Tag Archives: The Vanished

My “Weekly” Adventures: Fantasia and More Events

Posted in My Weekly Adventures by

Are you ready? This past month was so busy that I’m still trying to get grips and find back all the energy. Its why well…a lot of things have been behind. The one thing that we haven’t left behind is the heat wave because its still as present as ever. Not really a bad thing because I can now have time to go back into the pool once I catch up a little more. This post might be a little heavier on the Instagram since its easier to do that than to just keep uploading photos. Its going to be heavy on pictures on the things that happened. To be honest, Fantasia took up most of my life so not all that much happened.

Let’s just jump right in!

Fantasia Festival

Boy was this a festival and a half this year. I pushed really hard and covered 5 more movies than I normally would. Of course, I had work because if I didn’t, I would be at the screening rooms and covering even more. However, this year was a really nice selection of films. Most of the films delivered fairly well. There were some odds and ends that didn’t quite land as well for myself. I probably will still do some sort of Fantasia wrap-up within the next week. Its a little after the event but I still would like to highlight some of the films.

As for my Instagram game, I even impressed myself when I went to do some press work and took pictures of the directors and cast and such whenever they were present.

So yeah…A lot of fun times here. I didn’t take any pictures with the cast and crew although you could, except for the director of Big Brother but then my shyness came out since I’m really a behind the scenes person (except when I do Game Warp, I guess). That picture is just for myself since I looked like an elephant. The roster of lists from when I posted the Weekly Adventures a month ago definitely did end up changing a little since I ended up missing a few other films but adding in some other titles.

You can find all the reviews now. The full roster of films: A Rough Draft, Big Brother, Bleach, Cam, Fireworks, Knuckleball, Laplace’s Witch, Lifechanger, Nightmare Cinema, The Nightshifter, Our House, The Outlaws, Playing Hard, Pledge, Rondo, Searching, Tigers Are Not Afraid, Under the Silver Lake, The Vanished, The Witch in the Window.

Wedding in Toronto

Wedding

One of my best friends had her wedding in Toronto. It  was absolutely lovely despite the heat with both the church and the dinner reception. These moments also have the time to see everyone dressed at their best and partying together and wishing happiness for our dear friend as well. It was a great time. Of course, it helps that my husband also was able to be there. I talk about that a lot but thats because my husband used to work the graveyard shift so now its always grateful to have this new shift where he can live normal human hours and do things and attend events.

Some people take for granted how amazing it is to spend time with the ones we love but sometimes different situations make it hard but hey, you work through it and it all comes together in the end. Rambling again…

Brossard Festin Culturel

Mon Ami Restaurant – Korean Food

Street Monkeys – Cambodia Food

Mucho Burrito – Mexican Food

Every year, the last weekend is always a busy one. We would hit two festivals. This year, we decided to not head out to the Matsuri Festival. A few key reasons is honestly the crowds and the parking and the traffic going out since road works are ridiculous right now. So, we went to check out earlier the Brossard Festin Culturel  which is a cultural festival in the Montreal suburbs. Its primarily a family event and this year, it moved locations so we wanted to see how it all went down and actually this new location works really well, even better than before. We tried out some cool restaurants also and enjoyed the sun a little and walked around. Fun times!

 

Matinee Movie Date

I feel like every time that I tell you all about going to the theatre it will be for some popcorn flick where its not outstanding terms like Oscar films but just a pure entertaining film. Most of the films that I look forward to and will watch in theatres (aside Fantasia) is honestly films that I feel the big screen will make a difference. Just to be clear, my suburban theatre only offered UltraAVX and 3D had more choice in times than the normal which had one showing only. Either way, I don’t really regret it at all. The experience for The Meg was quite unique since I honestly really got into the film and had some moments where I literally was startled and jumped back in the seat. Its a pretty awesome shark film experience. I know this movie has its issues. Either way, my review will be going up. In the meantime, we did a Movies and Tea After Hours kickoff show reviewing The Meg that literally just went live today.

I’ll still reblog the post tomorrow or something but just to have a fun listen!

Tranquil Dreams on Facebook

In case you missed the announcement post a few weeks ago, we are officially on Facebook! It was meant to happen eventually but you know circumstances changed  for Facebook linking here so I got that set up quickly. Head over and give us a like or follow! I’ll share random stuff there every once in a while so it’ll be a fun time. Check it out HERE.

That’s it for this adventures! 🙂
Things are getting back on track. Hopefully summer has been treating you all fantastic!

Fantasia Festival 2018: The Vanished (2018)

Posted in Fantasia Film Fest!, Film Festivals, Movies by

The Vanished (2018)

The Vanished

Director (and writer): Lee Chang-hee

Cast: Kim Sang- Kyung, Kim Kang-Woo, Kim Hee-ae, Han Ji-An, Lee Ji-Hoon

The body of Yoon Seol Hee disappears at the National Institute of Scientific Investigation. Detective Woo Joong Shik seeks clues on her disappearance, while her husband Park Jin Han claims she is alive. – IMDB

South Korean films have been gracing its presence at the Fantasia Film Festival for the last few years with a lot of success in many genres. Drama, action, thriller, horror: you name it and they have had its impact by showing off great storytelling skills, stylistic cinematography and outstanding characters and performances while sharing their culture and society. This debut feature film directed by 35 year old Lee Chang-hee is a great addition to the successes. The Vanished is based on the Spanish film The Body. While the foundation of the idea of the missing corpse and the characterization is similar to the original, Lee makes sure that the way his story ends has his own influences and unique twist. Thrillers are no small feat and a lot of directors fail to put together a truly effective twist. Lee has chosen a challenging genre to tackle and in many ways, he delivers it quite effectively. It’s important to note that while this is set in a morgue, The Vanished is not meant to be horrific, in fact there is a real consciousness of making sure that it stays more on the atmospheric thriller aspects and the unfolding of the story.

The Vanished takes a great step in framing the movie over the course of a night with timestamps to see the various points as reference. It is meant to be a simple film as we see the story reveal itself through the colorful characters on screen who strike up some signature humorous moments with their dialogue and reaction. It helps to break up the tension. At the same time, the timeline also smoothly flows into the flashback moments to give more depth on the story as other pieces get revealed. What drives the story is the disappearance of the corpse which brings the further notion of catalepsy or the possibility of the dead coming alive again. In this case, it highlights the two main characters here: the husband Dr.Park (Kang-woo Kim) and the detective Jung-sik (Sang-kyung Kim). Their stories are very similar in their losses but as Jung-sik uncovers the mystery with the biggest suspect, the contrast in their characterization makes sense especially when it is no surprise that in this relationship of unbalanced control, he has a mistress. Like most thrillers, the secrets lead to more secrets and twists and turns. The final act, while may seem far-fetched, actually had all the clues embedded throughout the film and is in the details of piecing them together.

The Vanished

Filled with an experienced South Korean cast that deliver exceptional roles in this thriller, The Vanished’s biggest accomplishment is its cinematography. The basics of contrasts are used here, just like for its characters and their emotions. In terms of color palette, the night scenes have a lot of crisp scenes with focused lighting and a blue hues that accentuate the darker scenes. It plays well with flickering lights and well-timed blackout moments to create the suspenseful atmosphere. In the flashback moments, its contrasts it with more natural and warm colors like using sunlight. One of the best shots is the choice of color when one of the character falls into the water and the contrast of blue and red in the details of the water elevate the scene visually, and not just emotionally. Aside than the color palette, it also benefits from the scenes being framed stylistically like when looking at the window or when to focus on centering the object or using overhead bird’s eye views to show more detail.

Visually stylistic and great characters make The Vanished an immersive experience. While the thriller is meant to be simple, there was a charm to how the final act was executed to bring in its own twists and stayed true to South Korean films and its tendency to focus on the deeper emotions of its characters on hand. Lee Chang-hee had a vision and he stayed true to it which delivers an effective little thriller.

This review was also posted on That Moment In.