Male Fantasy

I just saw "Male Fantasy" at the second showing during the Vancouver International Film Festival. I thoroughly enjoyed it... I wish I could recommend for people to go see it, but after chatting with the director, Blaine Thurier, who was on hand for a Q&A after the showing, apparently, there are no immediate plans for it to be shown in the near future. I hope a distributor picks this up... the movie deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

This movie is a very enjoyable black comedy about a slightly pathetic, often annoying man who is struggling to escape a fit of depression after being (we assume - I don't believe it was actually clearly stated why they are separated) kicked out by his wife. His attempt to recreate himself as a god who can create his own reality is an over the top but perhaps not totally unrealistic portrayal of the ups and downs of someone trying to recover from a relationship gone bad.

There are several scenes that had nearly the entire theatre in stitches; some, because they are outright funny, but more often than not, because the protagonist probably reminded us of some of the more embarrassing incidents in our own pasts... but the laughs are also punctuated with some more sober, even chilling, scenes that I felt reminded us to see the characters as humans and not just a source of humour.

I haven't seen the director's first movie, but I have read that it won an award for best feature at the annual South By Southwest arts/multimedia festival in Austin, Texas, and it's easy to see why, if it's anything like this one. Despite the fairly low budget shoot, the editing was excellent, and the dialogue and acting were both excellent. Again, I hope that this film has a chance of reaching a wider audience...