A Pencil to the Jugular

Last updated
A Pencil to the Jugular
Directed by Matthew Victor Pastor
Produced by
  • Matthew Victor Pastor
  • Evangeline Lee
  • Lorena Zarate
Music byAndrew Tran
Release date
  • April 22, 2021 (2021-04-22)(Moscow International Film Festival)
Running time
121 minutes [1]

A Pencil to the Jugular is a 2021 Mexican-Australian drama film set during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Melbourne. It is the second installment in a 2020 trilogy of feature films directed by Matthew Victor Pastor. [2] The film premiered at the 43rd Moscow International Film Festival in April 2021. [3] The film was co-written by Lorena Zarate. [4]

Contents

Synopsis

In March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, an ensemble of young migrants' lives fall apart. Through the chaos these lives will cross paths and a pencil will be taken to the jugular.

Cast

Reception

Panos Kotzathanasis of Asian Movie Pulse has said in a review "A Pencil in the Jugular is an uneven film, which can be beautiful at times, features interesting characters and well presented social comments, but suffers from lack of restraint." [5]

Conception

The film is a reaction to the rise of global hate crimes towards Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pastor has stated in inquirer.net “multicultural communities can stand in solidarity … and allow us (Asians) to write ourselves into history.” [4]

Pastor has also mentioned in an interview with The Swanston Gazette that he is interested in editing a five-hour version of the trilogy making the future, present and past elements of the three films into a singular vision edit with a runtime of 320 minutes. The 5 hour version of the film may act as a full vision. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>A Page of Madness</i> 1926 film

A Page of Madness is a 1926 Japanese silent experimental horror film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. Lost for 45 years until it was rediscovered by Kinugasa in his storehouse in 1971, the film is the product of an avant-garde group of artists in Japan known as the Shinkankakuha who tried to overcome naturalistic representation. The film is set in a mental institution in contemporary Japan.

<i>Once Upon a Time in China III</i> 1993 Hong Kong film

Once Upon a Time in China III is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts film written, produced and directed by Tsui Hark. Jet Li stars as Chinese martial arts master and folk hero of Cantonese ethnicity, Wong Fei-hung. It is the third installment in the Once Upon a Time in China film series.

The Philadelphia Film Festival is a film festival founded by the Philadelphia Film Society held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The annual festival is held at various theater venues throughout the Greater Philadelphia Area.

<i>Dead Time: Kala</i> 2007 Indonesian neo-noir thriller film

Dead Time: Kala is a 2007 Indonesian neo-noir thriller film written and directed by Joko Anwar. The film stars an ensemble cast led by Fachri Albar, Ario Bayu, Shanty, and Fahrani.

<i>A Flower in Hell</i> 1958 Korean film directed by Shin Sang-ok

A Flower in Hell is a 1958 South Korean film directed by Shin Sang-ok. For her performance in the film, Shin's wife, Choi Eun-hee was given the Best Actress award at the 2nd Buil Film Awards. During the Korean War, director Shin Sang-ok had shared an apartment with a prostitute in order to live more comfortably rather than sharing a one-room evacuation apartment with several families, giving him insight in the subject of the film.

<i>Of the Flesh</i> 1983 Filipino film by Marilou Diaz-Abaya

Of the Flesh is a 1983 Philippine horror drama film directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya. It was adapted and written by Ricky Lee from the legal story "To Take a Life" by Teresa Añover Rodriguez and produced by Benjamin G. Yalung. Set in the 1930s, during the American colonial era, it tells the story of a newly-wed couple Narcing and Puring who arrive from Manila in the town of Mulawin, a place filled with violent and tragic pasts, a place likened to Hell by its storyteller, played by Charito Solis. Settling in Mulawin, they will witness misfortunes and violence, including rape, incest, parricide, and tyranny perpetrated by the cruel Gusting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Victor Pastor</span> Filipino Australian film director (born 1989)

Matthew Victor Pastor is an Australian film director. His feature films explore Asian Australian identity, and tell Filipino Australian stories. An alumnus of the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne Faculty of VCA and MCM, his feature film Melodrama/Random/Melbourne had its Australian premiere at the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival. Part one of his 2020 Trilogy of feature films about the COVID-19 pandemic The Neon Across the Ocean had its world premiere at the 44th São Paulo International Film Festival in the International Perspective section. In 2021 A Pencil to the Jugular had its world premiere at the FIAPF accredited 43rd Moscow International Film Festival.

<i>The Boys Who Cried Wolf</i> 2015 South Korean film

The Boys Who Cried Wolf, also known as The Shepherd, is a 2015 South Korean crime thriller drama film. Written and directed by Kim Jin-hwang in his first feature-length for his Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA)'s final year undergraduate film project, it depicts how a former stage actor becomes involved in a murder case.

<i>Melodrama/Random/Melbourne</i> 2018 film directed by Matthew Victor Pastor

Melodrama/Random/Melbourne is an Australian feature film about a young feminist filmmaker documenting the men's rights movement and seduction community pickup artist (PUA) movement. The film is part two in Matthew Victor Pastor's Fil-Aus trilogy. It had its Australian premiere at the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival, Philippine premiere at the 2018 Sinag Maynila Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2018 Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. In 2019 the film's soundtrack was nominated for the 67th edition of the FAMAS Award for composer Fergus Cronkite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Red</span> Filipino filmmaker

Mikhail Red is a Filipino filmmaker. He is best known for his films Birdshot (2016), Eerie (2019), and Dead Kids (2019), which was the first ever Netflix original film from the Philippines.

Five Flavours Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Warsaw, Poland. It is focused on the cinema of Southeast and East Asia. It commenced in 2007 as a Vietnamese film review and later expanded to include films from other Asian nations, to become one of the most important events of its kind in Europe. Among its guests were many revered Asian filmmakers, including Fruit Chan, Noboru Iguchi, Miwa Nishikawa, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Pema Tseden and Midi Z. The festival also engages in educational projects, publishes books on Asian film and, since 2017, it has also started acting as a film distribution company, bringing selected Asian films to broader Polish audience.

<i>After My Death</i> 2017 South Korean film

After My Death is a 2017 South Korean mystery drama film written, directed and edited by Kim Ui-seok and stars Jeon Yeo-been, Seo Young-hwa and Go Won-hee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in popular culture</span> References to the COVID-19 pandemic in popular culture

The COVID-19 pandemic swept the world in the early months of 2020, causing massive economic and social disruption. In addition to the disease itself, populations have often dealt with lockdowns, shortages and pandemic fatigue, political and cultural turmoil. This has made the pandemic era a time of exceptional stress. The pandemic has driven some people to seek peaceful escapism in media, but others towards fictional pandemics as an alternate form of escapism.

<i>Fear Street Part Three: 1666</i> 2021 American film directed by Leigh Janiak

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 is a 2021 American supernatural horror film directed by Leigh Janiak, who co-wrote the screenplay with Phil Graziadei and Kate Trefry. Based on the book series of the same name by R. L. Stine, it is the third and final installment of the Fear Street trilogy after Part One: 1994 and Part Two: 1978 and stars Kiana Madeira, Ashley Zukerman, Gillian Jacobs, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., and Darrell Britt-Gibson. The film follows the origins of Shadyside's curse in the mid-17th century and the survivors in 1994 who try to put an end to it.

The Asadas is a 2020 Japanese biographical drama film written by Ryōta Nakano and Tomoe Kanno and directed by Nakano. The film was part of the official selection for the Warsaw Film Festival and the 26th Busan International Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benilde Blazers basketball</span> College basketball team

The Benilde Blazers basketball program represents De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde (CSB) in men's basketball as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) (NCAA). The Benilde Blazers joined the NCAA in 1998, having been a fixture in the National Capital Region Athletic Association. The Blazers notably won its first and only NCAA title in 2000 under probation.

Junk Head is a 2021 Japanese stop motion animated science fiction film written and directed by Takehide Hori, based on his 2013 short film Junk Head 1. The film comprises some 140,000 stop-motion shots, and runs for 101 minutes. The story is set in a distant future world where humans have received longevity but lost their fertility, and are nearly extinct by population decline.

<i>Three Sisters</i> (2020 film) 2020 South Korean drama film

Three Sisters is a 2020 South Korean drama film, written and directed by Lee Seung-won. Starring Moon So-ri, Kim Sun-young and Jang Yoon-ju, the film revolves three sisters who seem to live an ordinary life but lives in their own different ways, but memories shook everything. It had its premiere at 25th Busan International Film Festival in October, 2020 and was released theatrically on January 27, 2021 in South Korea. The film has won 12 awards at different award ceremonies.

<i>Poet</i> (film) 2021 film by Darezhan Omirbaev

Poet is a 2021 Kazakhstani drama film written and directed by Darezhan Omirbaev. Based on The Author’s Evening by Hermann Hesse, the film depicts story of Didar, a poet chained to his day job in a small newspaper. While reading about a 19th century famous Kazakh poet, Makhambet Otemisuly, who was executed by the authorities, he feels deeply shaken, realizing how difficult and fragile is the life of a poet. It had its world premiere at the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival on 31 October 2021, where it won best director award.

Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language film written and directed by Ram and produced by Suresh Kamatchi under V House Productions. It stars Nivin Pauly, Anjali and Soori. The film's score and soundtrack album is composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, with cinematography and editing handled by N.K. Ekambaram and Mathi V.S respectively. The story is set on a moving train where an encounter between a 32-year-old everyman and an 8,000-year-old immortal – and a rat – triggers a series of events that would intertwine their destinies.

References

  1. "A Pencil to the Jugular" via mubi.com.
  2. "Fil-Aus indie film screens in Cinema Rehiyon 2021". SBS Your Language.
  3. "AUSTRALIAN FILM 'A PENCIL TO THE JUGULAR' TO SCREEN AT MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL". 19 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 Cruz, Marinel (May 5, 2021). "PH movie on antiracism screened in Russian fest". INQUIRER.net.
  5. Kotzathanasis, Panos (April 27, 2021). "Film Review: Pencil in the Jugular (2021) by Matthew Victor Pastor".
  6. "An Interview with feature filmmaker Matthew Pastor". The Swanston Gazette. Archived from the original on 2021-06-06. Retrieved 2021-06-06.