Anomalous events continue to pile up—Drouin’s cat dies mysteriously (although perhaps it was just horrified by his strange taste in interior decoration and fondness for knitted neckties—this film is a real time capsule of bad 70’s style)…
Screen personas don’t come much cooler that Chow Yun-fat’s Ko Chun in the “God of Gamblers” series, and the latest installment in the series, From Vegas to Macao, does not disappoint in that regard. Ko Chun (aka “Ken”) has the suave nonchalance of Sean Connery’s James Bond and provides a calm center within a film that turns both the action and the humor up to notch 11.
The plot is completely nuts, but it moves so quickly that it basically defuses your ability to be bothered by its many absurdities. More importantly, it serves its purpose as a vehicle to deliver the kind of pleasures that are the real reason for watching Chow’s action-comedy films. The film starts with a family of would-be Robin Hoods (Benz, played by Benz Hui, Cool, played by Nicholas Tse, and Karl, played by Chapman To) in Hong Kong who cheat at cards in order to pay for a relative’s cancer treatment. They meet up with Ken in Macau, where Karl falls for Ken’s nubile daughter Rainbow (Kimmy Tong).
At the same time, a global money-laundering syndicate on mainland China is infiltrated by a beautiful detective (Jiang Tian), who asks Ken to set up a card game showdown with the head of the syndicate. Of course, the baddies kidnap Rainbow (what other purpose do daughters serve in this type of film?) and Ken can only save her if he can, as rumor has it, read cards through his fingertips. Truth serum plays a role in the story, as do playing cards that double as weapons, Ricky Jay style, and Ken’s home (he describes it as a converted library) is full of customizations that both serve up the laughs and play key roles in the plot.
Le Diable est Parmi Nous, a 1972 horror flick directed by Jean Beaudin and written and produced by John Dunning, is at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of both budget and ambition. It was screened at Fantasia as part of the book launch for You’re Not Dead Until You’re Forgotten, Dunning’s memoir of his film career, which began with selling candy in his family’s Montreal theatre, and led to him becoming the producer of many Quebecois exploitation movies (collectively known as “maple syrup porn”) and cult classics (of which Meatballs is surely the best known). You might think of him as the Roger Corman of Montreal.
Le Diable est Parmi Nous was released in English as Satan’s Sabbath and The Possession of Virginia, but informed sources tell me that those versions suffer from some unfortunate editing and thus don’t give you a fair impression of the film. We at Fantasia saw the real thing, and even though it was shown in French and without subtitles, I had no problem following the story. It all starts with a man jumping out of a window, an apparent suicide. However, crime scene photos turn up some clues (particularly the presence of a mysterious old lady, played by Rose-Rey Duzil) suggesting this was no simple suicide. Journalist Paul Drouin (Daniel Pilon) decides to investigate.
Anomalous events continue to pile up—Drouin’s cat dies mysteriously (although perhaps it was just horrified by his strange taste in interior decoration and fondness for knitted neckties—this film is a real time capsule of bad 70’s style), then his girlfriend is found hung in a church—and ultimately he discovers a group of Satan worshippers who seem to be behind it all.
Like any good journalist, Drouin decides to infiltrate the group, and eventually finds himself at a Black Mass complete with amazingly cheesy costumes (which had the screening audience howling with laughter) and, of course, an orgy. There are plenty of sex scenes of the non-Satanic variety, as well (doubling the audience appeal—even if you’re not interested in devil worship, chances are you are interested in sex) and while they don’t show much in terms of body parts, they don’t stint in terms of showing female pleasure (something which we seldom see in American films, as it pushes all the wrong buttons for the MPAA raters). Le Diable est Parmi Nous also has a great soundtrack by François Cousineau, and overall it’s at least as good as the better Hammer horror flicks. | Sarah Boslaugh
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