GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE // A FILM REVIEW OF “CUCKOO”
BY MATEO MORENO
CUCKOO, the new film by German filmmaker Tilman Singer, is exactly as the title suggests: it’s is cuckoo. It’s a wild ride that doesn’t quite begin, rather it throws you in the deep end before you can say if you swim. It’s a twisty thriller, meant to keep you off balance with its plot largely unexplained until you discover it for yourself. Hunter Schafer stars as Gretchen, a 17-year-old musician who has come to live with her father (Marton Csokas) after her mother tragically dies. He’s now remarried and Gretchen isn’t warming up to the new stepmom (Jessica Henwick) or her younger half sister (Mila Lieu). They’ve also come to the Bavarian Alps to live. Her father and mother are going to help create a new spa and now that Gretchen is living with him, she’ll be living there too. However, when she arrives, everything seems just a little bit.. off.
The owner of the spa where they are staying is Herr König (Dan Stevens), emoting a strange essence from the start. He purposefully speaks to her mother while ignoring the father just enough to put him off balance. He sh0ws interest in the younger daughter Alma but seems thrown off by Gretchen. He’s also a creepy toucher, holding his hands on Gretchen’s shoulder far too long. Another worker is also immediately thrown off by Gretchen’s prescenece, saying she wasn’t expecting her. To which Gretchen replies, “Why would you be expecting me?” She doesn’t get a reply. Soon, Gretchen is offered to work at the spa’s front desk by Herr Köing himself. The guests are also strange, with many of them looking lost and suddenly throwing up. Things get even creepier when Gretchen is riding her bike home and is shocked to see someone following her, literally running after her. Nothing is right about this place. And everyone but her and her family knows it.
Cuckoo is meant to feel unhinged and off-balanced. The world itself is, so it leave the viewer with the same feeling. There’s a lot of wild risks taken here and not all of them work. But enough do to add up to a very strange and wild ride. Hunter Schafer is fantastic here. They turn in a fully committed and searing lead performance, once that keeps you held in even when the movie slightly falters. There’s an otherworldly thing keeping Gretchen there, with strange things happening with time, and Schafer makes it all terrifyingly believable. Equally good in a much creepier way is Dan Stevens, once again nailing a perfect German accent. His motives largely remain unclear in the beginning but you know he’s up to something. When it’s reavealed what’s going on, it’s interesting and then you think, “Well, maybe I don’t quite know what’s going on.” I feel it’s the intent of the film to keep you second guessing what you’re seeing, but without a fully formed ground eventually arriving for you to stand one, by the end you might feel like you have more questions than answers. Even so, it’s a very interesting way to spend a bit under 2 hours. That is, if you don’t go cuckoo yourself before the credits roll.
GRADE: B
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Tilman Singer STARRING Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jan Bluthardt, Marton Csokas, Jessica Henwick, Mila Lieu, Greta Fernández. NOW PLAYING IN THEATRES EVERYWHERE