When a lost little boy is found, his father is sceptical that it’s really him.
But don’t be fooled – this mind-bender isn’t really about changelings or revenants.
New York cop Paul hasn’t been the same since a near-fatal gunshot injury. Together with their baby, Theo, he and his wife Marie move to a quiet suburb in the hope of reviving their failing marriage. But after Theo vanishes mysteriously at his own first birthday party, an odd neighbour – who seems somehow connected to their house – tells the distraught parents about a cave that can “give back things you have lost”. Venturing into the darkness, Marie re-emerges with Theo, having lost all memory of what happened inside the cave. Paul begins to suspect that whatever she’s brought back, it isn’t their son …
Writer/director Caleb J. Phillips won SXSW’s Midnight Shorts Jury Award in 2019 for Other Side of the Box. This, his feature debut, also premiered at SXSW, offering a surprisingly speculative twist on a horror trope you thought you knew. Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day) stuns in a wrenching, primal performance as the increasingly erratic Marie, while Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll) holds compassion for the otherwise off-puttingly selfish, passive Paul. Shrewd yet slippery, Imposters suggests a true self is whatever we can live with.
Content: Melbourne International Film Festival
A lean, devastating genre-bender … never balks from emotional honesty [and] builds to a fitting end that doesn’t let anyone off the hook.
Join our newsletter
Be the first to hear about upcoming exhibitions, films, events and special offers.