Anti-Worlds

[MichaelB]

They’re not on sale yet.

[Finch]

Chained for Life is on AV Club's Best of 2019 not officially reviewed list

Much of Aaron Schimberg’s small-scale showbiz satire plays like an indie version of Robert Altman’s The Player. But it’s in conversation, too, with Tod Browning’s Freaks, and the works of David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and other filmmakers who toe the line between empathetic portrayals of disability and unadulterated exploitation. Under The Skin’s Adam Pearson, an actor with severe facial deformities caused by neurofibromatosis, plays Rosenthal, the second lead in a foreign director’s English-language debut, which also features many actors with disabilities in background parts. Although Rosenthal is treated well by his co-star, Mabel (Jess Weixler), he and the rest of the film-within-a-film’s disabled cast are subject to polite condescension through the veil of faux-woke politics. It’s a film about how the need for diversity can be exploited under the guise of good intentions. [Vikram Murthi]

[tenia]

Holiday's here too.

[senseabove]

I'm happy to see riskier contemporary films get such dedicated, elaborate releases, even if I can't say any of these look like blind buys for me. Relaxer and Holiday are on Kanopy in the US, at least, so I will try to check them out just so I can justify supporting the sub-label if I like them.

I can only hope Anti-Worlds will pick up some past and future personal festival favorites that were somewhat awarded but for the most part ignored in English-language media and distribution, or at best relegated to DVD. On the off chance that MichaelB wants to pass on some suggestions, a handful that I think would be worth some love and, based on these three films' trailers, might be in the sub-label's wheel-house of recent, risky, stylized, button-pushing festival gems are:
Nicolette Krebitz's Wild (2016, no English-language distributor, afaik)
Handl Klaus's Tomcat (2017, US First Run and UK Matchbox Films DVDs only)
Olivier Masset-Depasse's Mothers' Instinct (a.k.a. Duelles) (no English-language distributor, afaik),
Lila Aviles' The Chambermaid (US DVD from Kino)

[MichaelB]

Anti-Worlds has revamped its website, with full details of its three inaugural Blu-ray releases.

To save you clicking, here's artwork and specs (artwork spoilered for size):

SpoilerShow

CHAINED FOR LIFE
(Aaron Schimberg, 2018)
Release date: 24 February 2020
Limited Edition 2 x Blu-ray (UK Blu-ray premiere)

Aaron Schimberg’s impressive second feature is his response, as a filmmaker with facial deformity, to cinematic portrayals of disfigured people, from Freaks to The Elephant Man. Simultaneously empathetic and sardonic, Chained for Life’s multi-layered meta-narrative casts Jess Weixler (Teeth) as Mabel, a well-intentioned Hollywood star. She takes the role of a blind woman in a hospital-based horror movie about abnormalities, directed by an egomaniacal German filmmaker. As shooting progresses, Mabel gradually falls for her friendly British co-star Rosenthal, played by Under the Skin actor Adam Pearson.


LIMITED EDITION 2 x BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

DISC ONE: CHAINED FOR LIFE

• High Definition presentation
• Original mono soundtrack
• Audio commentary with writer-director Aaron Schimberg
• A Different Kind of Intimacy (2020, 18 mins): actor Jess Weixler reflects on the themes and production of Chained for Life
• Good Things Happen to Good People (2020, 10 mins): actor and activist Adam Pearson discusses the role of Rosenthal
• We Are Family (2020, 17 mins): actor Sara Lennick recalls her experiences of making the film
• Eight deleted/extended scenes (13 mins)
• Super 8 On-set Footage (2018, 2 mins, mute): silent material shot by film archivist John Klacsmann
• Late Spring/Regrets for Our Youth (2009, 5 mins): short diary film by Aaron Schimberg
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

DISC TWO: GO DOWN DEATH (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE DISC)

• UK premiere presentation of Aaron Schimberg’s 2015 debut feature
• High Definition presentation
• Original mono soundtrack
• It would be sad to see this end up in a dump (2013, 6 mins): rare behind-the-scenes footage shot by producer-editor Vanessa McDonnell
• Eight deleted scenes (32 mins)
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

• Limited edition exclusive booklet containing new writing on Chained for Life by David Jenkins, Jeff Billington on the 1950 exploitation film Chained for Life, Alejandro Bachmann and Michelle Koch on Go Down Death, and film credits
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies

#AWLTD001
REGION FREE
EAN: 5060697920246

SpoilerShow

HOLIDAY
(Isabella Eklöf, 2018)
Release date: 24 February 2020
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK Blu-ray premiere)

This controversial drama, passed fully uncut by the BBFC, tells the story of the trophy girlfriend of a Danish drug lord who sets a dangerous game in motion when she seeks the attention of another man whilst on vacation in the Turkish Riviera. Included in the Hollywood Reporter’s list of the ‘Best 20 Films from Sundance 2018’, and in IndieWire’s list of Sundance standouts that deserve to find distribution, the film has met with critical acclaim all around the world. Director Isabella Eklöf was also selected in the ‘10 Directors to Watch’ list by IndieWire.


LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

• High Definition presentation
• Classified fully uncut by the BBFC
• Original 5.1 surround sound
• On ‘Holiday’ (2020, 20 mins): in-depth interview with writer-director Isabella Eklöf on the creation and production of her debut feature
• Q&A with Isabella Eklöf (2019, 29 mins): the filmmaker in discussion with critic Lizzie Francke, recorded at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts
• Deleted scene (3 mins)
• Willy Kyrklund (2002, 11 mins): short documentary portrait of the acclaimed author and poet, directed by Eklöf
• Theatrical trailer
• Optional English translation subtitles
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 28-page booklet containing new writing on the film by Anna Bogutskaya, an interview with Isabella Eklöf by Addy Fong, and film credits
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies

#AWLTD002
REGION FREE
EAN: 5060697920253

SpoilerShow

RELAXER
(Joel Potrykus, 2018)
Release date: 24 February 2020
Limited Edition 2 x Blu-ray (UK Blu-ray premiere)

Set on the eve of Y2K, Relaxer is a mind-bending drama about a young man who is tasked by his overbearing brother to get to level 256 on the classic computer game Pac-Man, and not to leave his couch until he does. Inspired by Luis Buñuel’s absurdist classic The Exterminating Angel, the film premiered at the 2018 South by Southwest festival, and won the Best Actor award at that year’s Fantasia Film Festival.


LIMITED EDITION 2 x BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

DISC ONE: RELAXER

• High Definition presentation
• Original stereo soundtrack
• Audio commentary by writer-director Joel Potrykus
• Behind the Scenes (2018, 7 mins): on-set footage featuring Potrykus, and actors Joshua Burge and David Dastmalchian
• Deleted scene (5 mins)
• Rehearsal footage (2018, 10 mins)
• Milk Party (2001, 9 mins): the real-life inspiration behind one of Relaxer’s most memorable scenes
• Four short films directed by Potrykus: The Ludivico Treatment (1999, 2 mins), The Ludivico Testament (1999, 4 mins), Coyote (2010, 25 mins) and Test Market 447b (2019, 2 mins).
• Follicle Gang (Green) (2011, 2 mins): music video for Heavier Than Air Flying Machines, directed by Potrykus
• Image gallery: behind-the-scenes photography
• Theatrical trailer
• David Dastmalchian promos
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

DISC TWO: BUZZARD (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE DISC)

• UK premiere presentation of writer-director Joel Potrykus’ 2014 feature
• High Definition presentation
• Original stereo soundtrack
• Audio commentary by writer-director Joel Potrykus
• Buzzard: The Rehearsal Cut (2014, 65 mins): alternative version of the complete film comprised entirely of rehearsal footage
• ‘Buzzard’ at Locarno International Film Festival (2018, 9 mins): short documentary on the filmmakers’ trip to Milan, Italy, shot and edited by director of photography Adam J Minnick
• Behind the scenes footage (2014, 9 mins): a selection of outtakes and on-set material
• Seven deleted/alternative scenes (9 mins)
• Hidden ‘Buzzard’ (2014, 1 min): a guide to the ‘Easter eggs’ within the film
• Image gallery: behind-the-scenes photography
• Theatrical trailer
• Festival trailer
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

• Limited edition booklet containing new writing on Relaxer by Nathan Rabin, Joel Potrykus on the making of Relaxer, Caden Mark Gardner on Buzzard, Alex Ross Perry on Potrykus, and film credits
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies

#AWLTD003
REGION FREE
EAN: 5060697920260

[MichaelB]

Oh, and if you received a newsletter courtesy of being on the Indicator mailing list, that'll be your first and last until you sign up specifically to the Anti-Worlds mailing list.

(Despite the big personnel overlap on the Blu-ray production front and identical curatorial standards being maintained, Indicator and Anti-Worlds are separate entities.)

[MichaelB]

Full specs confirmed for the first three Anti-Worlds releases:

Chained for Life:



Holiday:



Relaxer:

[therewillbeblus]

I almost never turn off a movie, but after a little over a third of the way through Relaxer it became clear exactly what this movie was and I couldn’t take it anymore. You’ll know pretty quickly if you find this funny or not, though I can’t imagine anyone enjoying the lengths of this ‘seriously silly’ vibe drawn out to painfully long-gestated scenes that repeatedly missed the entire target and are tortuous in their repetition and refusal to cut away from the long joke that died thirty minutes before but is somehow still truckin’ on. I probably have no right to write anything since I didn’t stick around to see if a turn was taken for the better, and if anyone can defend the film as changing course perhaps I’ll re-rent it, but as it stands this was 30 minutes of my life I want back. And it’s an even greater shame to see David Dastmalchian finally getting a generous amount of screen time only to work with material so pathetically unfunny that I cringed at every line of his. Maybe that’s the point of this kind of comedy but even as a fan of some gross humor, this failed me.

[MichaelB]

All I can do is suggest watching it again but this time adopting the mindset that it isn't really a comedy - Simon Abrams' capsule description of it as "a detailed stress dream" seems to me to be far closer to what Joel Potrykus was aiming for. And, like the 256 levels of Pac-Man, you really do have to make it to the end to give it a fair hearing.

But your reaction reminds me vividly of mine to American Movie a couple of decades ago - a thoroughly misleading festival blurb billed it as something like "This year's Spinal Tap", and so I didn't even know that it was a straight documentary: I assumed that it was a spoof so low-key that the jokes barely registered, and that it was therefore a dismal failure. Which has in turn reminded me that I really should give it a fairer hearing one of these days.

[domino harvey]

All I can do is suggest watching it again but this time adopting the mindset that it isn't really a comedy

Based on the trailer, I don’t think anyone will struggle to not find it funny

[therewillbeblus]

All I can do is suggest watching it again but this time adopting the mindset that it isn't really a comedy - Simon Abrams' capsule description of it as "a detailed stress dream" seems to me to be far closer to what Joel Potrykus was aiming for. And, like the 256 levels of Pac-Man, you really do have to make it to the end to give it a fair hearing.

But your reaction reminds me vividly of mine to American Movie a couple of decades ago - a thoroughly misleading festival blurb billed it as something like "This year's Spinal Tap", and so I didn't even know that it was a straight documentary: I assumed that it was a spoof so low-key that the jokes barely registered, and that it was therefore a dismal failure. Which has in turn reminded me that I really should give it a fairer hearing one of these days.

Interestingly enough, American Movie was described for me as a serious attempt at a film that is funny as a result (kind of like The Room in that sense, though with different reactions), and I enjoyed it quite a bit. In Relaxer, I definitely understood that the filmmaker was going for a serious vibe coating the situations/language that would otherwise be straighter comedy, which I see now is not exactly what I described, though it felt like the director was trying to have his cake and eat it too in a sense where drama and comedy would transfer both ways (i.e. this is an uncomfortably serious situation with comedic parts, a reminder that it's not really funny at all, more of a "stress dream" AND this situation is absurd, let's laugh nervously at this serious vibe coating the ridiculous, since that's all we have power to do). I can appreciate that aim, a lot actually, but I guess I just didn't think it worked along those lines, even if it tries very hard by limiting the amount of cuts and movement away from the static "action" which forces discomfort and stewing in that murky space. That's definitely a strength of the film in conception that walks a very thin line with the risks it takes, so I can admire that too as much as any path that refuses reversion to safety. I'll take your recommendation and finish it later tonight to see if I come away feeling differently, especially now that I've written enough words on it to warrant a full evaluation.

[therewillbeblus]

All I can do is suggest watching it again but this time adopting the mindset that it isn't really a comedy - Simon Abrams' capsule description of it as "a detailed stress dream" seems to me to be far closer to what Joel Potrykus was aiming for. And, like the 256 levels of Pac-Man, you really do have to make it to the end to give it a fair hearing.

I finished the movie and didn’t change my feelings as a whole but can respect the push to finish it, since the film does embody more of that stress-dream with heavier touches of surrealism as it progresses, pretty aptly mimicking the cabin fever psychology and disintegration of social skills that come with prolonged isolation. I just didn’t care too much, couldn’t stand the protagonist or relate to his experience which felt too specific to serve as a canvas for those vague conceptual anxieties while disengaging me with the elements I already mentioned that I found uninteresting and uninvesting.

Part of me wants to pick up this package anyways because it looks terrific and I could see the director’s short films or maybe even other features being strong, plus his commentary has a lot of potential to allow a deeper reading. I won’t be able to rationalize it but it’s a great looking release from the new offshoot label of the best company around, and I hope the other two (and subsequent Anti-Worlds releases) inspire me to dip into this half of the label.

[tenia]

I also watched entirely Relaxer and I don't think I have changed much my mind about it vs what I thought of it after the first half hour.

While I probably kind of understand what it was aiming for, I too didn't care much about what was happening, especially about Abbie who seems mostly incapable of doing anything, standing up to his brother more and more stupid challenges to begin with. Actually, the whole thing never seemed funny to me (contrary to what Abrams wrote - ""Relaxer" is not as grim as it sounds." it actually is), but rather more and more implausible, but not in a way that just requests me to accept this, but in a way that seems completely artificial. The whole movie is based on Abbie going full retard on his brother's bet and all hell breaking lose starting from there, but the movie never really provides anything to relate to past what seemed to me like clichéd trope (the telescopic stick, typically). The style of the movie didn't help either.

In any case, in the end, I just found Relaxer absolutely awful almost from start to finish, including his final touch that seemed even sillier to me.
Might have made a good short movie, though.

I also watched Holiday and mostly echo zedz' impressions about it. I didn't dislike it, but it felt extremely conventional (in his way) to me and in the end just quite forgettable. It's quite nicely shot and photographed, though.

[MichaelB]

Beaver on Holiday.

[MichaelB]

Mondo Digital on Chained for Life.

[whaleallright]

Is the name of this label a reference to Andrei Voznesensky? If so, I approve.

[MichaelB]

Beaver on Chained for Life.

[MichaelB]

CineOutsider on Holiday.

[colinr0380]

I do like that the Indicator-styled spine numbers are "-1", "-2" and "-3", as if we are plunging ever deeper into the dark and dangerous 'underground' sub-level of cinema with every release!

[Finch]

CineOutsider cemented it for me that I absolutely do not need to see Holiday. Thank you to Camus for taking one for the team. Chained for Life on the other hand I'd like to see.

[MikeFH]

CineOutsider cemented it for me that I absolutely do not need to see Holiday. Thank you to Camus for taking one for the team. Chained for Life on the other hand I'd like to see.

Saw Holiday and I am glad I did. Read the CineOutsider review as well, and I think they put too much emphasis on the wrong things. It’s beautifully shot, on a psychological level the film is very strong, it’s different, slow, where any other director would focus on the drug lord, the focus now is on his “chick”, she is the center of the movie and man she’s good. I really loved the movie and am sure I will watch it again.

[tenia]

I understand your points but the sidestep regarding the PoV doesn't make it a good movie per se. It still feels exploitative at times, just like many other gangster movies, and my biggest issue is that most of the relationships feels only thinly written and unconvincing. It's hard to feel a lot for Sascha, especially since she just feels like a very shallow person, since the movie's sole way to leave ambiguity is by not doing much with her. Her relationship thus isn't ambiguous or complicated but inexistently fleshed out.

[MichaelB]

CineOutsider on Relaxer and Buzzard - the first review I've seen that does the second disc full justice.

[Aunt Peg]

Received my Chained For Life last week and thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommended and I didn't realise that it contained a second disc with the directors earlier film called Go Down Death.

[colinr0380]

Mondo Digital on Relaxer