IMDb Film Festival 2016: Main Slate Thread

First.

Coherence (2013, James Ward Byrkit) 8
Seen it twice actually. What I wrote after my second viewing in August: Very clever. I believe many people are discouraged of seeing a film like this or 'Cube’ for the second to nth time, because the position and knowledge of the characters (consequently - the viewer) in the end is radically different from what it was in the beginning, so it might be a trite feeling to have to spend half of the film on this initial low gradient plateau of the exponential curve, until things get more exciting (which makes a second viewing redundant in general); but nope - I find it interesting to look at the behaviour of the characters in the 'ignorant beginning’ within the context of the ending and all changes occurring during the course of the film. Anyway, this is still a great science-fiction piece questioning identities, choices, depicting little details affecting our understanding, whims of chance that guide our lives further, rendering this idea of “you being your own enemy” and of course it’s most able in absorbing a viewer to a gradually distorting plot, with no easy conclusions. It’s a very dark film when I think about it now.

The Invitation (2015, Karyn Kusama) 7
I currently lack a certain adequate vivaciousness to engage more with the film’s interrelations and imbue within the psychological conditions, which seem very bipolar and continually diverting to concealed and rogue realms, memories, feelings and opinions. Nevertheless, the film struck well, so I’m even more gouged now.

Thrill-O-Meter: 2 out of 10 perturbations, since it’s a warranted inclusion to my ’Dissociative’ list, for the infinite reflections with 2 mirrors and the moments when one confronts “the invitation” with convincing arguments to arouse suspicion to find out one’s immediately disproved by some fact, so that one question’s ones own sanity, recalls traumas, enlarges the already existing load of awkwardness with others, yet the fact still being doubted and the looming suspicions of potential strangeness and threats remain (while those when materialised could further be an extension of ones mind).

Evolution (2015, Lucile Hadžihalilović) 6
Gaspar Noé’s associate has some people situated on an amazing French coastline what might be like a primordial, abstract society by the way how freshly it’s treated, how meticulously basic senses, functions and events (a scratch on the hand, a dispute between children, a boy hurting a starfish, childhood drawings - rudimentary artistic output, etc.) are given so much attention to and taken care of. So humans live alongside the sea, a vast expanse of beauty that’s also a hostile environment where you can’t breath, so one must cope with it through appropriate body movements to get back above the surface and breathe, in other words, adapt, train. And as usual, something unknown and threatening lurks there and a human might not be able to adjust to that radically changing input. An ambitious title such as “evolution” compels one to think about these things through a biological perspective - to look at the interactions of species and the pressures of the environment. What happens to the species in this isolated space? Mutations, mental and bodily transformations leading to horror-esque visions, alterations of perception, behaviour and desires. Has one strange species kidnapped members of another for its own benefit, or is one species growing hostile within? Most of the film is about attempts to control these sort of changes, to try to be understand, mould, surgeon or technologically master such natural occurrences. But it’s implied that they’re doomed to fail - many of the kids die (they’re experimentally wasted and there’s only a limited amount of them), the children sneak out at night to observe the changes affecting the populace, and at one point there’s a symbiosis between the protagonist and the “nurse”, which is the main focus of the last third of the film. All of these are empty propositions though, it’s a vague film, such that it’s easy to dismiss it as lacking content (others would just call it multi-interpretational and “up to the viewer”). It also wasn’t particularly atmospheric to me, it certainly has some compelling moments and music + nature imagery stepping in to the rescue, but overall there’s little here to grasp or enjoy. It’s not bad though.
Thrill-O-Meter: 0 out of 10 screams.

渇き。/Kawaki./Thirst/The World of Kanako (2014, Tetsuya Nakashima) 8
Music, screams, thrills, laughs, ultra-violence, amazing dark destructive painful dooms & glooms - it’s all there, blooming and awesome. (Thrill-O-Meter: 2 out of 10 screams.)

Tokyo Tribe (2014, Sion Sono) 9
Sono is the best. Never ever die.

かぐや姫の物語/Kaguya-hime no Monogatari/The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013, Isao Takahata) 5

Big Bad Wolves (2013, Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado) 5

Song of the Sea (2014, Tomm Moore) 5

Embrace of the Serpent (2015, Ciro Guerra) 6

白日焰火/Bai Ri Yan Huo/Daylight Fireworks/Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014, Diao Yinan) 7

The Forbidden Room (2015, Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson) 5

IT iS A GiANT CREEPY FiSH HEAD THiNG!

Coherence definitely played on the "doppleganger" motif I enjoy so much in my movies; doppleganger literature of course being centered on the idea that the enemy is within. Coherence toyed with this idea - certainly on a character level it was a story about personal failings - but wasn't a slave to it, with the delightful twist being that the "dopplegangers" weren't significantly different from the originals, but merely reflections, and things become so mixed up that it quickly becomes impossible for all of them to tell who's who.

I love your write-up on Evolution as well, as I've said to nearly every person I've discussed it with, the film seems to have a relationship of sorts with the H.G. Wells story "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (and it's many film adaptations). I found it to be one of the most cinematically intoxicating and eerie film experiences I've ever seen, one of my rare 10s.

I definitely have a predilection for films with doubles and in particular films where the characters are enemies and perhaps parts of the same, interiorly struggling person. And all those films tend to be a subset of films about schizophrenia, dissociative identity and so on, I'm inclined to be fascinated by those too. I even made a list (http://www.imdb.com/list/ls071436757/) revolving around this idea, but it became much too inconsistent and vague, so I'll need to either delete or update it soon.

spoilerz
What made 'Coherence' so terrifying for me is that they all started as friends, but random objects and arbitrary arrangements of things around someone can make a huge difference and cause the realisation that one "doesn't belong here" - this isn't the house, timeline and dimension I originally came from. So how can one again establish a connection to these people, how can one put my trust in them, how can one predict what they'll do next. (For couples in particular that idea seems quite unsettling, and I like how it's revealed that two people from two distinct couples had sex before they went to their present couples and "no one told the husband" even though everyone knew. And then the alcoholic said that due to the decoherence he must've had sex with the host's wife in every single universe resulting in him getting punched.)
Like you said, the dopplegangers weren't particularly different from each other, after all up to a certain moment they were the same person, with the same "nature and nurture" (so always at the start two of the group have a predisposition to "go to the other house", one guy has a tendency to drink and I imagine similar traits and behaviours can be linked to the others too). But during that decoherence break things start to split up and quickly antagonisms resulting from angst and uncertainty -- "who is that person really" -- proliferate, resulting in a constant downward spiral.
I like how in the end the character that's followed throughout the movie, moves around and past the various "houses" and sees different versions and outcomes - from dark to darker and some where everyone's ignorant of what has happened. She longing to safety and renewed connections with others wants to go there, but her revealed presence would upset everything, so what she must do is kill herself in that reality and replace. And that was perhaps the most reasonable character the audiences rooted for throughout the film. That was for me really the perfect conclusion to "the enemy within" idea, able to pass the "moral threshold" and kill one's double and step into his place, simply because he (chaotically) ended up in a more fortunate situation.

I haven't read 'The Island of Doctor Moreau' nor the Lovecraft novella PdA mentioned in his write-up, but I will at some point.
Nice, I envy your experience then :)

IT iS A GiANT CREEPY FiSH HEAD THiNG!

I've only seen Coherence once, awhile ago. I didn't like the way it looked, camerawork felt somewhat ugly. However, the screenplay alone makes it one of the most interesting SF films of recent years. The theme of multiverse hasn't been explored in films a lot, especially not in this way. So, I gotta give it bonus points for originality. I like convoluted and mind-bending films, so this was my cup of tea. If only the cinematography was on the same level as the rest, it would've been perfect. 8/10

For some reason, I don't remember the plot of The World of Kanako that well. I remember the important things, but details have escaped me entirely. I ought to watch it again at some point. I loved the visual look, loved the music and the ultra-violence, as you call it. 8/10

Truth is, you're Donny and I'm Walter.
But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be The Dude.

I thought the hazy camerawork and abrupt editing underlined the chaotic downward spiral narrative and psychological states, consequently also contributing to unsettle the viewer. So personally I found it fitting and effective. Also every time I see such camerawork at the start of the film I immediately feel that this might be something special.
Agree about the multiverse being rarely explored in films and this one treating it very well. Of the top of my head there's also 'Rick and Morty', 'Primer', 'Mr. Nobody', 'Przypadek', 'Lola rennt', 'Back to the Future', 'Donnie Darko', 'Groundhog Day', 'Haunter', but again I'm going more off track (into time travel and loops) and rarely is it the case that the multiverses actually interact with each other. 'Rick and Morty' though, if you haven't seen it already, is a must-see.

IT iS A GiANT CREEPY FiSH HEAD THiNG!

I thought the hazy camerawork and abrupt editing underlined the chaotic downward spiral narrative and psychological states, consequently also contributing to unsettle the viewer. So personally I found it fitting and effective.That's a fair point. When I watched Irreversible, the camerawork literally induced a headache (tbh, headache might've been induced by 4-5 beers that I drank before it, but the camerawork certainly helped. That being said, I appreciated it and felt that it really added to it and that it wasn't a film that was meant to be "enjoyed". I didn't feel that way about Coherence, but maybe it was beneficial to my liking of the film, even if it was subconscious. I don't know.

You mentioned some films that touch on the theme of multiverse. Przypadek, Lola rennt, Mr. Nobody and even Butterfly effect all do it in a similar way, where we see how small different decisions end up causing protagonists to lead completely different lives. None of those films, however, put those different people face to face with each other, as you mentioned. That was the most interesting thing to me in Coherence. The concept was unique and it was pulled off very effectively.

I haven't seen Rick and Morty, but your high praise really makes me want to see it. That's the animated TV series, right?

Truth is, you're Donny and I'm Walter.
But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be The Dude.

Well yeah, the camerawork in 'Irréversible' is some next level *beep*

The (unique, interesting in 'Coherence') concept is definitely (among many many many many other things) prominent in 'Rick and Morty' (the animated TV series - right). The idea is introduced after a few episodes and afterwards becomes part of the things that first come to mind, analytically/narratively/thought-provokingly wise. You'll just have to see it for yourself. Enjoy.

IT iS A GiANT CREEPY FiSH HEAD THiNG!

Great list! Please don't delete it, it's a living reminder of all the anime titles I need to get around to.  The idea has seeped into popular culture, it seems, since it's now a trend in blockbuster movies and TV series for the villain to be a dark reflection of the protagonist ("You're not so different, you and I..."

SPOILERS

And of course the other terrifying idea in Coherence is the thought that you can know someone for years and not really know them; suddenly the people you thought were close friends turn out to be 'strangers.'

The end was also a nice role reversal of the classic 'double' narrative where the 'good' protagonist (Jekyll) fights the 'evil' double (Hyde), since our protagonist in the end appears to be the evil one murdering and replacing the good one.