by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer & Podcast Czar

My second week of Fantasia International Film Festival offerings has been incredible. I've been lucky enough to watch some films I've been eagerly anticipating, and been caught off-guard by films I'd underestimated - remember, kids: You Can't Trust the Trailers. Below are just a few feature and short film recommendations. Check back with MovieJawn next week for a wrap-up round-up with a few more, and I'll also be doing a full write-up of Tilman Singer's Cuckoo in time for the release, so if you're interested in that one, stay tuned.

Features

Párvulos
Written by Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes, Isaac Ezban
Directed by Isaac Ezban
Running time 1 hour and 58 minutes

Párvulos ("Little ones") is the film I've been most excited to tell everyone about. Director Issac Ezban (co-writing with Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes) takes the zombie movie - a genre which at this point seems as past-its-prime as the zombies themselves - and actually manages to inject new life (no pun intended) into it. With characters that are easy to care about, interesting world building with a tone akin to Amblin at times, and a unique twist on the desaturated visuals (where you can just see the color underneath, like remembering the world that was) Párvulos is absolutely dynamite. Don't let the surprisingly lighthearted first half fool you though, this film has sharp teeth just waiting for you to let your guard down.

The Silent Planet
Written and directed by Jeffrey St. Jules
Running time 1 hour and 35 minutes

If I can be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect with The Silent Planet. I knew the underappreciated Elias Koteas was playing a man imprisoned on a penal planet alone until a ship carrying a new prisoner (Briana Middleton) lands. I was not prepared for what is essentially a classic episode of Dr. Who! Between the lived-in worldbuilding, moral and socio-political analogies, character-defining monologues, and occasionally cheesy special effects (complimentary), I was in old school sci-fi heaven. The above-listed qualities, and measured pace may not work for everyone but them most assuredly worked for me.

The Soul Eater
Written by Annelyse Batrel, Ludovic Lefebvre, based on the work of Alexis Laipsker
Directed by Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Running time 1 hour and 48 minutes

The Soul Eater stood out to me from this year's Fantasia features because it managed to be something unique and apart from anything I've watched so far, and to manage a tone that feels, similarly, just a mite different from anything else this year. A French crime procedural with potentially supernatural undercurrents and the general feeling of overturning a rock in the forest and seeing what scurries out from underneath, The Soul Eater is an unsettling watch to say the least. With some shocking violence, and other even more disturbing crimes (mercifully implied indirectly) at its fringes, the film feels like an adaptation that will appeal to fans of the Jack Reacher series, or maybe Laird Barron's Isaiah Coleridge novels.

Salute your Shorts

Berta
Written by Lucía Forner Segarra
Directed by Lucía Forner Segarra
Running time 17 minutes

Berta is the third in a thematic trilogy of feminist horror shorts from Spanish writer/director Lucía Forner Segarra. The subject matter is relatively dark, but the tone has a populist sensibility that almost feels akin to the type of revenge thrillers that see broad theatrical release. The world build around Berta (Nerea Barros) and her victim Alex (Elías González) feels real, reasoned, and fully conceived. In just under 20 minutes Segarra delivers something that could, and does, function as a complete story, but that you wouldn't mind spending more time with. I'll be looking for somewhere to watch the two previous thematic installments - Marta and Dana - ASAP.

FACES
Written by Blake Simon
Directed by Blake Simon
Running Time 14 minutes

Like Párvulos above, I've been dying to spread the word about this short from Blake Simon. "I wanted to explore something that I had been witnessing around me that nobody was openly talking about" Simon says in the press materials "...that search for identity that lies under the surface of all of us." But before you get the wrong idea, this insight into the human experience didn't lead Simon to creating an austere drama, but a genuinely unsettling supernaturally-tinged urban legend of a horror short. Supported by solid performances (notably Ethan Daniel Corbett) and the excellent, creative cinematography of Andrew Fronczak, FACES is a really intriguing short-form chiller.

The 28th Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 18th to August 4th in Montreal. Get tickets HERE.