JP Nunez
I first heard about Párvulos when Sean Parker and I covered the Fantasia International Film Festival a few months ago. Sean reviewed the film and had great things to say about it, and he wasn’t alone. Most critics who saw it seem to have enjoyed it, so naturally, I became interested in checking the movie out myself. I’ve been keeping an eye out for Párvulos ever since, and when I heard it was playing at Fantastic Fest, I jumped on the opportunity to review it. I wasn’t sure if it would live up to the hype, but I knew one thing: I couldn’t wait to find out.
Párvulos was written and directed by Isaac Ezban, and it stars Carla Adell, Leonardo Cervantes, Felix Farid Escalante, Norma Flores, Noé Hernández, Horacio F. Lazo, and Mateo Ortega Casillas. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic future where a pandemic and a botched vaccine have decimated the human population, and it centers around three brothers—Oliver, Salvador, and Benjamin—doing their best to survive. On the surface, the boys’ lives seem fairly mundane, but they harbor a monstrous secret. There’s a deadly creature locked inside their basement, and after the kids receive a couple of unexpected visitors, all hell breaks loose.
Right from the get-go, Párvulos had me absolutely hooked. For starters, writer/director Isaac Ezban totally nails the post-apocalyptic vibe. This story takes place in the middle of the woods without a single human soul in sight, but Ezban doesn’t stop there. He also mutes the color palette so much it almost looks like the movie is shot in black and white. It’s an unusual choice, but it totally works. It gives the film a bit of a depressed vibe, so you can’t help but feel like life itself in this world is devoid of color.
And in that bleak landscape, these three kids are a beacon of light. While they bicker and squabble just as much as any family, they genuinely love each other. In particular, Salvador, the oldest of the three, looks after his brothers like they’re his own children, and Oliver, the middle child, displays a protective affection for his younger brother that seems well beyond his years.
These boys have clearly been forced to grow up a lot in this hell on earth, so you can’t help but immediately fall in love with all three of them. They have a truly heartwarming dynamic, and it’s the heart and soul of this film. Párvulos is a horrific parable about love and family, and as the story goes on, that becomes clearer and clearer. In particular, this movie focuses on the undying love that should lie at the heart of any family, and it highlights the ways that love stays the same even as the family members themselves change.
But like a lot of great films, Párvulos isn’t just a one-trick pony. It also has a bit of a moral lesson for us. I can’t get into any specifics without ruining the movie’s surprises, but I can say that it shows us what happens when you let the ends justify the means. No matter how noble the cause, it will make you just as monstrous as the thing locked up in the boys’ basement, and the film hammers that point home in a couple of different ways.
On top of all that, this movie also features some amazing side characters. As I said in my plot synopsis, the three leads receive a couple of unexpected visitors throughout the story, and they just about steal the show. First, there’s a young woman named Valeria, and she’s played brilliantly by Carla Adell. From the moment she bursts onto the scene, she has the kind of gripping presence that absolutely dominates the screen, so even though this character isn’t in the film for very long, she makes a huge impression.
Next, we have a man named Enoc, and he just might be the most captivating person in Párvulos. Much like Valeria, this guy doesn’t get a ton of screen time, but actor Noé Hernández makes the best of the few moments he’s given. He makes you hang on his every word, so whenever he opens his mouth, it’s almost like he’s putting some sort of cinematic spell on you.
Last but not least, we have to talk about the horror in Párvulos. The movie is admittedly not overly concerned with scaring you, but it has a number of moments that hit pretty hard on an emotional level. For example, there’s an awesome gore scene that comes right out of a George Romero flick, and the ending is a heartbreaking gut punch you might not see coming.
And through it all, even when the film isn’t trying to freak you out, the horror is always a ton of fun. We get elements from a number of different subgenres, and there’s also a prominent narrative thread that’s an overt tribute to one of the greatest genre directors of all time. Once again, I can’t say what it is without spoiling one of the story’s key mysteries, but if you’re a hardcore horror geek like me, you’ll definitely notice it, and you’ll almost certainly appreciate it.
As of this writing, Párvulos doesn’t have a distribution deal yet, but if it comes to a VOD platform or theater near you in the future, I highly recommend that you check this movie out. It’s a heartwarming story with an important moral message to boot, and it’s brought to life with excellent characters and awesome horror. I can’t wait for more people to get a chance to see it, so keep an eye out for this film. You won’t be disappointed.
Párvulos had its US premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 22, and it’s set to play at the festival one more time on September 24.
