IndiePix Films
68 min., dir. by Miguel Llansó, with Daniel Tadesse and Selam Tesfayie

Spanish director Miguel Llansó makes his feature-length debut with Crumbs, an Award-Winner at 2015’s Los Angeles Film Festival and Fantasia International Film Festival.

It’s weird — even more surreal than movies like Brazil and Naked Lunch.

Post-apocalyptic visions usually come from/are filmed in/take place in Europe or the United States, but this one takes place in Ethiopia decades — maybe even centuries — after humanity’s wars have reduced the human population to a smaller-than-ever amount. I believe in the film there is a line of dialogue that tells the viewer that in all of humanity’s history, the population was always on an exponential upward trend, and yet after this war petered out, the trend began to roll back in the opposite direction.

This new world is sparsely populated, yes, but the cast of characters that fill this world are not dull to say the least. These new humans pray to Michael Jordan shrines and use Michael Jackson records as currency. Pawn shop owners trick folks out of plastic toy swords and Ninja Turtle toys.

The film was shot beautifully and features an intense and experimental score and often catches you off guard with intriguing, if strange, dream sequences with jazz backdrops. Ethiopia’s landscapes and eroded infrastructure help paint a picture no First World location could have provided. It’s an engrossing film that overflows with charm and an unmistakable wit.

The DVD comes with two even stranger short films from director Miguel Llansó: Night in the Wild Garden and Chigger Ale, also starring Daniel Tadesse, and a short anecdote about the making of the film. Highly recommended for fans of the strange and unusual.