Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Leonie Krippendorf
Starring: Lena Urzendowsky, Jella Haase, Lena Klenke, Elina Vildanova
The opening sequences of Cocoon, writer/director Leonie Krippendorff’s German coming of age drama
which focuses on the sexual and social awakening of sweetly awkward Nora
(Lena Urzendowsky), are irritatingly composed of the portraited,
yute suggestive angles of mobile phone footage: teens laughing, running,
enjoying themselves in the sun. The chirpy, but dull, montage is like
something only the most unimaginative TikToker would bother to put
together, and belies the warmth, humour and freshness of this rather
lovely film. In fact, the impenetrable façade of the film’s opening is in
itself a bit like a, you know, rough husk which, yes, conceals the
burgeoning joy and life within! In fact, watching this film unfold at its
own gentle, inelegant pace has been one of the welcome surprises of the
year so far.
Despite her liminal status within her world, like Kayla in
Eighth Grade
or the kids in
Booksmart, Nora is one of those movie girls who are in vogue at the moment;
heroines who exist just to the side of mainstream high-school life. She
has friends yet is uneasy around them. She is cripplingly shy. And her
burgeoning sexuality is a terrifying mystery to her.
Krippendorff’s film soon eschews the obtuse mobile phone framing for a
gorgeous visual style which serves to contextualise Nora. We see shots of
Berlin (arguably the world’s best city) both at night and in searing
sunshine, with Nora often posed on rooftop parties or poolside gatherings,
a symbolic representation of her threshold state (at times the camera dips
beneath the water and swims with the teens - this is a film that is in
love with the energy of youth and cinema). It is sink or swim, fly or die
time for Nora, who, like the caterpillars she collects in the film’s most
charmingly on-the-nose metaphor, is about to undergo vivid change.
Part of this change is physical, with poor old Nora coming on during a PE
lesson, and being the last person to notice that her shorts are soaked
with menses. This mortifying scene is handled authentically - the kids are
dicks about it, Nora is gutted, but, at the same time, it is just one of
those things that happens, and which turns out not be impossible to get
over.
The lack of hyperbole in Cocoon is refreshing and makes its
drama all the more immersive. Furthermore, what is also narratively
intriguing is that Krippendorff draws Nora’s world so richly that any
number of plot lines could be pursued: the alcoholism of Nora and her
slightly older sister’s mum, the aggressive nature of the boys in school
(I love how the abundant ensemble scenes feel so real), or the tentative
feelings that Nora has for local hipster Romy (Jella Haase), who is
simply as cool as fuck and the sort of person we all had crushes on in
high school.
Of course, the film plumps for the latter narrative pursuit: after all,
isn’t that true to the heady, real-life preoccupations of its teen
characters? What makes Cocoon such a sincere pleasure is its
affection for its subject matter, warts and all. A cursory glance at
Cocoon’s critical reception shows that reviewers have lauded the film for its
supposed worthy gay themes, but what seems to have been missed is the
humour in Krippendorff’s representations. In one scene, Nora talks to her
teacher about the feelings she is experiencing regarding other girls. Her
teacher kindly suggests that these feelings are not unnatural and
implicitly admits to Nora that she, too, is a lesbian. Nora doesn’t get it
though and prattles on in that obliquely self-absorbed manner of
teenagers: as if Nora is the only other person in the world to have ever
had these feelings! And then another when Romy does a cringeworthy class
presentation (images of bombs going off set to 'Space Oddity'): Nora sits
transfixed to the jejune pretence, even when the lunch bell rings and
everyone else gratefully rushes out of the room. I’m smiling thinking
about it! Cocoon is a film where the contagious affection
for its characters extends to their foibles and flaws. Floats like a
butterfly, stings like a bee.
Cocoon is on UK VOD, DVD and blu-ray from January 25th.
