Josh Bell
This week’s fringe VOD releases feature sexy cannibals, Thai zombies, flamboyant pro wrestlers, and Kazakhstan’s answer to Jackie Chan.
Kung Fu Rookie (VOD and Film Movement Plus March 14): Kazakh martial artist Timur Baktybayev crafts a winning showcase for himself with this breezy action comedy, which should immediately put him on the international radar. It’s a risk for a movie like this to name-drop Jackie Chan so often, but Baktybayev and director Aman Ergaziyev effectively capture the playful spirit of vintage Chan films. Wide-eyed Timuchin (Baktybayev) travels from his rural hometown to the big city of Almaty to attend the police academy and help out at his uncle’s fruit stand, and he soon strikes up a flirtation with the friendly Alua (Janelle Sergazina). The ratio of cutesy romantic montages to dynamic action scenes is a little off, but both are appealingly wholesome. Timuchin initially incurs the wrath of a group of local thugs when he chastises them for littering, and that’s enough motivation for a series of creatively staged set pieces, making clever use of locations like an amusement park and an auto repair warehouse. Jackie Chan should take notice. Grade: B+
Raging Midlife (VOD and select theaters March 14): The filmmakers behind this dreadful comedy clearly have a lot of affection for the goofy bombast of 1980s pro wrestling, and they open with a loving recreation of that era, featuring Randy Savage impersonator Motch O. Mann as a Savage/Hulk Hogan-style wrestling star known as Raging Abraham Lincoln. The rest of the movie, about a pair of obnoxious lifelong friends and devoted Raging Abe fans, is more annoying than endearing. Co-writer Nic Costa plays the relatively grounded Alex, whose boorish buddy Mark (Matt Zak) pushes him into increasingly outlandish plans to acquire Raging Abe’s authentic tank top from the woman who outbid them for it online. Raging Midlife lurches from grating, interminable bits of cartoonish comedy to unconvincing efforts at romance and emotional bonding, with a cast of unlikable characters. Director and co-writer Rob Taylor recruits Paula Abdul, Eddie Griffin, and Walter Koenig for small roles, but the stunt casting is just another empty distraction in a movie built on gimmickry. Grade: C-
Operation Undead (VOD March 18): Most depictions of supernatural meddling during World War II focus on the Nazis, but Thai writer-director Kome Kongkiat Komesiri shifts that attention to the Japanese, who are apparently just as adept at creating horrific monsters. During the Japanese invasion of Thailand, an experimental subject escapes containment and infects a battalion of Thai soldiers with a zombie virus, serving as a reflection of the brutality of war. Despite the presence of the undead, the movie’s tone remains serious and often bleak, highlighting the savage treatment of the Thai people at the hands of the Japanese military. Komesiri’s zombies are semi-intelligent, and they become essentially the heroes as they rebel against an invading force that has turned them into hideous creatures against their will. The sprawling cast lacks a true protagonist until far too late into the story, and the ungainly narrative reduces the impact of Komesiri’s larger themes. The effects are a mix of impressive practical gore and shoddy CGI, and the movie itself is similarly inconsistent. Grade: B-
A Cursed Man (VOD March 25): Filmmaker Liam Le Guillou comes off like a cross between Morgan Spurlock and Zak Bagans in this hokey documentary about supposed black magic. Opening with a hyperbolic disclaimer warning viewers about the possible adverse effects of witnessing such dark rituals, A Cursed Man follows Le Guillou in his somber quest to test the validity of so-called curses. He travels from New Orleans to India to Mexico seeking out various occult practitioners and asking them to place a curse on him, so he can experience the results firsthand. Delivered in a slick reality-TV style, the movie is disingenuous and mildly culturally insensitive, and Le Guillou is a grade-A huckster, taking the audience on his predetermined path from skepticism to concern to eventual enlightenment and relief. The scenes with Le Guillou’s bemused wife — who offers the same muted reaction to her husband’s initial plans and his later overblown fears — are emblematic of the lack of insight and clarity, from both Le Guillou and the fellow charlatans he consults. Grade: C
Cannibal Mukbang (VOD March 25): The title gives away the secret of too-good-to-be-true influencer Ash (April Consalo), a gorgeous, charming woman who takes a surprising interest in shy loner Mark (Nate Wise). Mark’s douchebag brother Maverick (Clay von Carlowitz) literally calls Ash a manic pixie dream girl, but writer-director Aimee Kuge slyly deconstructs that cinematic stereotype, as Ash shakes up Mark’s stale life in ways that quickly veer from quirky and fun to dangerous and violent. She assures Mark that everyone she kills and turns into food for her online videos is a bad person, and there’s an exhilarating Bonnie-and-Clyde quality to their courtship. Kuge uses cannibalism to comment on toxic relationships and unresolved issues, without turning the movie into a self-help lecture. The visual style is warm and colorful, depicting Ash’s ramshackle home décor and fresh human viscera along the same vibrant spectrum. The abrupt ending is jarring, but the journey there is just the right mix of funny and nasty. Grade: B+
