‘The Invisible Fight’ Review: The Strangest Estonian Black Metal Kung Fu Movie You’ll See This Year, Guaranteed
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film Critic In out-there Estonian comedy “The Invisible Fight,” a clueless Russian border guard somehow escapes a surprise attack by three formidable Chinese action figures — gravity-defying kung fu warriors who swoop in out of nowhere, blasting Black Sabbath on their bright red boombox — so he does what anyone in his position would do: He resolves to become an Orthodox monk.
Huh? “I guess God has other plans for you,” a less-fortunate comrade wheezes with his dying breath, setting up one of the oddest plots audiences are likely to find on the art-house circuit this year.
After attracting international attention with 2017 festival discovery “November” —a hyper-stylized, black-and-white folk horror novelty involving pagan stick monsters known as “kratts” — writer-director Rainer Sarnet swings to the color-saturated opposite extreme to make a genre-splicing martial arts satire.
Set in the highly repressive, mid-’70s Soviet Union and shot like a vintage drive-in movie (complete with smash-zooms, optical titles and virtual wear and tear), “The Invisible Fight” treats kung fu as comedy, landing like a cross between “Shaolin Soccer” and “Gymkata,” but with better production values … and Orthodox monks.
Read more on variety.com