The Wild Hunt

Set in the wild world of live-action role-playing games (or LARPs), this audacious debut feature from Montreal-born Alexandre Franchi, a former Vancouver Film School student, won Best Canadian First Feature honours at last fall’s TIFF and more recently won the audience award at Slamdance. Fantasy and reality prove a combustible mix when jilted Erik (Ricky Mabe) enters an elaborate medieval fantasy event — involving warring Celts and Vikings, wood elves, and a mysterious shaman — in order to win back Evelyn (Tiio Horn), the girlfriend who’s left him for LARP. The film’s surprising mix of satiric comedy and dramatic thrills has impressed critics. Much of it was shot in a role-playing faux-medieval village near Shawinigan, Quebec. “Clever, funny and intense . . . A timely, potent comment on the consuming nature of adopting another identity, even within a game, and the modern yearning for ritual” (Jesse Wente, Toronto I.F.F.). “Beautifully made . . . Big, bold, bloody. . . It lingers in your brain, like some Wagnerian thunder “(Dorothy Woodend, The Tyee). “Sharply written by Franchi and Mark A. Krupa, who also delivers a bravura, hilarious performance as the leader of the Viking hordes” (Karen Black). Colour, 35mm. 96 mins.