Palm Springs ShortFest: ‘Imago’ Is a Creepy, Crawly Mother

Within in the first two minutes of Ariel Zengotita’s Imago, I was muttering, “Nope, no, nope” out loud to myself when a scuttling insect came into view.

I kept thinking about the physical distance we have from our parents whenever we become young adults. It varies from family to family, of course, but Zengotita’s film relays themes of dependency, obligation, sacrifice, and parental manipulation through shocking body horror with a hard comic edge.

“I haven’t had a birthday like this since I was six years old,” Didi Romero’s Ana tells her boyfriend, Billy, after the guests of a surprise party disperse, and they are left alone. He then surprises her with tickets to a late showing of one of her favorite films, Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors, and, almost like it was meant to be, Ana’s mother calls Billy’s phone wondering why her daughter isn’t answering her cell. Always remember to charge your phone kids–even on your birthday.

Putting her own birthday surprise on hold, Ana races out the door and drives the half hour to see her ailing mother. Zengotita bends the tone with hairpin precision, amping up the sound, music and editing throughout his film. When Ana makes it to her mother’s bedroom, she removes the covers to reveal a major, surprising discovery–not for her but for us. And it would be unfair to admit what that is. As Mrs. Sanchez, Ada Lux Pla hurls insulting expectations peppered with a dramatic tone. Trust me, this mother will wring out every ounce of guilt out of her daughter even if she is celebrating a birthday.

Zengotita knows when to go grand and when to keep the camera tight on Romero’s face–the editing revs into overdrive as the tension crescendos towards the end of the film. If you are a fan of musicals, you will appreciate this filmmaker’s homages to Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s show about a meek man who has to learn how to stand up against a bullying, man-eating plant. Certainly Mrs. Sanchez’s behavior, one might argue, could be seen as an insect that crawls on the leaves of Audrey II’s tendrils.

With Imago, Zengotita emerges as a filmmaker whose storytelling blends the fantastical, the darkly comic, and the horrifying fantastical. Maybe Ana will find her somewhere that’s green?