Spiritus Lepus
2017 · 19m · Sweden
Directed by Kristofer Kiggs Carlsson
Genres: fantasy, sci-fi, surrealism
Six rabbit-humanoid surgeons obsessed with the human spirit operate on a damaged soul in a grimy room hidden within a mythical Swedish forest. The self-appointed doctors attempt to understand human emotional trauma through unconventional, otherworldly methods.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A premise so genuinely unhinged—rabbit surgeons excavating the human spirit like it's a physical organ—that it makes you question why more filmmakers aren't this comfortable with productive weirdness; Carlsson swings for the fences and lands somewhere between fever dream and folk-horror masterclass, which is exactly where consensus-chasing scouts fear to tread.
The film's lineage runs clear through Henson's tactile grotesquerie and del Toro's mythic grotesquerie, but what elevates it beyond homage is the deliberate formal choice to let the practical creature work *be* the metaphor—each surgical gesture becomes a meditation on how we externalize interior damage, a restraint that positions it squarely in the tradition of European surrealist cinema.
The single decision that makes this work is the commitment to keeping the camera unflinching and clinical while six rubber-and-mechanics creatures enact psychological surgery—that tonal stillness, that refusal to wink at the audience despite the operatic premise, is what transforms what could've been conceptual novelty into something genuinely unsettling and true.
Reviews
Stuck somewhere in between a Star Wars cantina and a Guillermo Del Toro film, these creatures are at the epitome of fantasy worlds built out of dreams.
A wonderful blend of mystery, intrigue and imagination — wonderful character design, great background scenery, interesting story/concept.
Festivals
- Calgary International Film Festival 2017
- Sticks International Film Festival 2018, Award Winner