Hybred

Mustard (Child X) pairs a heady script with Filomena’s introspective paintings in this gloomy-mythic tale set in a bleak futuristic version of Los Angeles and styled after Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. Growing up in a melting pot of refugees, sex workers, and gangs, young Johnny James feels lonely and rejected. As he sleeps on a cockroach-infested floor, regularly witnesses attempted murders, and eats his meals next to corpses, he turns to art for relief. He’s shown having “lost himself drawing” when left alone all day (his parents couldn’t afford school fees) in a sweltering “box” of an apartment, “burning up in the searing heat of the Long Drought.” The saving grace is that Johnny finds art all around him: on gang members’ tattooed faces (“beautiful and terrifying at the same time”), in the “lush darkness” of someone playing violin in the distance, and in his dreams. Tapping into this “genius” sparks a supernatural power: he levitates, brings rains to quench the drought, and saves a young girl from a violent fate. Filomena’s imaginative art, which recalls Eric Drooker, paints a haunting backdrop, but the sometimes didactic script can feel choppy, and the climax is particularly disjointed. Though visually striking, this doesn’t quite land the profound moments to match the art. (Nov.)