Our Fantasia International Film Festival podcast continues talking about films The School Duel, $POSITIONS and All You Need Is Kill
Grab your coffee and settle in for our latest Fantasia pod, where Sarah and Keith dish on three wild Fantasia flicks over a morning brew. Let’s dive into the chaos.
All You Need Is Kill, a vibrant anime adaptation of the light novel that inspired Edge of Tomorrow, flips the script by focusing on Rita this time around. Its fluid, music video-esque animation dazzles, though the third act drags (a little) with over-explained science. A must-watch for anime fans, it’s a breezy 82 minutes but might not hook non-anime geeks due to some quirky anime tropes.
$POSITIONS is a cringe-inducing, anxiety-fueled ride through middle-America’s underbelly. Following crypto-obsessed Mike, it’s a “torture porn” portrait of bad decisions, addiction, and Midwestern struggles. Michael Kunicki’s performance as the calm-yet-doomed protagonist balances humor and heartbreak, making it a brutal, engaging watch for fans of Silicon Valley or Euphoria’s darker vibes.
The School Duel, set in a dystopian Florida, is a gut-punch dark comedy where kids identified as potential school shooters are pitted in a patriotic “duel” for military ranks and family cash. Shot in stark black-and-white, it tempers its violence while delivering a scathing critique of American extremism. Kue Lawrence’s haunting performance as a misguided teen steals the show, appealing to fans of Battle Royale who can stomach its near-future realism.
For more information about these films:
The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 3rd 2025 at Concordia University.
The song during our intro and outro is “Until I Sleep” by Henry Homesweet and is licensed under a Attribution 2.0 UK: England License.
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