I Kill Giants (2017) - Dane debuts with balderdash B.O. disaster

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A girl wielding a huge weapon in front of a massive giant makes up this dramatic poster for Anders Walter's I Kill Giants

A small girl in a US coastal town rejects normal school life in favor of her hobby; hunting and killing in the forest along the ocean. - But does this curious interest cover over something else?

 

I Kill Giants is written by Joe Kelly (Monsuno (2011-12)), adapting his same-titled 2009 graphic novel co-created with Ken Nimura (Henshin (2015)), and directed by debuting Anders Walter (Helium (2013, short)).

A Monster Calls (2016) reminiscent story with an eternally supercilious, self-governing protagonist with a well-meaning, worried school councilor (Zoe Saldaña (Amsterdam (2022)) gives a dull sad-face performance), dumb brothers and a powerless bigger sister. An overly sweet new British schoolmate girl seems invented solely to get us closer to our little miss nonsense, who is given many a scene to elaborate her wacky nonsense universe. It is all gravely dull.

Humor, real suspense or dramatic development is missing in I Kill Giants. SPOILER The ending unsurprisingly shows that the fantastical elements are all self-invented in order for the girl to cope with her mother's cancer illness. She dies. The girl did not get to see her mother through her last time on earth due to her nonsense hunts in the wild. Nevertheless she thanks an imaginary giant in the film's last scene, wrapping up a story and film that is distant from actual reality and prone to hokum.

 

Related post:

 

Anders Walter: The day after ... The Oscars 2014

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Estimated 15.1 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 369k $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.02 times its cost)

[I Kill Giants premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. 13 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from September 2016 - ? in Belgium, Ireland and New York. The film was released day-and-date (online and in a few theaters) in North America with the gross numbers remaining secret (but likely being tiny). The film's reported gross comes from 7 markets, which, along with Denmark, where it sold just under 2,000 tickets, comes to 369k $. The three biggest markets were Russia with 165k $ (44.1 %), the UAE with 85k $ (23 %) and Portugal with 40k $ (10.8 %). The-Numbers.com allege that the film additionally made more than 1.7 mil. $ on domestic home video sales. Walter returned with Når Befrielsen Kommer (2023). Madison Wolfe (Keanu (2016)) returned in Trafficked (2017); Saldaña in a voice performance, a short and a music video prior to her theatrical return in Avengers: Infinity War (2018); and Imogen Poots (The Father (2020) in Age Out (2018). I Kill Giants is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Kill Giants?

Mandy (2018) - Get sleepy with Cosmatos' psych-out

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Strange imagery delineated into a triangle in vivid reds and purples outline this poster for Panos Cosmatos' Mandy

A forest logger gets his fantasy illustrator girlfriend kidnapped and later murdered by a strange religious cult.

 

Mandy is written and directed by Panos Cosmatos (Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)) with co-writers Aaron Stewart-Ahn and Casper Kelly (Major Flake (2001, TV movie)).

It is a weird and psychedelic movie that appears to have been made by and for people on drugs. It is hard to comprehend and its many drawn-out, quiet, long shots had me zoning out. For a long while nothing much happens; then a bit happens. Mandy is never a plot movie; it evolves in a radically atheistic, anti-Christian direction, as proponents of Christianity are uniformly heinous, hate-filled murderers, deviants and deranged.

Linus Roache (Barry (2016)) is fascinating as the evil cult leader; Nicolas Cage (Drive Angry (2011)) primarily yells and lends Mandy his cinematic mug. The film turns to gory violence. To me the film seems like an overlong edition of a stylish heavy rock music video, which it probably should have been. Mandy is tiring but has visual qualities and a trippy Jóhann Jóhannsson (Prisoners (2013)) score, among the composer's last before his overdose death in 2018.

 

 

Cage gives an interview about the film in this 5-minute video from Sundance

 

Cost: 6 mil. $

Box office: 1.5 mil. $

= Mega-flop (returned 0.25 times its cost)

[Mandy premiered 19 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 121 minutes. Shooting took place from July - August 2017 in Belgium and London, England. The film opened #30 to a 225k $ first weekend in 75 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #28 the following weekend in 71 theaters and grossed 1.2 mil. $ (80 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 106k $ (7.1 %) and Russia with 77k $ (5.1 %). The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit award, among other honors. The-Numbers.com estimate that it made an additional 3.6 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Cosmatos is returning as director behind 1 episode of Guillermo Del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight (2022). Cage returned in Looking Glass (2018). Mandy is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Mandy?