Childish Evolution Teaser and Synopsis
David Gelmini
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A very strange new teaser for Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Evolution, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, can be viewed below.
Initially, it doesn’t appear to say anything about the film or even to be a promotion for a film, but when you hear a bit more about the plot, it might make a little more sense.
Described as a “body horror” film, it follows a ten-year-old boy named Nicolas who lives on an island with a population consisting only of other young boys and their mothers. The boys are subjected to strange medical experiments at the island’s hospital, with Nicolas wanting to find out why. If that still left you confused, then here’s the official synopsis:
A young boy living in a mysterious, isolated seaside clinic uncovers the sinister purposes of his keepers in this exquisitely shot blend of body horror and surreal fantasy from director Lucile Hadzihalilovic (INNOCENCE). Ten-year-old Nicolas lives an austere and isolated life with his mother in a remote seaside community populated by women and other little boys about his age, but seemingly devoid of adult males. In a hospital overlooking the tempestuous ocean, the boys are all subjected to regular medical treatments – or, perhaps, some mysterious experiment. Only Nicolas seems to question what’s happening to him and his friends. He finds an unexpected ally in a young nurse, Stella, whose kindness is a break from the severity that all the other women seem to reserve for their young charges. Increasingly suspicious that his mother and the nurses are lying to him and that something ominous is going on, he follows the women at night, determined to find out what they are up to. What he discovers on the beach signals the beginning of a nightmare from which he’s helpless to escape. Influenced by H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau, this mesmerizing film approaches the concept of evolution from a truly unique perspective.
Hmm… we haven’t had many film adaptations of The Island of Doctor Moreau (and the few that we have are hardly worth mentioning) so this should be interesting. Hadzihalilovic previously bought us the award-winning Innocence, and distributor Alchemy describes Evolution as being “ultimately as terrifying as anything they’ve ever seen,” so this is certainly a film we’ll be on the lookout for.
Evolution is currently screening at the TIFF.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkKZ2qx5f6g]
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