Zoltar from Zoron (1998)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Erik Paesel

Genre:

Short | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Mother Son Relationship | School | Student Film | Dysfunctional Family | Imagination

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Clifford Hugo	...	Billy
John Sylvain	...	Phys Ed Teacher

Runtime:

15 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

An interesting way to present a dysfunctional family

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Jimmy is a 12 year-old who refuses to accept reality. He lives with coarse and nasty parents who curse incessantly and his way of dealing with it is to imagine that he's an alien named "Zoltar". The problem is that Jimmy cannot function any other way--he's completely become Zoltar and goes everywhere dressed in a homemade space costume. In some ways his mother seems cool about it--taking the whole thing in stride. However, both the mother and father are ignoring the deeper problem--that Jimmy's home life is so bad that a delusional world is preferable and he seems to be in the midst of a psychotic break.

At school, his persona of Zoltar creates enormous problems and kids treat him horribly. I was amazed to see that the school didn't do a lot to protect him and ultimately Zoltar tries to kill himself. His mom, in fashion typical of her so far in the film, cares enough to try and stop him (she does care) but uses abusive language and curses at him in the process! This is a great way of showing that she just doesn't get it.

The film had an alternative ending that was included on the DVD. The ideas were the same but the story was heavily rearranged and included a rather unnecessary narration by "Zoltar" who sounded like a robot alien. The ending they used for the final film looked cleaner and worked better, though it was interesting to see this less subtle version.

Overall, the film was very creative and sad--just as the film makers intended. Good job.