Yes kids, two weeks have come and gone which means it is time once again for your fortnightly dosage of International Eye Candy, a collection of the latest and greatest international flicks as culled from the pages of the humble Twitch. And this block of candy is tasty indeed … word of the ONG BAK 2 promo is already out there but how’s about a Russian remake of COMMANDO? Korean western madness in THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD? Plus more ULTRAMEN than you can shake a stick at, mostly naked Danish teen girls and the proverbial ‘so much more’! Here we go!
We’ll start with those Danish teens in a film not likely to be seen on screens in North America any time soon thanks to its graphic content. It’s titled MOLLYCAM and it’s a gritty piece of work inspired by the YouTube generation and the increasing sexification of well nigh everything. The trailer never quite crosses the NSFW barrier but it gets pretty close and considering that the lead character is a sixteen year old girl in braces you might want to consider who’s standing nearby before watching it.
Take a peek over your shoulder and then check it out here
Not a feature here, but trailers for a pair of animated shorts by Juan Fernando Maguid – a Swede of obviously non-Swedish heritage who does some mighty impressive stuff that deserves some love. So give him some. The two projects linked here are RUPERT THE DANCING DEMON and THE KEEPER, and they’re quite different in tone while also pretty obviously being the work of the same guy. Maguid’s impressive, keep an eye on him.
Check the trailers here
Holy crap! Look at all those Ultramen! Fans of the classic series are well aware that there have been multiple Ultramen over the years, and not just multiple actors playing the character. No, there have been multiple glowing balls from space, each of them possessing a different person to create a different Ultraman, each of them with their own slight variations. Sure, they all battle giant monsters, but there are some quirks that go beyond slightly different suit designs. And now, for the first time, the latest ULTRAMAN feature film is gathering them all together. There are eight of them in this bad boy, which means eight times the monster battling fun!
Watch and be amazed!
And how does Ultraman like to unwind after a long day battling monsters? By sitting back and enjoying some hip hop, no doubt, and if he wants to learn more about the mainland Chinese variety – yes, there is such a thing – then I recommend he check out new documentary FOLLOW YOUR HEART, which chronicles this rather unlikely trend, the people driving it and the fans who enjoy it. Not my normal thing, honestly, but it looks rather good.
I was going to make a bad joke here but have opted not to humiliate myself in public after all. Just click the link to check out the trailer.
Fifteen year old girl! Fifteen year old baby! Things will go badly when the two things meet and considering that this is a Yudai (BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL, CROMARTIE HIGHSCHOOL) Yamaguchi adaptation of a Kazuo Umezz manga I’m betting that they’ll go badly in a very entertaining way in TAMAMI. This looks to be a much more formal sort of picture than what Yamaguchi normally turns out but lots of fun nonetheless and there may even be a bit of a Lovecraft thing going on …
Take a gander here
Okay, last time out we pointed the way to an English subtitled and rather spoiler-y sales reel for upcoming French extreme horror MARTYRS – a film currently caught up in a battle with the French censors for its extreme content – and the film makes a second appearance here this week thanks to a pair of proper theatrical teasers. They’ll make you squirm.
Get punished here
On to something a little lighter now, namely an ancient Korean arms race in THE DIVINE WEAPON. It shouldn’t be news at this point that the guy with the biggest gun wins (insert off color remark here) and in this case what that translates to is the mad rush to develop explosive arrows to hold off the advancing Ming Army. It’s big and pretty and lots and lots of stuff goes boom. And that’s okay in my book.
Light the fuse here!
The makers of Korea’s LIFE IS COOL must be tired of their film being called the Korean WAKING LIFE by now but, well, it sort of is. Same rotoscope technique, same emphasis on daily life, same very cool results. Trailer’s tasty.
Check it out here
Been keeping an eye out for Barbet Schroeder’s INJU for a good while now and have finally been rewarded with something a bit more substantial than the early teaser. Why care? Because the combination of a director the status of Schroeder and source material from Japanese cult legend Edogawa Rampo is pretty damn compelling and it looks like Schroeder has been very faithful to what makes Rampo go in bringing this to the screen. And for those unfamiliar with the man that means plenty of gothic terror, blood and twisted sex.
Details and trailer links here
Nope, Ryoo Seung Wan’s DACHIMAWA LEE isn’t the big spaghetti western inspired action flick that everybody’s talking about in Korea but I’ll wager good money that that film - you’ll find out which I mean soon enough, have patience – has an awful lot to do with the marketing for this one. What have they done? Well, they’ve gone and released a teaser that features no footage at all from the film itself but instead parodies everybody’s favorite British spy, thereby playing up the comic-espionage aspect of the film while hoping desperately not to compete head to head with the other western powerhouse. Still waiting for some real footage but this makes for a fun diversion.
Get goofy here
Anybody out there remember the days when Australia was cranking out goofy b flicks with the best of them? Sure, we all know about MAD MAX but there were loads more and the makers of NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD are determined to make sure they’re not forgotten. Cheap t&a, low budget horror, even a bit of kung fu … Australia had it all. The first trailer for the documentary feature hit this week and these original films look like a blast and the makers have assembled an impressive list of talking heads – including everybody’s favorite big-mouth film maker – to break down why anybody should care.
Isn’t it time you stopped talking about other people’s films and made one of your own, Quentin?
COMMANDO. In Russian. And, yes, they seem to be fully aware of just how goofy the idea is and they’re running with it. No idea if this is an official sanctioned remake but the influence of Arnold’s flick on director-star Mihail Porechenkov’s DAY D is unmistakable.
Get giggly and nostalgic at the same time here
And now we arrive at the end of yet another IEC column but we’re going out in style with the new theatrical trailer for Kim Ji Woon’s THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD and, yes, this is the big Korean western I mentioned up above. An all star cast coupled with one of Korea’s most talented directors with a huge budget and extensive on location shooting made this one one to look out for ages ago. That the trailer positively oozes style and the Cannes audience loved it makes this an early candidate for year end best of lists.
Behold the goodness (and badness, and weirdness) here
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