Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: ANIMALIA PARADOXA [Fantasia Film Festival 2024 - Montreal, Quebec]
The context of survival interpreted as dance is more integrated in the thought of hiding. With “Animal Paradoxa” [North American Premiere/Underground] from Chile, the idea of consumption integrated with water takes on a wide swath of metaphorical meanings. Touted more as stop motion vehicle but more a mix of archival and dance choreography, the film does create a perspective though not necessarily a linear perception. A scavenger works her day to try to find essences of water to make her sparkle more. The context of the siren is alluded to in the logline but its actual reality is a little less conspicuous. The lead character contorts and squeeses herself around in various forms paying both tribute but also feeding others. A lot of what happens is quid pro quo but there are those who take advantage but also those who just watch. The essence of the animals both being witnesses and also slaughtered is an interesting metaphor. It was also an interestinging pair of “A Pig 1/2,” a 17 minute short from Taiwan which made a lot more sense but also an interesting resolve in terms of what is actually going on in Asia. This is the second film after “The Beacon” at Tribeca which examined this subject matter.
There is really not as much emotional resonance here though in “Paradoxica” since we don’t get the character’s emotional connection to her exact plight. When her bathroom and only access to water is oblitered, we do feel her pain. There is also an interesting Ursula type presence at one point which literally, like most of those typse of film, points to a trap. Granted the final context and breakdown, which takes a bit too long does speak to the deconstruction of self that is central to the plot per se. It does makes the point more clear. And yet the yearning for a curse in a lost world even if it is a different kind of prison doesn’t quite seem to be a choice overall. The essence is that man is not much different from animals. The texture of survival simply leads us a certain way and our empathy or emotional pull makes us do certain things. C
By Tim Wassberg
