Genre: Short, Fantasy, and Drama Running Time: 15 min.
Release Date: February 13th, 2024 MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Marcela Heilbron Actors: Wilson Moreira, Genesis del Monte, Antonella Varella
A
fter a montage of footage of zoo animals almost nerve-wrackingly introduces the setting (thanks to some percussion-heavy, jazzy, experimental, psychedelic music) – as if something from an exploitative cannibal slasher from the ‘80s – it’s evident that something is very wrong with Juan (Wilson Moreira). He is, in fact, residing in the belly of a crocodile. Yet he’s able to communicate to his wife Camila (Genesis del Monte) and their daughter Nicole (Antonella Varella), conversing as if everything is normal. Nicole certainly doesn’t seem too disturbed; but Camila is dismayed, insistent that she use the facility’s detomidine to force the scaly monster to regurgitate her husband.
Curiously, Juan is one with the croc; the sanctuary actually charges money to see the spectacle of the talking creature. It could all be some sort of dream (or nightmare), however, as veterinarian Camila soon hops in a cab to the Costa Rican border, away from Panama, where she hopes to further her journey to the United States. Without a work permit, she can’t find worthwhile employment in the country. As her location changes – ominously, as if she’s being trafficked – she finds herself once again in the presence of oversized aquatic reptiles.
“Todays topic will be the mystery of faith.” As central roles change, the focus shifts to and from imagery of dinosaur-like critters relaxing or feasting, and the throaty voice of Juan surfaces sporadically (reminiscent of the fishy narrator from Denis Villeneuve’s “Maelstrom”), it becomes evident that “Panadrilo” has a specific message to impart, particularly about immigration and its hazards. Problematically, however, with its brief runtime and beclouding ambiguities, that message is exceptionally vague.
It’s so difficult to follow, in fact, that without knowing beforehand that this tale is inspired by a Fyodor Dostoevsky short story about a man who is swallowed by a crocodile (but survives and carries on with his work as a civil servant), virtually the entire purpose of this fable will be lost to viewers. Certainly, the rarity of crocodiles in Russia versus their dangerous abundance in Panama isn’t apparent, nor is the notion that Juan’s fantastical fate can be duplicated and employed as a disembodied form of creative spiritual conveyance. But, if nothing else, writer/director Marcela Heilbron has created an engaging atmosphere, with a punchline conclusion that could be snappily whimsical to uncommonly keen audiences.
– Mike Massie
- 4/10
