ZYGOTE (2017) Short Film: Dakota Fanning Stars in Neill Blomkamp’s Scifi Drama

Zygote Short Film

Neill Blomkamp‘s Zygote (2017) short film stars Dakota Fanning and Jose Pablo Cantillo. Neill Blomkamp saved the best for last. Zygote is the best of the trio of short films that Oats Studios released in its Volume 1. The first two short films (Firebase and Rakka) seemed like short films meant to be expanded into full-feature films. Neither of those films had an ending. Their storylines were still ongoing, open-ended with events still spiraling outward.

Zygote was not like that. It had an ending. Zygote satisfied with its conclusion. The viewer felt for Barkley (Dakota Fanning)’s harrowing predicament, especially as it became more disturbing and perilous. The same was true for Quinn, though his screen time was far shorter. Quinn’s sacrifice was much like the sacrifice of Wolf Leader Owen in Season 6 of The Walking Dead when he gave up his own life for another.

Zygote had a slight The Thing-feel in part but that was minimized by the dread that began surrounding Barkley, the social class system that was in place, and the atmosphere that Zygote successfully created on its own without being derivative.

Zygote had a top notch feel to it. Zygote could have been the ending chapter of a ten-part HBO mini-series. Written by Neill Blomkamp, Thomas Sweterlitsch, and Terri Tatchell, Zygote was like a well-crafted short story.

Like with all Volume 1 short films, I would like to see more regrading Zygote. Unlike Rakka, where the viewer wanted to see what happened next, with Zygote the viewer wanted to see what happened before the catastrophic events in this short film.

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Zygote Short Film