Fantastic Fest 2022: Dispatch 4
The Antares Paradox sets out to do two things. The first is to show the emotional journey of a woman at a crossroads in her life who must make a choice between two life-altering decisions. The second is to keep me on the edge of my seat until the credits roll.
To say that this is a thriller would be over selling, but not in a negative way. Set in an astronomy observatory, a lone female scientist searching for extraterrestrial life intercepts a signal from outer space. There’s a lot more at stake than discovering aliens — she only has access to the observatory for a limited amount of time each day, so it’s a race against time to make all the necessary checks and verifications that protocol dictates to make sure it’s not a man-made signal.
Anchored by a magnificent performance from Andrea Trepat — who’s able to ground this film’s sci-fi premise with earnest and heartfelt emotion — the suspense is ratcheted up every minute as personal and profession problems pile up for the lone scientist. With a heavy leaning on the dramatic, and not as much on the sci-fi aspects, director Luis Tinoco is able to explore deeper emotions and hard questions, albeit with a few faults. There are clearly budget constraints and some of the VFX are a bit distracting, and plot-wise, there are plenty of convenient moments, but when the story is moving this fast, most of these issues can be forgiven.
Tinoco also serves as The Antares Paradox's writer and cinematographer, making his connection to the material seem very personal. Sacrifice is examined in such a thoughtful way, raising questions of how far a person is willing to go to prove something that’s key to their life, and the amount of family time they’re willing to lose to pursue that quest. For his first time in the director’s chair, this is a steady and confident bit of filmmaking that will certainly make you feel something. I'll be watching Tinoco's career with great interest. Grade: B-plus —Joel Winstead
In 1974, the team of Sal Watts and Jack Bomay set out to make an independent blaxploitation film in Oakland, Calif. — and they almost succeeded. Nearly 50 years later, the footage they shot has been discovered, restored, remastered, and re-released with all the gusto the pair deserves.
Starring Watts in the titular role, Solomon King will likely never be mistaken for “good cinema,” but the enthusiasm and passion with which it was made is so infectious, you might just love it. Despite its half-baked plot, nonsensical action sequences, hokey villains, and sometimes overlong and unnecessary scene-chewing, Solomon King is so damned entertaining it surely would have given Rudy Ray Moore’s 1975 standard-bearer Dolemite a run for its money had it been given a proper release upon completion. With lines like “Sit down and listen to me with your goat-smellin’ ass,” delivered with all the straight-faced sincerity in the world, you know you’ve got not only something special on your hands, but a film that should be celebrated for, if nothing else, its radically immovable style.
Solomon King might seem ridiculous to those seeking sophistication, but this bold, unflinching, and utterly D.I.Y. production has merits that stretch far beyond mere polish and refinement. It’s got heart, and, in this case, that’s enough for me. Grade: B —James Rosario
The more I tried to find something to latch onto with Juan Felipe Zuleta’s Unidentified Objects, the more I was disappointed. Zuleta and his cast certainly make every effort to be quirky, provocative, and political, but their attempts never land with any urgency or authenticity. You might think an odd-couple road-trip movie about a girl trying to get abducted by aliens would have at least some sense of style and eccentricity, but unfortunately, you’d be wrong. Part of me admires Zuleta’s attempt, as the basic premise and themes are worth exploring, but the bland presentation is off-putting nearly to the point of irritation. Perhaps with some major script work and a budget, something could have been salvaged, but as is, Unidentified Objects misses the mark. Grade: C-minus —JR
(Photos courtesy of Fantastic Fest)
