Cuckoo - Fantasia Montreal Premiere Review
Director: Tilman Singer
Starring: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Márton Csóskás, Jessica Henwick, Mila Lieu
Written by: Tilman Singer
Produced by: Thor Bradwell, Markus Halberschmidt, Ken Kao, Ben Rimmer, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka
Cinematography by: Paul Faltz
Original Score by: Simon Waskow
Synopsis:
A 17-year old girl is forced to move with her family to a resort where things are not what they seem.
Thoughts:
A cuckoo is of course a medium sized, slender bird that dwells both in trees and on the ground and gives off a shrill call to attract a mate or to demonstrate ownership of a territory. But the word cuckoo also means crazy, which is exactly what Tilman Singer's latest film is.
Hunter Schafer stars as Gretchen, who moves with her Father, his wife and her little sister Alma to the Bavarian Alps where they are put up by close friend and work colleague Dr. König (Dan Stevens) They've moved here because they have been hired to help design a brand new resort extension to accompany König's already established Alpenplatz.
It's pretty clear early on that Gretchen doesn't feel like she's part of the family here and she essentially admits that she has zero connection to her Stepmother Beth (Jessica Henwick) and young sister Alma (Mila Lieu). She misses her Mother and her old house back in the States. König, sensing her uneasiness, attempts to settle her hesitancy by offering her a job at the resort, under the condition she never work the late night shift. But of course Gretchen is a bit of a rebel and doesn't necessarily like to follow the rules. She does in fact swap a shift with her front desk pal Beatrice and while working late one night she experiences a strange visit from an unresponsive, half naked female resident who vomits in the lobby. Herr König is not best pleased to learn that Gretchen is working a late shift, but why? The evening ahead is just the first in a bizarre turn of events that occur for Gretchen leading her to believe that Herr König is not the polite and friendly man that he appears to be.
'Cuckoo' really is an insane film. It had me on the edge of my seat pretty much from the opening scene. There's a telling mystery lingering on the periphery of almost every scene that sucks you in and Hunter Schafer's performance is both subtle and spellbinding. She plays Gretchen as brash and resolute but there's also an evident vulnerability there too. And Dan Stevens is a delight as always. He really is carving out a magnificent filmography for himself and his turn here as a charming yet sinisterly benevolent German host is as good as anything he has done before.
The fim is very hypnotic and the sound design is incredible. I watched it through headphones and it blew me away. There are a number of slight jump scares that got me really good. Singer uses sound like a weapon. It's an auditory nightmare that is intensely gripping and disquieting.
The visuals are also on par. Singer re-teams with his 'Luz' cinematographer Paul Faltz who manages to make nearly every scene and location look like a work of art. On top of some gloriously pictureseque mountain range views and lush green meadows, Faltz's work actually excels during the interior scenes. There's also a very memorable and nailbiting sequence where Gretchen is riding home on her bike but is being pursued by a stranger. A fantastic use of light and shadow. What really ties the film together is the editing of both the audio and the visuals into an inventive and often jarring narrative. There's a particular techinque that is applied a number of times and it's fucking brilliantly done especially when we see that the characters, amidst their confusement, are staring to figure out that something uncanny is transpiring.
Naturally when there is any mystery involved the revelation or explanation can often come across as exposition. I think for the most part it is handled really well here. I did find myself trying to guess what exactly was happening and I wasn't far off. There's enough teases early on to have you reaching out and trying to munch the carrot. There's a little bit of 'Twin Peaks' and a little bit of body horror too.
My only niggle with the film was the finale. There was a certain generic feel to how everything unfolded towards the end of the film. Good guy has gun and bad guy has gun and they're taking turns trying to shoot each other while our protaganist is just trying to escape. It wasn't badly written or badly shot or anything like that and despite a gruesomely, nailbiting face off between Gretchen and the stranger who's been stalking her, I felt it was just a bit of a misfire of a finale to a film that had offered so much uncertainty and madness, but otherwise this is superb filmmaking and acting. One of my favourite films of the year so far.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Gavin Logan
'Cuckoo' received its Montreal Premiere at Fantasia '24 on July 30th
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