You can tell from the very first few seconds that The Visitor From the Future (Le visiteur du futur) is going to be different. And at Fantastic Fest, this is our kind of different. François Descraques brings his film to FF where it was met with applause, acclaim and plenty of split sides and ticked funny bones. In the story, young Alice protests against the construction of a nuclear plant created by her father and soon after a strange visitor takes them in 2555 – a future devastated by the explosion of the facility – in an attempt to convince him not to build it in the first place.
It is smart, engaging, lightning fast, and has more heart than anything you’d expect at a genre film festival. Taken from the popular web series of the same name, the Director François and team give you a time travel movie that you won’t see coming and, better, have no clue how it’s going to end. It’s these little gems that descend upon Austin this time of year that make us happy to be fans of the genre in the first place.
Le visiteur du futur succeeds by being nimble and speedy, so much so that when it takes off, you’ll get comedy whiplash. Also, you’d be floored to learn this exemplary and boundary pushing film only had a 4 million euro budget. All we can say is it’s a perfect film. C’est magnifique!
It’s tough to do time travel well. Some narratives get lost under the weight such an impossible concept, or spend more time on the conceit of the device than the actual fun to be had with the idea. The team stays pretty middle of the road only giving you a hint of what consequences and pitfalls await on this journey as our heroes endeavor to save the future. But it’s much more complicated than making sure your parents meet for the first time. Still, Le visiteur du futur is very much like the Zemeckis classic that there’s even a character named McFly, all of which adds to the fun and reverence for the genre.
Set more than 500 years from now, there are so many elements thrown in which spoke to the crowds here (myself included) because it plays like a stylized mix tape of our favorites from years past. There’s Turbo Kid, The Osiris Child, One Cut of the Dead, High Five and more. These films rightly borrow from each other to push their narratives further.
But the story stands on its own because if you were to take away elements like a post apocalyptic future, and time travel, you still have characters that would surprise, entertain, and delight. From the trio of put upon heroes from the future (Florent Dorin, Raphaël Descraques and Slimane-Baptiste Berhoun), to the misguided, testosterone-fueled time patrol agents, or Alice (Enya Baroux) and her father (Arnaud Ducret) and their storied and troubled relationship, all are faceted, fascinating and fun.
Get ready for a surprise; you will laugh a lot, and maybe shed a few tears. We may have, not gonna lie. Hopefully you don’t have wait too long to check out Le visiteur du futur. The more time passes from having seen it, it gets better and better. In fact, it’s just fantastic.
