This week Mark returned with a new film choice which saved me the hassle of having to pick one from the back catalogue. Even more beneficial was that the film he chose was one that was already on my watchlist, Johannes Nyholm’s ‘Koko-di Koko-da’. I knew little to nothing about the film going in, apart from particular shots that I had seen, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It may be very early days into doing this Kermode choices but from the films I have watched so far this one is my favourite. The film follows a couple, Tobias (Leif Edlund) and Elin (Ylva Gallon), who decide to take a camping vacation in the hopes it will fix their marriage which has deteriorated since the death of their daughter three years earlier. Little do they know that they are not alone in the woods and they are soon trapped in a cycle of torment and torture by a group led by a man in a white suit.
As you can probably tell from that synopsis this isn’t exactly the nicest of films to sit through, nor does it attempt to be. It is a chilling and often disturbing horror that once it gets going doesn’t let up much. It also feels quite brutal and violent at times, but it is clever in how it does. There is very little you actually see in terms of violence with the film allowing your imagination to fill in the gaps. This makes these moments feel so much more violent than they actually are and give the film are real sense of darkness and brutality that made me squirm at times, The film is also not afraid to show you some grim stuff when it wants to, and there a couple of these moments in the film, but for the most part the filmmakers allow you imagine the horrors that are occurring and the film is much more effective for it. These moments are helped by two great central performances from Leif Edlund and Ylva Gallon. They have a good chemistry both when they are showing genuine love for each other and in the moments where they seem to hate each other, and the believability of the relationship and the emotion this creates means that the horrific moments feel all that more brutal, especially as the performances in these moments feel so real as well. The film places a lot of trust into it’s two lead actors to carry it and give it the emotional weight and I think they really pull it off.
What I loved about this film was that it moved from feeling like a beautiful dream to a horrific nightmare on several occasions. The focus was definitely more on the nightmarish aspects of the film, but there are a couple of sequences where we watch a puppet show that portrays the decline of the relationship between our main characters and the grief that has encompassed them, which is the overarching theme of the film. These scenes are both beautiful in their visual style and manage to create a great deal of emotion despite the seemingly crude nature of the puppets and backgrounds they occupy. These scenes really offset the more horrific moments of the film, which themselves are shot in a way which is visual pleasing, and allow for a bit of levity while still being difficult to watch due to the story they are telling. The structure of the narrative is also nightmarish with the film effectively taking on a Groundhog Day scenario, with each new repeat becoming more tense and more difficult to watch. But where the film truly shines in creating this feeling of a dream and a nightmare is in its score. The music in this film is brilliant. It is mesmeric at times and creates an atmosphere for the film which is really effective for the horror it is trying to invoke, giving it an almost fairy-tale style vibe. Music is often hugely important in horror films and this film absolutely nails it with its score.
Yet again, Mark Kermode is picking films that I really enjoy but will struggle to recommend to the average film goer. It may be visually great with great performances and interesting narrative structure, but it is also often a difficult watch and I would definitely describe it as fun. If you are a fan of horror films, I can’t recommend it enough. It is on of the better horror films I have seen recently, and it is a film that I feel is going to stick in my mind for a good while.