‘Sour Minnows’ Is the Surreal Body Snatching Comedy That Mystified and Delighted Its Premiere Audience — Fantasia
"Sour Minnows," the surreal body-snatching comedy from director Harrison Atkins, premiered at Montreal's Fantasia Festival, leaving audiences both baffled and delighted. The film marks Atkins' sophomore feature following his 2015 debut "Lace Crater," and represents a deliberate creative pivot after years of struggling to get a more conventional, bigger-budget project financed in Los Angeles. Atkins told Variety he abandoned that stalled project to write something uncompromising, resulting in a strange, image-driven work he felt compelled to make regardless of commercial prospects.
The film follows roommates Ricky (David Brown) and Tepper (Chase Williamson), who accidentally slip into another plane of existence during a grocery run, triggering bizarre events involving Ricky's girlfriend Aura (Suzanna Son) and a mysterious entity called "The Yellow Thing" that temporarily possesses and "wears" Ricky's skin. Atkins said the script began as an eight-page prose-poem that expanded into an 80-page hybrid of screenplay and poetry, driven by his desire to create cinema that evokes moods and sensations inexpressible in other art forms, citing Edward Hopper's philosophy that painting exists to convey what words cannot.
In short
- "Sour Minnows" premiered to a mystified, delighted crowd at Fantasia Festival.
- Surreal comedy follows roommates possessed by an entity called "The Yellow Thing."
- Director Harrison Atkins wrote it after abandoning a more commercial project.
Explained simply
Harrison Atkins is an American film director whose debut feature "Lace Crater" was released in 2015. After spending years trying unsuccessfully to finance a larger-budget, more conventional film project in Los Angeles, he chose instead to write and direct an entirely unconventional work without regard for commercial viability. His new film "Sour Minnows" has premiered at Fantasia, an annual festival in Montreal that specialises in genre and experimental cinema.
The film follows two roommates, Ricky and Tepper, who slip into another plane of existence whilst on a shopping trip, triggering a succession of increasingly bizarre events. A mysterious entity called "The Yellow Thing" is able to temporarily possess Ricky's body and control his physical form, creating strange situations involving his girlfriend Aura. The narrative blends body-snatching science fiction with dark comedy and dreamlike, abstract imagery.
Atkins designed the work to explore what cinema can uniquely communicate that other art forms cannot, drawing on the philosophy of painters such as Edward Hopper, who believed their medium could convey feelings and sensations beyond the reach of words. The screenplay began as an eight-page prose-poem before expanding into a hybrid of screenplay and poetry. This approach reflects the director's conviction that cinema should prioritise atmosphere and sensation over conventional narrative structure.
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