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Fantasia 2024: Párvulos Ponders Children in a Post-Apocalyptic World

Image Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival

Sitting on the sofa in the early morning Sunday hours some years ago, I scoured the depths of Netflix for something fun, a title that would satiate my appetite for the bizarre and unconventional. This is where I typically take on a foreign animated film, a dramatic indie sci-fi title, or an offbeat introspective horror flick while I sip coffee meditatively before the house comes alive with people and conversation. I paused momentarily on a green title card for The Similars as the image of a person clawing at the bandages wrapped around their head enticed me. That was the one. Not only did it check all the boxes of what I was looking for that morning, but it also made me an instant fan of Ezban, whose latest film, Párvulos, is probably about to make him some more.

Three dirty looking boys stand on the opposite side of a kitchen table where a bloodied bowl rests in front of them, while light streaks through the boarded up windows behind them.
Image Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival

Isaac Ezban is a rarity. In the horror community, fans have grown accustomed to reboot after sequel, typically increasing in disappointment as the years pass. Somehow, there remains a glimmer of excitement when studios throw a new number at the title of a recurrent franchise. While there’s nothing wrong with that, there’s something to be said for originality. Ezban bleeds creativity. He’s one of the best filmmakers working in indie horror, and it’s a wonder why he isn’t already a go-to horror household name. Whenever there’s news of a new Isaac Ezban feature, it’s worth getting excited about. When Fantasia announced the world premiere of Párvulos, it jettisoned into my top five must-see festival films.

Párvulos centers itself on the bleakest scenario as the end of the world tests the survival skills of three children. If that alone stirs up some anxiety, Párvulos will be a difficult watch. The film starts with these three boys, Salvador (Farid Escalante Correa), Oliver (Leonardo Cervantes), and Benjamin (Mateo Ortega Casillas), hunting for wildlife in the forest surrounding the house, presenting a dueling tone of seriousness and playfulness on par with The Lost Boys if Peter Pan was unable to return to neverland.

Salvador, the eldest, teeters on the edge of adulthood and takes care of his younger brothers. He does the housework, reads to his siblings, makes them protein shakes from whatever scraps they can scavenge, and tries to teach his brothers what’s necessary to survive in the harsh reality that’s claimed the bottom half of his leg. He tells the youngest, Benjamin, that their parents will one day return from scavenging. However, given Salvador’s daily routine and other context clues, Benjamin and the audience quickly suspect there’s more to this story than they’re getting.

Three boys travel to a home through the woods in PARVULOS.
Image Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival

The film’s bad guys come in the form of the outside world. A nomadic survivor (Carla Adell) finding their sanctuary warns them of an incoming raider group known as the Trumpets, who hide behind the biblical empowerment of Revelations as the angels who open the gates of Hell, appointing them the divine cullers of the rapture. The trumpets act like a third-act Captain Hook pirate crew but in no way turn this into a bedtime story.

The film’s title, Párvulos, which translates to ‘toddlers’ in English, offers even more to dissect as well. To avoid potential spoilers, let’s just say the secrets about what the boys have hidden in the basement saddle them with additional responsibilities.

Ezban’s latest follows in the footsteps of his previous film, Mal de Ojo, with easily identifiable aspects relating to pandemic concerns. Both films are seen through children’s perspectives but offer very different stories. Mal de Ojo used this thematic material with far more nuance, as two sisters are left at their secluded grandmother’s house to evade an outbreak in their apartment building that may affect the youngest’s existing medical condition. A witchy coming-of-age story evolves from there.

In the lush and vivid colors of Mal de Ojo, Ezban created a sort of dark fairy tale, where the washed-out, oversaturated look that Ezban made his staple in his past films, The Incident and The Similars, only exists in flashbacks. Párvulos is the opposite. The director reteams with his Incident cinematographer Rodrigo Sandoval to produce a near black-and-white, drowned out, almost greyscale temperature on the film with occasional color pops stemming from warm memories, like old photographs and flashbacks. The film’s acidic look is highly effective and dread-inducing, adding unease to Párvulos survival-driven mechanics and all-around post-apocalyptic atmosphere.

A small boy hides behind a slighlty older boy wearing goggles and a helmet and holding a crossbow in PARVULOS
Image Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival

Párvulos feels like the flipside of that coin, with Ezban providing a more direct experience. Considering the parallel, Mal de Ojo feels slightly more playful, whereas Párvulos feels a lot more like a scream of frustration coming from a pretty dark place. Perhaps the difference between early pandemic hopefulness versus the relief following two long years of trying to keep your family safe. The therapeutic confrontation of retroactive fears that thankfully never manifested. Ezban is the father of two young children, and Párvulos, which again translates to ‘toddlers’, ponders a disturbingly intrusive thought: What if I don’t make it through this and my children do? From there, Ezban invites us into his personal terror, expanding it into a heart-shredding nightmare with follow-up questions like, Will they be prepared?

In any regard, the most significant link between these two films is family—especially when it comes to protecting them. For all the darkness and emotionally heavy material, Párvulos still possesses bright spots via coming-of-age and familial moments. Darkness and terror eventually invade the boys’ secluded home, but those cheerful moments bond the family, giving them something to fight for. The film’s ending is among the most harrowing and distressing film screenings I’ve had recently, but it’s also powerful in its message of sticking together through thick and thin.

There’s so much to break down in a movie like Párvulos, but deconstructing it further would spoil the film. Suffice it to say that Ezban and co-writer Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes’ collaboration is dense and detailed. It truly gets under your skin, and images from the film will be seared into your mind for days and weeks after. The film delivers thought-provoking material that I’m sure will have Fantasia audiences buzzing with discussion, which should include comparisons to a horror legend in the film’s specific subgenre.

Párvulos held its World Premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 27. For additional information, see the film’s page on the Fantasia website.

Three boys stand in a forest, glaring into the camera, the one on the left holding a crossbow.
Image Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival

Written by Sean Parker

Living just outside of Boston, Sean has always been facinated by what horror can tell us about contemporary society. He started writing music reviews for a local newspaper in his twenties and found a love for the art of thematic and symbolic analysis. Sean joined 25YL in 2020, and is currently the site's Creative Director. He produced and edited his former site's weekly podcast and has interviewed many guests. He has recently started his foray into feature film production as well, his credits include Alice Maio Mackay's Bad Girl Boogey, Michelle Iannantuono's Livescreamers, and Ricky Glore's upcoming Troma picture, Sweet Meats.

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