by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Farid Escalante Correa, Leonardo Cervantes, Mateo Ortega Casillas, Carla Adell, Norma Flores, Horacio F. Lazo, Noé Hernández
Intro:
… won’t be your first trip into the apocalypse, but it’s likely to be one of your more memorable ones …
End of the world stories are, apparently, evergreen in the realm of cinema. Because, despite having collectively lived through what initially felt like our very own apocalypse recently, we’re drawn to these yarns over and over again. The latest example is Párvulos: Hijos del Apocalipsis (Preschoolers: Children of the Apocalypse) from Mexican director Isaac Ezban (Evil Eye, The Similars) and despite its quirky title, this is a much more meaningful and hard-hitting tale than you might expect.
Párvulos is essentially the story of a trio of brothers, frustrated one-legged teenager Salvador (Farid Escalante Correa), eager-to-please middle child Oliver (Leonardo Cervantes) and wide-eyed innocent Benja (Mateo Ortega Casillas). These three live in a sprawling rundown house somewhere in the bush, as they struggle to feed not only themselves but also the “monsters” in the basement that they look after for reasons that are not initially clear. However, being that this film is first and foremost a story about the importance of family, anyone who has watched a zombie apocalypse flick can probably make a solid, educated guess…
The thing about Párvulos is, you’ve seen all these ingredients before. The family struggling to survive in the middle of nowhere with screeching, infected and crazy living dead roaming the land, it’s straight out of the Walking Dead, The Last of Us, 28 Days Later playbook. Where this film excels is in the delivery. There’s nothing generic here, and your predictions about who lives and who dies will almost certainly be wildly incorrect. You’ve also got some great performances here, with Leonardo Cervantes in particular, doing lovely work and some genuinely grisly, practical effects to keep the gore hounds happy.
Isaac Ezban has made a really special film here, crafting something unique from the familiar. A lyrical, dark fairy tale, a heartbreaking meditation on family and change, and a suspenseful, gory horror flick all in one.
Párvulos won’t be your first trip into the apocalypse, but it’s likely to be one of your more memorable ones, and a hell of an opener for the Dark Nights Film Fest. Highly recommended.
