‘Unidentified Objects’ Fantastic Fest 2022 Review – An Eccentric Road Trip Film Driven By Drama, Grief and Sci-Fi Mystery

Unidentified Objects is a film that I didn’t understand or fully appreciate until after I’d watched it a couple of times. It’s a road trip movie that tackles grief, social isolation, and odd visions and dreams full of alien visitors. By the time I’d finished watching the film for the second time, I loved the world and the characters, and desperately wanted to spend more time with them.

When the film opens, we’re introduced to the cynical and jaded Peter (Matthew Jeffers). He’s gay, a dwarf, in a painful amount of debt and dealing with emotional pain that has left him with a glass half empty view of the world. It doesn’t help that he recently lost one of his closest friends. When he meets Winona (Sarah Hay), he has no patience for the young woman’s quirky personality, and her request that he drive her to Canada is extremely off putting. Her offer to pay him and his own morbid curiosity leads to him agreeing to play chauffeur. What ensues is an odd journey that is transformative for them both.

Peter’s journey serves as the emotional core of the film as he unpacks and deals with the death of someone close to him. Peter wasn’t there for his deceased friend when she needed him most, and as a result, the friend took her life. The sadness, regret, and anguish Jeffers brings to the role is palpable from the moment his character is introduced, and viewers can’t help but empathize with and understand his abrasive and rude disposition. While the character can be off putting throughout most of the film, the filmmakers included a background that warrants it.

Hay brings a sense of innocence and wonder to her role. She’s young, free, and hasn’t been jaded by life in the same way that Jeffers’ character has. It’s refreshing and it helps balance out the gloomier and more devastating and depressing aspects of the film. Her character is determined to depart this earth with aliens and believes it with such conviction that you can’t help but support her quest and hope the best for her.

The film is vague about whether or not the aliens in question are real, and that is actually thrilling rather than disappointing. They could be real, or more likely, a metaphor of the sense of otherness that both characters feel.

Unidentified Objects is a suspenseful and dramatic sci-fi film with a fun premise and engaging leads. I’d bet money on it becoming a cherished indie classic.

Unidentified Objects had its Texas Premiere in the Official Selection section of Fantastic Fest 2022.

Directors: Juan Felipe Zuleta

Writers: Juan Felipe Zuleta & Leland Frankel

Rated: NR

Runtime: 100m