(The 2026 SXSW Film Festival runs March 12-18 in beautiful Austin, TX. Check out Chris Reed’s Sparks movie review, fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
Cleo is a French New Wave heroine even before she realizes it. At odds with her mother and adrift in a teenage wasteland, she smoke cigarettes and commands the attention of other adolescents she meets. She’s an outsider looking for a band of fellow outsiders to command.
That’s a very loose description of the setup for Sparks, the debut feature from Fergus Campbell that stars Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) as Cleo. Fisher brings their usual strong, committed performance—appreciated even in the mess that was the 2022 Texas Chainsaw Massacre—to the part, imbuing Cleo with a painful yearning to be anywhere but here. Fortunately, the new group of friends Cleo is about to make offer a way out.
First, however, let us celebrate the careful construction of this visual gem of an indie film, with every frame packed full of simple wonders, including a cigarette machine standing mysteriously in the middle of the road, and even more fantastically spewing out a copy of a Jean-Luc Godard book along with a pack of Marlboros (perhaps Agnès Varda would be even more appropriate). The production design and cinematography make Sparks come alive with compositions that dazzle, an intriguing combination of the modern and the old. The desert Nevada location helps, as well.
Not all is dry, however. Friends Antoine (Charlie B. Foster), Casazza (Julia D’Angelo), Kane (Thomas Deen Baker), Max (Denny McAuliffe), and Trip (Simon Downes Toney) like to gather at a reservoir, where they perform a ritual of choosing a year and a place to which they would like to travel as they immerse themselves in the water. For them, it’s just a game, but when Cleo joins them, it becomes far more real. Her destination? Paris in 1960, of course.
New to Sparks, Cleo has only made one other friend, Odette (Madison Hu, Rosemead) before she catches the eye of Antoine (who just a moment earlier was on the receiving end of a blowjob from Max – fluid sexuality is a recurring theme). He invites her to “the Crop,” an abandoned drive-in theater’s parking lot where the crew gathers to drink and drug in and around their vintage vehicles (which include Casazza’s retrofitted school bus and Trip’s Mercedes taxi). Before long, Cleo insists that they all sit down to watch Godard movies.
The beauty of Sparks is in the evocation of youthful exploration and imagination, Campbell never passing judgment on the fantasies and contradictions of his eclectic cast of characters. The wonders of the mind can lead to anything; even, perhaps, time travel. Or possibly a mental breakdown. Alienation is its own form of narcotic. No matter one’s interpretation of the narrative and the potentially tragic ending, there is cinematic joy to be had in watching both unfold.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
