Movie Review – Cuckoo

Loved the marketing for this film. It essentially made it impossible to know what it was really about and the first viewing of the film was all the better for it.

It follows a family as they revisit the place in the German Alps where the patriarch and his wife spent their honeymoon. The oldest daughter, who is from the husband’s previous marriage, doesn’t want to be there and is obviously dealing with some things whilst the youngest daughter is mute. Something feels off to her, but everyone just acts like everything is normal.

I’m not going to give more away for it goes down a path that you need to see to believe and you deserve to go into it blind. I will say that once it gets to its destination, it feels bonkers but somehow real even when it takes its time getting there. That’s a compliment.

Hunter Schafer is Gretchen, the eldest daughter, and turns in a performance that should enter her into the Oscar conversation. She’s ran through the wringer and back again, and she handles it well. Dan Stevens also turns in a memorable performance because he always does. He’s a weird guy on and off screen and Hollywood needs to cast him in more roles like this.

At its core, I felt this was about grief and found family in the face of impossible odds. It’s about survival and trust. And about forgiveness. All coated in atmospheric wilderness and blood, mind you, because it is a horror movie.

Three and a half stars out of five, for it was elevated by Schafer and Stevens’ performances.