melded with postmodernism’s cynicism that believes the strive is fated. And through the metamodern lens, absurdist humour seems like the perfect coping mechanism. The play’s premise recognizes Pick and Pod’s Absurd circumstances, their story trudging on but albeit with a humour that assuages their existential qualms.

Absurdity manifests ubiquitously in the play, from characterization, setting, dialogue and even movement. Take the clownish face-paint that Pick and Pod don. Against the base of white face-paint, Pick has frowned eyelids and eyebrows while Pod has sunken red eyelids.  I couldn’t tell if their clownish face paint was a part of their uniform or a meta, non-diegetic insert meant to satirize the folly of their condition—of most people’s condition. Ensuing with absurd motifs was the workplace telephone: everyone fears the moment it’ll ring as someone will have to be the one answer it but in the play, the telephone prop used was a kiddie phone; an example of the subtle yet evocative comedy of Chung’s play. Or the clock, for instance. Instead of a ticking, real clock, in the play it was transformed into a  yellow, cardboard cut-out, with hyperbolic arms that didn’t move once; signifying the seemingly never-ending time that Pod hopes will quickly pass. Even Pick and Pod's movements were exaggerated, and watching them move about felt like watching a stop-motion, Tim Burton film come to life; the grimly undertones fitting for the underlying horror of the Absurd.

But when the clock does eventually tick, and Pick tells Pod, “that’s it, you’re done [your shift],” the play’s comedy only fades to being solely nightmarish. Everything on the set gradually disappears as Pod is left to speaking out into the void, of what’s become of him; of what his life really means when he isn’t a grill sergeant. Pod is made to descend into delirium, and he becomes exactly how Pick was at the beginning of the play: obedient to the workplace, and perceiving his uniform as an inseparable constituent of his identity. The lights then slowly dim on him.

While everyone feels the meaninglessness of life dawn from time to time, I appreciated how the play spoke about the facticity of working class circumstances, from a genuine place. The contrived absurdity of the play did not detract from the play’s overall heart.

Although Montreal's Fringe Festival sadly comes to an end until next year, you can keep up with what The Malicious Basement Theatre Company is up to here!

Lately there’s been an effervescence ringing through the city, and my bets are on it being from CJLO celebrating its third Hip-Hop for Life this week! The Afro-American music genre transcends itself into an impetus that sparks social change, awareness and community. In addition to curated shows, playlists, conferences, and workshops all dedicated to celebrating hip-hop’s vast and pervasive influence within art, the media, politics, culture, language, fashion and so much more; the magazine team wants to hop (pun unintended) onto the zeitgeist too and show some love. Without further ado, here are Remi Caron’s top hip-hop music video picks. – Kaitlyn DiBartolo, Magazine Editor

    If I were to take on the task at declaring the best movie about hip-hop of all time the title and remaining champion in my book would be F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton, a biographical portrait of the rap group N.W.A. However, I shouldn’t overlook the performances that rappers bring to the silver screens, including Eminem in 8 Mile or Tupac Shakur in Juice. Sadly we lost Tupac too young to see what he would have become as an actor in his later career, and Eminem’s only other acting credit was a cameo in Funny People where he has an argument with Ray Romano.  However, being a fan of music videos as much as I am of film, I have decided to highlight some hip-hop/rap videos that have stuck with me and that you should consider alongside the aforementioned greatest hip-hop movie of all time, and of rappers-turned-actors. 

1. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton 

Since I offered up my favorite hip-hop film of all time, it’s only fitting that I would begin with this group and their debut music video. Off their first album and debut single N.W.A. (​​Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren) with the comments, “you are about to witness the strength of street knowledge.'' Ice Cube takes the first part of the song where he raps about going two-to-two with the police and the life of being in gangster culture. MC Ren continues with how people underestimate him, however, he is part of the gangster culture as well. Easy-E closes the video with his verse in the same vein. The video itself is timeless as N.W.A. are the pioneer leaders of gangster hip-hop videos that showcase the LA hip-hop scene, as well as the clash that N.W.A. always had with the law and authority. This would lead to later tracks on the album that for censor reasons we can’t publish but Ice Cube has the powerful line about law enforcement: “they have the authority to kill a minority.”

2. Beastie Boys- Sabotage

Directed by Spike Jonze during his music video days in the ‘90s, Sabotage by the Beastie Boys is pure nostalgic fun, alongside the rock/rap combo the group provides. Don’t tell any Weezer music video fans that I feel that Sabotage may be the best video by Jonze from the ‘90s, as he directed the Buddy Holly music video. In the video, the Beastie Boys comically dress up as these cops from a ‘70s themed police detective show, and it works in the same way Learning To Fly works for the Foo Fighters. Showing off a comical side, this video works in truly capturing the energy and spirit of the Beastie Boys; they're like Buddy Rich when they fly off the handle, with a great vision excecuted from Jonze.

3. Eminem- Stan

In the era of MTV music videos it’s hard not to talk about the king of controversy Marshall Mathers, also known as Eminem. I could have gone with “The Real Slim Shady” or “My Name Is” as both were featured excessively in their height on MTV, however I am going with the one that has a little more depth; “Stan.” Directed by Dr Dre and Philip Atwell, the music video features Dido sampling her hit song “Thank You.” The video stars her as a wife to Stanley “Stan” Mitchel (Devon Sawa), an obsessive fan of Eminem. As the video progresses, Stan becomes more and more deranged through his letters to Em, expressing his contempt at Em not responding back to his fans' correspondance. The finale is somewhat of a tragedy where Stan states one of the biggest enigmas to any rap lyric that still puzzles me, “you know the song by Phil Collins, ‘In the Air of the Night’ / about that guy who could have saved that other guy from drowning but didn't / then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?” The final epilogue shows Em trying to console Stan by responding via letter but then states that he read about the tragedy, “come to think about what his name was, it was you / damn!” leading to the revelation. Many accolades went to this music video as it touches on the themes of fame and fortune taken out of context, a theme that Eminem deals with a lot in his songs and personal life. As for the legacy of “Stan,” the term has been inducted into the Oxford English Dictionary denoting, “an overzealous or obsessive fan, especially of a particular celebrity.”

4. Kanye West- Though The Wire

Don’t you miss the old Kanye? I certainly do every single day because he was one of the first reasons I got into hip-hop as a whole art form of sampling. My mom went out and bought me a copy of  Late Registration, when I probably was still too young. Through The Wire was the first video produced alongside Jesus Walks for The College Dropout, that samples Chaka Khan’s hit “Through The Fire” and speeds it up to match Kanye’s pace as he does his best to rap though his rehabilitation after a nearly fatal car accident and his jaw being wired shut, multiple surgeries later only two weeks after the accident. The video itself is a collage video set as polaroids and photo strips on a cork board, post-accident and West’s life up to that point in the music industry. Watching the Netflix documentary, Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, it’s easy to get emotional as he undergoes dental surgery, nothing is stopping him from spitting out the main hook to the song that started it all and proved to Roc-A-Fella Records to put out the album.

5. Jay Z- Moonlight

Re-listening to 4:44 this past week I couldn't think the record isn’t Jay Z’s most personal album where he opens up about issues in his personal life after the elevator incident with his wife's sister, Solange in 2014 where she physically fought him and when everyone was wondering who Becky with the good hair was. 4:44 is a self-reflective video sampling the song “Late Nights and Heart Breaks" from Hannah Williams & The Affirmations and focuses on his relationship with Beyoncé,  addressing his marital issues and past infidelity indiscretions while apologizing for his past behaviour. The video starts with a young Black boy singing a cover of Nina Simone’s “Feel Good" before cutting to a clip of All by Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story, where Eartha Kitt talks about love: “a relationship has to be earned.” Another person is interviewed after being involved in a hit and run and talks about the nearly fatal accident stating that, “God had shown him too much to take him now.”  A male and female dancer perform an interpretive dance in the music video as Jay tries to atone for his past through his rap lyrics alongside short cellphone videos without any context and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artwork alongside one of his interviews. The video ends with a video of Jay Z and Beyoncé performing “Drunk in Love” as Al Green’s “Judy” closes the video. “Moonlight” on the other hand takes on the culture of the time, referring to the 2016 film Moonlight (dir. Barry Jenkins) and the big stint at the Oscars when La La Land was awarded with Best Picture only to have it redacted as an error on the part of the presenters and the award actually going to Moonlight at the very end. The music video starts with a reference to the '90s sitcom Friends by subverting it with an all Black cast including Tessa Thompson, Tiffany Haddish, Lakeith Stanfield, Jarrod Carmichael, Lil Rel Howery and Issa Rae. The result is a reflection on the deeply rooted racism within our culture and Hollywood.

6. Kendrick Lamar- Swimming Pools (Drank)

Addiction to alcohol and how it might be rooted in family history is the central theme to “Swimming Pool (Drank)”. The music video, directed by Jerome D, sees Kendrick Lamar falling backwards until the very end where he lands into a pool of water. There are some partying scenes that are shot in red hue lighting as Kendrick’s conscience starts speaking to him, “okay now open your mind up and listen to me / Kendrick I'm your conscience / if you do not hear me then you will be history / Kendrick I know that you're nauseous right now / and I'm hopin' to lead you to victory / Kendrick If I take another one down I'ma drown in some poison abusin' my limit.” This would be just the start of the innovative videos that Lamar would put out. 

7. Childish Gambino- Sweatpants/3005

Not all music videos need to be ambitious. Take it from Childish Gambino, (Donald Glover), with his one-take videos and humorous verses. Directed by Hiro Murai, Sweatpants is a one-shot of Donald Glover rapping as he meets his friends at the diner alongside some fun references, “more green than my Whole Foods and I'm too fly, Jeff Goldblum.” We get a glimpse of two Donald Glovers once he returns to the diner after exiting for a text message. Soon, all of the dinner staff and patrons are Donald Glover.  Once again going with the one-shot take from director Hiro Murai,  “3005” sees Donald Glover and an oversized carnival plush prize riding a roller coaster together as he laments on love, “I used to care what people thought / but now I care more / man nobody out here's got it figured out so therefore, I've lost all hope of a happy ending / depending on whether or not it's worth it / so insecure, no one's perfect.” Keeping it simple like a one-take with different vantage points as a way to edit things in and out with a director like Hiro Murai is why Childish Gambino music videos work effectively as an art form. 

The popular Montreal Fringe Festival has finally begun. Of all the indoor art, music and theatre performances it usually hosts, this year’s Fringe is back in full swing and expanding to outdoor activities again. Taking advantage of the summer clear skies and this expansion, Plateau Astro has joined Fringe to organize The Night Sky Tour.

The Night Sky Tour by Plateau Astro is an active one-hour workshop that teaches us the basics of using a telescope and also a brief on how to study the stars and planets. This description on the Fringe brochure intrigued the science kid in me. I just couldn’t say no to an evening of star gazing, viewing the magnificent moon in its raw form, knowing how to spot constellations, following meteor showers, monitoring the launch of the International Space Station (ISS) and many more.

Do you know that the width of your pinky finger raised and placed on a backdrop of the sky equals one degree on the latitude? And do you also know that one degree latitude measures four minutes in actual time? That is how the time zones, daytimes and so on are measured. My geography major didn’t teach me that my pinky finger can help me measure time. But Trevor Kjorlien, the founder of Plateau Astro and the host of the Night Sky Tour did teach us that. 

The engaging storyteller that he is, Kjorlien started with a casual talk about how the tour is going to be, then pulled up his tab, and opened this extraordinary app called "Star Walk 2." This was where things got interesting. The app showed us in real time the path of the sun, the places in the sky where we can spot Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus and even Saturn’s magnificent rings. 

It was past 8:40 pm. Ten minutes into the workshop I witnessed a sunset from the northern hemisphere with a new perspective for the first time since I moved to Montreal from India, which happens to be closer to the equator. This explains the slanting path of the sunset. Once the sun has set, he spoke about constellations, zodiac signs and various calendars in the world and how they are related to this path of the sun. 

Nothing prepared me for the extraordinary moment that happened next. He taught us how to adjust a telescope and focused it right on the moon in the clear night sky. The moon with all its imperfections and craters was a sight that made me squeal like a kid. To top this feeling, we took pictures of the moon from our phones through the telescope. 

“Plateau Astro!” shouted a few fans, recognizing Kjorlien with his telescope. People walking by in the park wanted to view the moon through the telescope too. He is a local star, with all the pun intended. He truly is our friendly neighbourhood astronomer.

Summer goes by real quick and according to Kjorlien, June is the perfect time to attend astronomical workshops like these. The last day of the Night Sky Tour with the Montreal Fringe Festival was June 12 but Plateau Astro also has private workshops and tours apart from the Fringe, which I highly recommend attending.