#TIFF17 review: THE GARDEN

The kids, who hear and see too much, like in an old Enid Blyton detective novel, live in an idyllic and at the same time spooky world, including a fairytale jungle with impaled doll heads. That world offers the the audience one of my (many) favourite images, of the little girls bouncing across the screen on bright orange hopper balls. And then there's a missing girl.

Nudism, cannibalism, and homoerotic undertones sit alongside outlandish scenes of invading insects and floating statements such as "Strange how one never remembers what came before." The puzzling yet strangely meaningful melange of images, words and feelings reminds me of the producers' previous (underrated) film FINSTERWORLD, another un-nail-downable head-scratcher that lingers.

Among the solid ensemble cast international audiences might only recognize the outstanding Laura Tonke from recent Sundance film AXOLOTL OVERKILL. Tonke co-starred in that film as well as here with Mavie Hörbiger, with both women portraying rounded and complex, nearly polar opposite female roles. Sonja Kröner won Best Director with this debut feature as part of the German Cinema New Talent Awards at Filmfest Munich for her "virtuosic direction and the courage to decelerate the story-telling as she unearthes the dormant but electrifying power of family structures,“ as the jury commented. And indeed the delicate mix of setting, acting, cinematography, sound, and direction evokes the sense of hard-to-grasp, easily slipping away summer days every time I think of THE GARDEN.

Looking at this year's crop of German films, with many first or second features, from WESTERN to THREE PEAKS to THE GARDEN, even the TV production DARK, there seems to be a new style, if not a new school in town (post-Berlin relationship bleakness): One that toys with genre film --is it a thriller? a psycho-drama? comedy, western, horror movie?-- where scoreless, subdued performances set in seductive colour schemes enact wafting plots around fragile human relationships or family secrets. These new films require some patience from the observer-viewer, but are brought together by tense direction, audacious photography and exacting editing to create a sense of personal quotidian authenticity suspended in an ambiguous, volatile world. Add a dash of TONI ERDMANN-esque humour here and there (false teeth seem to be en vogue), and you have pleasantly rewarding films like THE GARDEN. Overall these films are quirkier and gutsier, at the same time more tender and more cruel than previous years'. Let's call it the Ominous School for now. I can't wait to see whether this shift in style and tone and voice continues at the Berlinale 2018.

by @JuttaBrendemuhl

promo still courtesy Walker+Worm