Film Review: SOUR MINNOWS: A Fascinating Start is Slightly Undermined by a Muted Conclusion [Fantasia 2026]

Sour Minnows Review

Sour Minnows (2026) Film Review from the 30th Annual Fantasia Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Harrison Atkins and starring Suzanna Son, David Brown, Chase Williamson and Phil Burgers.

There’s something mystifying about the new film from director Harrison Atkins, Sour Minnows. For an 83-minute movie, there’s a bit to unpack at the end, but it would have been nice if Atkins helped us a bit in terms of figuring out some of the complex symbolism which is employed in the curiously intelligent, yet somewhat incomplete picture. This film stars David Brown as a man named Ricky who faces an existential crisis and comes to realize there’s more than meets the eye going on in L.A. where people’s behaviors are concerned.

At the start, the film basically revolves around people licking the concrete streets with their tongues and the reasoning behind why they do that becomes the focal point of the movie which has a lot of complex themes at its core. There are minor problems with the style the movie employs, but it’s hard to look away from the screen as the characters come into view and the film reveals its characters’ appreciation for the craft of film-making.

This film is bookmarked at the beginning and the end with appearances by Sean Baker’s Red Rocket star, Suzanna Son, as Aura, a girl who seems to have an effect on Ricky through her very existence. She’s seen sitting by some tracks with white socks on and seems a bit unsure of her purpose although she has definite answers to Ricky’s questions. Another main character is Ricky’s movie buff friend/roommate, Tepper (Chase Williamson), who seems earnest enough even if he lacks much of a distinct personality at times.

There’s a scene where Ricky walks through a mall with a haunting voice-over that proves something is going on that isn’t exactly normal. This movie relies on yellowish people who are finally shown in their full glory at the conclusion of the picture in a twist that resembles some of the great low-budget horror movies of our times. These are really bright yellow images that compose these people and they seem to come to life vividly when displayed right before our eyes. This part of the movie is just as good as the scary ending of The Blair Witch Project although Atkins isn’t going for quite that same vibe.

Atkins is going for a WTF vibe that says that the world is insane. A fish inside Ricky’s hand or his aspirations of meeting a great director to read his own work come to mean that Ricky can’t properly grasp reality well enough. There’s something fishy about reality anyway, isn’t there? In this film there certainly is.

Sour Minnows rests on a very good performance by Brown who single-handedly carries the film with a swift stick. Suzanna Son is something of an afterthought and represents Ricky’s perfect world while the yellowish people represent the true nature of the souls of people who wander around with no clear purpose in mind. While these yellowish people wear the disguise of human beings, are they really sincere or is the skin just a catalyst to walk the face of the Earth for no particularly noteworthy reason?

Anyone could have a specific interpretation of this film. There are no wrong answers unless they are addressed by the filmmaker, Atkins, as wrong. This is the type of movie that will leave some viewers nodding in awe and others tossing their hands up in frustrations. Atkins would probably have it no other way. Suzanna Son appears in the action as a good sport to support a visionary filmmaker and her work is not going to win her any major accolades though she acquits herself admirably in her brief screen time within the film.

Movies like Sour Minnows fascinate me. They make the viewer think and what the audience takes from the film is different for each and every person. If you’re a movie buff, you’ll appreciate that the main character is an artist looking to break out with a script. If you’re not a big movie fan, you’ll like the “Body Snatchers” type of plot developments that drive the film. Yes, there could have and should have been more plot development, but the movie stirs up curiosity through its very existence and will have audiences talking at the conclusion. Good films tend to do that.

Sour Minnows is a well-crafted, if curiously incomplete, movie that is undermined by its lack of a substantial budget to tell its tale. So, it relies on Brown’s fierce independence as an actor to help tell Atkins’ disturbingly on-point tale. Though the ending leaves the viewer wanting more answers, maybe life does as well so the movie complements life with its fascinating underdog appeal and keen thoughts about who’s really walking among us and occupying our thoughts. It’s an interesting film.

Rating: 7/10

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