I’ve heard many films get accused of being overly preachy, but Uchronia is the first I’ve seen where a succession of characters stand at a podium to directly address the audience. It’s a viewing experience that made me feel like I should have been sitting on a stool in the corner of the Brattle, wearing a dunce cap and facing the wall. April 7’s showing was the film’s U.S. premiere, and what better place to premiere a film so unabashedly academic than steps away from Harvard University? 

The story, as thin as the plastic crop top worn by a “Deleuzian bodybuilder” (Macklin Kowal) who is one of Uchronia’s eccentric characters, follows 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud (Kristof Lamp) on a surreal journey through the “failed revolutions” of queer history since his death, featuring luminaries like Marsha P. Johnson (Amani), Andy Warhol (Robert Carrithers), Guy Hocquenguem (Christos Adrianopoulous) and David Wojnarowicz (Alexander Voulgaris). The title, as the film’s opening explains, is a word meaning an alternate history. I was intrigued by this premise and excited to see what visions writer Foivos Dousos and director Fil Ieropolous could conjure. Rather than taking the viewer to daring new realities, Uchronia felt like watching a “living wax museum” in which costumed middle schoolers rattle off facts about Abraham Lincoln or Amelia Earhart. 

For a film that speaks at length about radicalism and challenging the status quo, the formal presentation lacks energy or urgency. The end result is as dry as a grad school textbook. Many of the setpieces, however colorful, are forgettable. With the endless references to philosophy, history, politics, and literature, I couldn’t help but think of another film currently in theaters, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Both Mario and Uchronia namedrop a staggering array of references, whether they be to Karl Marx or Koopa Troopas, for seemingly no reason other than to make the viewer feel satisfied for recognizing something they know. Uchronia’s attempts at provocation, often imitating far better queer filmmakers, come off as more desperate than thoughtful. Despite the film being loosely based on Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell, much of the runtime is taken up by personality-free caricatures who confront the audience with jeremiads against techbros, fascism, corporate greed, the commodification of queer identity, and the dismal state of global politics. It’s nothing that the average Wicked Queer Festival attendee hasn’t heard before and in much more sophisticated fashion, likely from other films shown during the festival. I certainly don’t disagree with the points being made, but why go to the theater for something you can get by watching much more coherent YouTube video essays? 

Uchronia has the audacity to make a dig at “infographic morality” while feeling like a 90-minute Instagram post. I despise the word “pretentious” in film criticism. Indeed, the creation of any art requires a degree of pretension, to aspire to something greater. But Uchronia, which is so smug about its own intellectualism while saying so little, feels like a parody of the arthouse sensibility. Besides some pretty cinematography and creative drag looks, watching it is a chore. Take it from a recovering English major — there’s no reason learning about literature and history can’t be fun, even liberating. Uchronia fails to make the grade. 

Uchronia
2026
dir. Fil Ieropoulos
97 min.

Screened Tuesday, 4/7 @ Brattle Theatre
Part of the 2026 Wicked Queer Film Festival