CUCKOO

Set in the Bavarian Alps of Germany, Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) is uprooted from the United States and forced to move abroad with his father (Hunter Schafer), step-mother Beth (Jessica Henwick), and step-sister Alma (Mila Lieu) after the recent death of his mother. Struggling with the pain of losing a parent as well as being placed in an unfamiliar country without knowing the language so quickly, Gretchen decides to runaway to Paris with a guest, Ed (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), from the hotel he's recently found employment at. Although, there are sinister forces around that prevent him from doing so. I won't dive too much more into the story for fear of giving it away as I applaud the marketing team behind this project who don't give too much away in the trailer and as such, enticed me enough to check it out. I was intrigued and appreciated the first two acts of the film but the third goes completely off the rails in spectacular fashion and not in a good way. During some of the film scenes are often repeated without explanation that aren't made exactly clear by the end either but the reasoning for what was happening to Gretchen and his family is just so far out of left field, it feels like a letdown. It appears writer/director Tilman Singer had a good, original idea but just didn't know how to wrap it up. Pretty solid soundtrack though. 4/10