Cuckoo is all about creating an unsettling mood and feel. When 17-year-old Gretchen (Hunter Schafer, Euphoria) is forced to go live at a remote Estonian mountain resort with her father, Luis (Marton Csokas, The Equalizer), step-mom, Beth (Jessica Henwick, The Matrix Resurrections), and mute half-sister, Alma (Mila Lieu), things are not as idyllic as they seem. For example, Alma also ate her twin in utero.
[Related Reading: 'Luz' Movie Review]
There’s inter-family conflict as Gretchen clashes with dear old dad and butts heads with a step mother barely older than herself. We’re also privy to glimpses of drama between Gretchen and her absentee mother—though the script aims to obscure it, the truth of that situation is obvious. And then there’s the weird stuff. The resort’s overly friendly proprietor, Herr Konig (Dan Stevens, The Guest) is adamant Gretchen can’t ride her bike home or work after dark, disoriented guests keep coming into the lobby of the hotel while she works and vomiting, and then there’s a cop, Henry (Jan Bluthardt), who keeps poking around, preternaturally obsessed with her. Not to mention a number of accidents that leave her increasingly bruised and pummeled.
The filmmakers tweak every element in the quest to disconcert and unnerve. Grumbling sound design layers over even the most mundane moments creating an uneasy sensation. Ominous static shots of trees swaying gently in the breeze take on sinister bearing thanks to an ethereal score, driving home the isolation, sparking the sensation that they are not entirely alone. Momentary time slips pepper the film, with beats skipping and replaying, like a glitchy rental DVD that’s been played one too many times. It all aims to keep the viewer from ever being entirely comfortable and secure.
[Related Reading: 10 Movies to See at Fantasia 2024]
Schaefer is fantastic, playing Gretchen as a mixture of lingering emotional, and eventually physical wounds, vindictive teen angst, and legitimate terror. If you need a guy to play a handsome-but-disquieting stranger or bring a level of something-ain’t-quite-right to any role and sell the hell out of it, Stevens is once again your man. He has something best described wingnut gravitas. Always a delight, this is no exception, as he presents with a welcoming smile and the immediate knowledge that he’s up to some shady business.
For the most part the film, not necessarily wastes, but certainly underutilizes both Csokas and Henwick. Luis is a stock, thankless father role, and even then barely that. Beth has one stand out moment near the climax, but that’s all. It’s nothing to do with either actor, the script simply doesn’t have anything for them to do. It’s clear somewhere along the development path there was more with them, and probably Alma. Maybe they filmed it, maybe it only exists in the script, but it was probably trimmed for good reason as what’s there is pretty boilerplate family strife and not particularly compelling.
Sad and strange, scary and sweet, Cuckoo winds up part fish-out-of-water creature feature, part detective yarn with a central mystery to unravel, as well as a meditation on grief. It defies easy classification, but it’s an odd, ambitious horror story.
Find all of our Fantasia 2024 coverage here.
No comments:
Post a Comment