Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Tilman Singer
Starring: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Jan Bluthardt, Martin Csokas, Greta Fernández, Àstrid
Bergès-Frisbey
20th century Italian genre cinema is now held in such reverence that it's
largely forgotten just how much of a debt it owes to its mid-century
German cousin. Before Italians began making spaghetti westerns, the
Germans had their own distinctive oaters, split between West German
mountain-set westerns largely based on the writings of Karl May and the
"red westerns" of East Germany, which used the genre to push communist
ideas. Similarly, the Italian giallo movement took most of its iconography
from "krimis", German thrillers that took the basic setups of the British
drawing room mysteries of Agatha Christie and Edgar Wallace and added a
lurid gloss with outrageous colour schemes; wild and inventive camerawork;
and mysterious killers usually clad in a distinct uniform of macintosh,
dark glasses and black gloves; all set to groovy soundtracks. A young
heroine was usually teamed up with a dogged police detective to solve the
mystery. Such films were ostensibly whodunits but they often employed what
might be kindly described as a "dream logic," which means the plot was
generally dispensed in favour of atmosphere and over-the-top
thrills.
German writer/director Tilman Singer's English language
debut Cuckoo will likely draw comparisons with Italian giallo thrillers, but
what he's really doing is reviving his own country's krimi tradition while
also tipping his Tyrolean to the German writer Thomas Mann. As with the
classic krimi, the mystery here is set in a confined location menaced by a
mysterious villain clad in a macintosh and dark glasses, and a young
heroine teams up with a dogged police detective to solve the mystery. But
Singer deviates by adding what seems like a supernatural element to his
mystery.
In what feels like an explicit nod to Thomas Mann's 'The Magic Mountain',
Cuckoo is set in an alpine resort from which its heroine
finds it impossible to escape (Gore Verbinski similarly aped Mann's novel
with A Cure for Wellness). Said heroine is 17-year-old Gretchen (Hunter Schafer), who
moves to the resort with her father (Marton Csokas), her stepmother
(Jessica Henwick) and her eight-year-old stepsister Alma (Mila Lieu). Gretchen's parents have been hired to plan a new
resort at the behest of its enigmatic owner, Herr Konig (Dan Stevens), whom they also hope might be able to cure Alma of her inexplicable
mute condition.
Gretchen is none too happy with the situation, leaving voicemails on
her mother's answering machine demanding that she be taken back to the
US. Konig decides to keep her occupied by giving her shifts on the
resort's reception desk. During these shifts Gretchen begins to notice
odd behaviour among the guests, many of whom have a habit of
spontaneously vomiting. One night a half naked woman wanders into the
lobby as though in a trance. And then Gretchen begins to have encounters
with a woman clad in a macintosh and dark glasses. Her father ignores
her pleas to leave, as does Konig, whose behaviour towards her grows
increasingly sinister. Gretchen's attempts to leave the resort are
consistently thwarted. Teaming up with Henry (Jan Bluthardt), a
police detective with a personal grudge against Konig, Gretchen tries to
get to the bottom of what is really going on in the resort.
In classic krimi tradition, Cuckoo favours atmosphere, style and over-the-top thrills over plot.
Well, until it doesn't. We're drawn in by its dream logic, its colourful
setting and its weird atmosphere. There are several unsettling
sequences, not least of which involves Gretchen being pursued by a
shadowy figure while cycling down a dark road late at night. Schafer is
compelling as the American girl bewildered by all this European madness,
much in the vein of Jennifer Connelly in Dario Argento's alpine
thriller Creepers. Stevens is having a blast in the sort of role that would
traditionally be occupied by Klaus Kinski in such fare.
While obfuscating the details of what exactly is afoot in its sinister
milieu, Cuckoo is a lot of fun, especially for devotees of Euro-horror. It's
when Singer decides that it's time to pull back the curtain and remove
the ambiguity that it goes off the rails. Everything that made Cuckoo effective is dispensed in a final act that explains its plot and
devolves into a rather lacklustre stalking climax as it tries to wrap it
all up neatly for a more mainstream audience. At its best when revelling
in its bird-brained madness, Cuckoo ultimately clips its own wings and becomes a lot less compelling
when grounded in more conventional storytelling.
Cuckoo is on UK/ROI VOD now.
