PÁRVULOS had its U.S. premiere as a part of the lineup at Fantastic Fest last month, and we are still thinking about it.
PÁRVULOS is a Mexican, apocalyptic horror film written and directed by Isaac Ezban. The movie opens with a montage of animals in their natural habitat and a child's voice narrating about constants in life: family and change. We don't truly get the purpose of this until the final scenes but it definitely makes an impact later.
Our main leads are three siblings: Salvador (Farid Escalante Correa), Oliver (Leonardo Cervantes), and Benjamin (Mateo Ortega Casillas). We can gather from the small details in the set design and the fact that these boys are hunting a dog for food, that this is set in a time where resources are scarce. What we come to find out through some exposition that comes off way too adult for two kids, is that after the government produced an untested vaccine post-pandemic (called Omega) that caused its citizens to become zombies. While the youngest brother believes his parents will one day return for them, the older two know the truth.
The siblings have to work together to survive not just hunger and day to day life, but the monster in their basement. There are also some outside groups of people that believe it's up to them to rid the world of sin. So in other words, hunger isn't the only thing these kids have to worry about.
Salvador, the eldest brother, does his best to take care of his younger siblings. When we meet them, they seem to have worked out a rhythm and routine but unexpected things happen along the way that has Salvador off his game, putting their safety at risk. PÁRVULOS serves as a coming to age story with Salvador and Oliver stepping up and doing things they hadn't ever had to do before.
What this film has is heart. You can't help but empathize with these children and root for them in the face of the fear and opposition they face along the way. And as they start making some questionable decisions, you have to remember that they are children and they aren't supposed to be making these decisions on their own.
Ezban creatively gives us this emotional narrative void of any color, aside from the photos of times before the pandemic, connecting us even more this apocalyptic fight for survival. He uses a fisheye lens at times, using the camera almost like a telescope with us looking in to what life could be like. With influences reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro, Ezban makes this nightmare very real and the performances of these three boys only heighten the emotions that are threaded into this film.
