Fantasmas

First episode and it's seemingly more of Julios spontaneous, surreal style of filmmaking. Very quirky, very funny and clearly influenced. There's a unique feel to his projects, like a flow of thoughts coming and going, creatively juggling themes in this dreamlike splash of colours, costumes and alternate worlds similar to something you'd see in "poor things". The first episode picks up many concepts in 30 minutes, though so far they dont really land well enough to impress me (or hopefully these ideas will be explored in following episodes) but based on this being the exact issue I had with his feature film, I'm uncertain if these established themes will be revisited in this "stream of Julio's conscious thoughts" style. I liked his feature "problemista" but he is still clearly in the early stages as a filmmaker.

Check this out if you like funny, surreal, quirky weirdo filmmaking from an exciting upcoming indie director still finding his footing.

Having seen "Los Espookys" and "Problemista," I'm a fan of Julio. His offbeat humor, quirkiness, fantastical, surreal elements are woven through all, and "Fantasmas" is so far my favorite.

I love satire, and I'm really enjoying all the commentary on a wide variety of challenges and flaws of modern day society. This is often expressed through a ridiculous, exaggerated situation, which shines a comedic light on how truly dystopia some things are.

Each character is offbeat, and some are straight out of a fever dream.

In order to really enjoy this, you'd have to be along for the ride and not overthink or question a lot of the absurd, nonsensical things that happen, or be wanting a strong storyline structure.

This show feels weird for the sake of being weird, and it will continuously surprise you.

This is more of a retrospective review of the movie, since it's been around a year since I've seen it, but it has stuck to me in a vivid way.

I do genuinely like the narrative, it's a bit soft in an old produce way at times, and sometimes it could do with a little bit more grit. Some of the characters seem a bit loose, and the overall storyline isn't particularly dynamic, but when you watch it, you realise that it's not about gripping you to your seat, it's just a visionage, it's entertainment in the sense that it's entertaining. You can watch it, and colours, and storylines will go by, and they will entertain you, and kinda prosper as niche little interests to think about. But in that aspect it plays out like a modern series in a hypnotic subgenre.

There are a lot of nice metaphors that are added in, I think of the clear crayon being this otherworldly creative idea, in a world of purely commercial mindsets, and as a metaphor for that. The MELF segment is kinda funny, just by these two recognisable actors doing some silly spoof moment.

The acting isn't bad; there's roles that are acted better than others. The good acting credits go to Martine Gutierrez, Vanesja, who is this modern business woman, sex-work life balances, then you have Alexa Demie, Becca, who is this rule-orientated loyal customer service rep, who is maliciously, and ironically malicious, and then you also have, Dominique Jackson, Algorithmn, the one who give's, and takes. But there's more than that who deserve praise.

The amount of celebrities who show up in this series is insane, like I don't know what Julio Torres did, but there's hundreds of them, there's Steve Buscemi, Julia Fox, Rosie Perez, Paul Dano, Rachel Dratch, and even Tilda Swinton who plays, water.

The amount of money this show had to have had is even more insane. Because the quality is ridiculous. The sets, the props, the costumes all of it is ridiculous in quality.

And I have to give credits, if not for looks, to James Scully who plays a dog. Which is fun because the last time I saw him, he played a high school bomber in Heathers. Fun fact, Julio Torres is dating James Scully, which I only found out writing this. And honestly, props to both of them finding love in this messed up world.

One of my main problems, something that doesn't necessarily ruin the show, but that's just always on your mind. Julio Torres directed, wrote, and played the titular character. When you know that, you just can't get rid of this very Julio orientated mindset. Because the dynamic is entirely just him, because it was written by him, and directed by him. And to be honest, the character isn't the most developed. He doesn't really grow as a character, he doesn't realise his mistakes, or really take accountability. He doesn't really do anything as a character, and essentially is just handed everything to him on a silver platter. Events orbit him. Now I'm assuming this is to show a kind of odyssey of a dream-like journey, but with the modern realism that's added on, it kinda comes out in a metacritical aspect that the character is born to fill out this role, and everything revolves around him, so it makes everything a little 2D in comparison to his also 2D character. But it's not just the narrative, he has the most costumes as a character, the most sets that are specific to him, also props off to the set designers, and builders, they were divine in this series, I feel like 60% of the budget went towards the sets, he has a whole slave, BIBO, but he doesn't really do anything with them. He's just there. Which is an art style that I highly respect, but it just comes out very pro-Julio, very scraps for everyone else.

Now the problem is, there are so many subplots within the series for the other characters, I think one of them gets an entire episode to themselves, that Julio's character doesn't sustain the main character role for longer than the half the first episode. But the narrative is based around Julio. So you get this grinding of other characters taking the spotlight, and leaving Julio in the dirt, but also the narrative pulling those characters to semi-worship Julio. And the ending does not clarify who is the main character, if there even is one, even though it's showed that there is one.

But as a whole, and my picking apart of small wounds, it's a very collected, very design-orientated series that definitely lingers on your mind for a while after watching it. So I would recommend strongly.

Julio Torres never presents a cliche' subject. Go with the flow, and enjoy every delicious moment. Surprises around every single corner awaits. Stories within stories, within stories. He packs each half hour segment like a can of sardines with his enchanting plots. His wardrobe and background settings are done with an artist's vision of both beautiful colors and unique geometric shapes. He may have changed his hair color of choice from blue to orange, but his signature creativity is still woven in the wickedly absurd vignettes. The new characters that he introduces to us like Chester the driver, played by Tomas Matos or Steve Buscemi, as the unforgettable Q, are hysterical! I can't wait for the next episode to come an take me into his magically twisted dreamland of delight.

I think that that the negative reviews are borne from people either not understanding or trying to apply logic to what is undoubtedly the quirkiest, funniest series I've ever seen. Highly unconventional, totally bizarre, and above all, hilarious, this series is without logic - don't try to understand it, just strap yourself in for a helluva ride. The humour is not quite American, not quite British, but takes the best elements of both. I was spellbound by it, unable to recall what the original 'plot' was, as the story flew off it multiple tangents, each more surreal and ridiculous than the last. Try it, you won't regret it.