Blackout, Stay Online, and Vincent Must Die are screening as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival, which runs from July 20 to August 9.

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Stay Online

Eva Strelinkova’s Stay Online is a Screenlife film that follows Katya (Yelyzaveta Zaitseva), a woman who is processing a donated laptop for use by Ukrainian forces in the early weeks of the Russo-Ukrainian War. She is to download GPS software onto the computer and send it to her brother Vitya (Oleksandr Rudynskyy), who is a member of the Territorial Defense Forces. Before she does this, however, she stumbles upon information regarding the laptop’s initial owner that disturbs her and which sends her on a crusade to locate a child’s missing parents.

The display of Stay Online, which takes place primarily on the laptop screen, can be overwhelming to track, where reading at times becomes a chore of quickly processing the plot-related information flowing from text threads and video messages and social media posts. But the major movements of the film, those carrying the emotional weight lifted from real-world experiences of the war, are not impeded by this onslaught of text. Grounded moments, like those involving a Spider-Man costume or the repeated need to sit in a bathtub as an air raid siren goes off, are what provide the film an emotional pulse and elevate it above most other Screenlife experiments.

The film is ultimately bleak, never feeling the need to shy away from the harsh realities of the conflict, with small glimmers of hope left over from which solidarity emerges. Stay Online is an intense, slightly belabored experience that works best when it seeks to show compassion between individuals.

Stay Online: B

Vincent Must Die

Vincent (Karim Leklou) makes an off-hand joke at an intern during an office meeting. Later that day, the intern erupts into a violent rage. He attacks Vincent with a laptop and is subsequently fired. The next day, Vincent is randomly attacked at his workstation by a project manager, who stabs him repeatedly with a pen.

Soon Vincent starts noticing strange things. Strangers looking at him the wrong way, as if possessed. When he makes eye contact with someone, they become aggressive toward him. Vincent becomes paranoid that he will be attacked on the street. With nowhere to turn, he retreats to his father’s remote homestead as he seeks answers for this affliction.

Given its wild premise, the film’s introduction is a nice surprise. It comes off like the prologue to a zombie movie. Only, it is a zombie movie affecting just one person, so the threat and the tension are centrally located. The first act ramps up the stakes nicely, and, after a somewhat lumpy midsection, the film settles into a more somber tone. Violence breeds and is borne out of isolation and fear; then, despair sets in.

This driving thematic arc could be mapped onto any number of real-world analogues, but I ultimately feel the film functions better as a genre exercise than as a social allegory. The flimsy rules guiding the affliction are too nebulous and inconsistent to neatly align with a metaphor. The best scenes in the film are between Vincent and Margaux (Vimala Pons), who begin a romantic relationship in spite of the danger that would befall them were their eyes to meet. These scenes provide unexpectedly tender moments in a film that is otherwise concerned with deadpan humor and bottled rage.

Vincent Must Die: B-

Blackout

Charley (Alex Hurt), an artist who has separated himself from his community, drives out to the small rural town he once called home in order to say his goodbyes. Under the shadow of a contentious development deal to bring a resort to the wooded community (and with it, jobs! But also, potentially devastating ground pollution!), Charley attempts to make amends with former flame Sharon (Addison Timlin) and fight the local corruption while simultaneously trying to keep a safe distance.

His trepidation about getting too close is understandable. We soon find out that Charley, in classic werewolf fashion, violently morphs into a blood-lusting beast under the full moon light. He wreaks havoc in wolfman form, then wakes in the morning and pours his experience into his paintings.

Larry Fessenden’s take on the werewolf mythology (which follows up his take on Frankenstein’s monster in 2019’s Depraved) is straightforward and light on plot. But the film does not drag or feel thin, as Fessenden takes pains to unearth the turmoil that results from Charley’s condition and flesh out the small town at the center of his rampage. There is a sense of wholeness to the world of Blackout that gives it a continuous pulse (even when the plot runs dry).

Blackout: B

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As always, thanks for reading!

—Alex Brannan (Twitter, Letterboxd, Facebook)