As a general movie rule, when a group of happy weekenders head to a woodland cottage for a bit of rest and relaxation, the great outdoors has some grisly surprises in store for them. In “Who By Fire,” however, the horrors all come from inside the house — or more specifically from the people themselves, many of whose worst impulses and insecurities are unleashed by their tranquil surroundings. Dramatizing a curious case of cabin fever with keen human observation and patient wrangling of intangible dread, the third narrative feature from Quebecois director Philippe Lesage underlines his ability to carve a semblance of a horror movie from everyday domestic drama — confirming him as a filmmaker of considerable grace and daring.
It’s been six years since Lesage’s last film, “Genesis” — a long wait for his admirers, a select club still largely confined to the festival circuit, notwithstanding the polish and rigor of the director’s work.
It’s been six years since Lesage’s last film, “Genesis” — a long wait for his admirers, a select club still largely confined to the festival circuit, notwithstanding the polish and rigor of the director’s work.
- 3/25/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
It’s been almost a decade now that French-Canadian director Philippe Lesage’s intense, intricate dramas have been premiering in top festivals and receiving rave reviews from critics. And yet he unfortunately remains more or less unknown to general arthouse audiences.
Lesage began his career shooting documentaries, including the 2010 hospital chronicle The Heart That Beats, then made his first fictional feature, The Demons, in 2015, following it up in 2018 with Genesis. Both movies were coming-of-age stories — or more like cruel stories of youth, to cite the Nagisa Oshima film — helmed with laser-sharp precision and backed by formidable turns from a young cast. Fine-tuned and freewheeling at the same time, his narratives keep bubbling up until they boil over, in explosive sequences where the characters let it all out or start bellowing pop songs at will.
He’s a gifted and original filmmaker who should be getting more attention — which is why...
Lesage began his career shooting documentaries, including the 2010 hospital chronicle The Heart That Beats, then made his first fictional feature, The Demons, in 2015, following it up in 2018 with Genesis. Both movies were coming-of-age stories — or more like cruel stories of youth, to cite the Nagisa Oshima film — helmed with laser-sharp precision and backed by formidable turns from a young cast. Fine-tuned and freewheeling at the same time, his narratives keep bubbling up until they boil over, in explosive sequences where the characters let it all out or start bellowing pop songs at will.
He’s a gifted and original filmmaker who should be getting more attention — which is why...
- 2/27/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
You’d expect the pivotal music cue in Philippe Lesage’s Who by Fire to be its namesake by Leonard Cohen, a beautiful and plaintive prayer of a song. But instead it’s The B-52s’ infectious slice of bubblegum “Rock Lobster,” initially seeded through a dialogue reference, then heard fully in an eccentric sequence I won’t further detail. The funny, noteworthy quirk of “Rock Lobster,” though, is its structurally well-earned length of just under seven minutes. Who by Fire, running 161 minutes itself, also seems to be up to something, committing to that runtime as such a contained, semi-domestic drama: a provocation through duration.
A rising Québécois filmmaker making his second coproduction with France, Lesage thus far in his career has tinkered around the edges of familiar genres and subject matter, embedding these into his personal sensibility if never quite reinventing them. The camera styles of his two prior...
A rising Québécois filmmaker making his second coproduction with France, Lesage thus far in his career has tinkered around the edges of familiar genres and subject matter, embedding these into his personal sensibility if never quite reinventing them. The camera styles of his two prior...
- 2/26/2024
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi)
Following his early days of being an assistant for Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi’s career soon blossomed, leading to a few collaborations between the two monumental figures of Iranian cinemas––one of which, Crimson Gold, is now available on The Criterion Channel. The masterful 2003 character study, scripted by Kiarostami after he told the tenets of the story to Panahi while sitting in traffic, stars unprofessional actor Hossain Emadeddin in his sole performance. Following a pizza delivery driver who witnesses the sharp class divide and political terror playing out in his society, Kiarostami and Panahi brilliantly preview the brutal ending from the start as the pieces then cogently and subtly fall into place as to why a man would...
Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi)
Following his early days of being an assistant for Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi’s career soon blossomed, leading to a few collaborations between the two monumental figures of Iranian cinemas––one of which, Crimson Gold, is now available on The Criterion Channel. The masterful 2003 character study, scripted by Kiarostami after he told the tenets of the story to Panahi while sitting in traffic, stars unprofessional actor Hossain Emadeddin in his sole performance. Following a pizza delivery driver who witnesses the sharp class divide and political terror playing out in his society, Kiarostami and Panahi brilliantly preview the brutal ending from the start as the pieces then cogently and subtly fall into place as to why a man would...
- 9/24/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"Did you see that?! His head flew off!" Dark Star Pictures has released the official trailer for a homemade animation horror film titled Attack of the Demons, the latest creation from Austin, TX-based animator / filmmaker Eric Power. Direct from a notably well-received festival run (beginning at Cinepocalypse last year), and arriving in theaters this Halloween, the frighteningly-fun animated horror treat just for adults! Described as "South Park meets The Evil Dead" with a "grisly and gorgeous mix of Fulci and puppetry", the film is set in a small Colorado town that is overrun by a legion of mutating demons. Laced with a killer new soundtrack, and featuring the voices of Andreas Petersen, Thomas Petersen, Katie Maguire, as well as Eric Power, Attack of the Demons reanimates the living dead this November (on VOD). While the film's animation style looks rough, it's more of a nod to South Park, and Power...
- 10/19/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
It’s another jam-packed week of DVD and Blu-ray releases, here’s the rundown of what’s available to buy from today, June 20th 2011.
Pick Of The Week:
Savage Streets (DVD)
Brenda’s got a switchblade and she knows how to use it… See Linda Blair (The Exorcist) take bloody revenge on a gang of low down dirty street punks in Savage Streets, a brutal journey into rape, violence, switchblades and bear traps. When Brenda (Blair) and her all-girl gang of tough talking chicks, The Satins, refuse to party with a car full of local drug pushers called The Scars, the girls think nothing of it, but they didn’t reckon on the bruised ego of Jake and his feral pack of no good thugs. Targeting Brenda’s deaf sister, they invade the school and savage her, leaving her on the critical list. Now Brenda must scour the streets in...
Pick Of The Week:
Savage Streets (DVD)
Brenda’s got a switchblade and she knows how to use it… See Linda Blair (The Exorcist) take bloody revenge on a gang of low down dirty street punks in Savage Streets, a brutal journey into rape, violence, switchblades and bear traps. When Brenda (Blair) and her all-girl gang of tough talking chicks, The Satins, refuse to party with a car full of local drug pushers called The Scars, the girls think nothing of it, but they didn’t reckon on the bruised ego of Jake and his feral pack of no good thugs. Targeting Brenda’s deaf sister, they invade the school and savage her, leaving her on the critical list. Now Brenda must scour the streets in...
- 6/20/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
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