FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL
It’s amazing how a film like “Crumbs” is only an hour or so in length and can feel like an eternity. Goodness knows how much I love post apocalyptic films, but “Crumbs” ventures for surrealism and often too strange for its own good. Judging by the research I’ve performed online, the confusing material and disjointed story is intentional and director Miguel Llanso really had no answers for the symbolism in the film any more than the audience.
So trying to decode a lot of the metaphors and imagery is pointless and waste of time. Once that becomes apparent, the film itself becomes a basic waste of time as well. The Ethiopian science fiction romance is set centuries in to the future where a young man and woman live alone in a wasteland and survive on their love for one another. A ball machine in the bowling alley they inhabit is mysteriously dealing out balls, and this has convinced the pair that something big is going to happen. A “space ship” has been hovering over Earth for years and they’re convinced it’s about to beam down and commit a mysterious deed.
Meanwhile most of the civilization is in suspended animation pop culture wise, with a lot of artifacts and mementos no older than the late nineties. Traders pawn TMNT dolls that were once used as lucky trinkets during the “big war,” and wife Little Bunny worships at the altar of a Michael Jordan picture. It’s all so random and occasionally absurd for the sake of being absurd. The journey main character Candy ventures out on is dull and the characters he experience are flat and really add nothing to the overall aesthetic. Granted, the setting is brilliant with wonderful cinematography depicting an eerily lush wasteland, but beyond that there’s nothing here to enjoy. I really wanted to take a shine to Candy’s journey to go back to his home world, and Little Bunny’s obsession with Santa Claus, but in the end it’s just nothing but random imagery amounting to nothing but an empty landfill, much like the nostalgia presented in the narrative.