Koko-di Koko-da

Saw this at the Rotterdam film festival 2019, where it was part of the official Tiger Competition. It is not a variation on A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick 1971) or Funny Games (Haneke 1997) that I deduced from the synopsis, but very different. It kept us awake and let us suffer along with the candidate vicitims. I was glad that the recurrent encounters with the evil threesome were very different each time, luckily leaving out redundant repeats from previous instances, like the discussion in the car about B&B versus tent. The role of the white cat is not clear to me, maybe just a gimmick letting us wonder whether its recurrent appearances were intended to mean something.

There is no morale or message embedded in the story, other than Tobias and Elin stopping their previous mutual nitpicking in the final scene and visually were connected again. What still puzzles me is that only Tobias seems to remember the previous encounters with the evil threesome, albeit only part of it and only knowing that some awful things are about to happen again, contrary to Elin who has no reminescenses at all. On the other hand, we see Elin following the white cat in a nightly quest of her own. Another mystery is why the evil threesome pops up at places far away from the camping spot where the couple fled from, after a fruitless attempt to evade unhappy encounters like the previous.

All in all, a lot of things are not understood but may mean something. The movie does not make me long for a real explanation, however. The only morale or message that I could deduce from this movie was that the couple may have been at a breaking point in their relationship when the story started, but were visibly together again near the end after the dire events they went through.

Liked: Fun creepy song, good acting, creepy antagonists.

Disliked: Ending sucked, too vague, felt artsy for the sake of artsy.

I really felt they had something here until the final act, zero conflict resolution for me. I'm all for symbolism and artsy metaphors, but here I just felt like I was trying to make connections as to why or how this was happening much too often with little success.

If you're expecting jump scares or gore, you'll be sorely disappointed, this is an art first head trip through and through. In short, it uses a time-loop slasher as a metaphor for a failing relationship. How well this metaphor works is a little iffy, but points for the bold creativity and sturdy execution. There are also these extended sequences that pair crude shadow play animation with a foreboding string score that could be read as pretentious, but I felt added nicely to the mood of the film. It may not be perfect, but it's certainly an interesting experience if this kind of film is up your alley. If it's not, stop watching these movies and giving them an undeserved low score.

It's a metaphor and a groundhog day style that won't appeal to everyone. My brother called it "weird", my girlfriend said she "didn't get it, but I knew you would love it" and yes, I loved it.

It's a fantastic concept and a good way to show the difficulties dealing with trauma, mourning and ptsd. Take it how you want it, is this a real horror movie? It's just a dream? Are they really stucked there? Is something real here? Well, the trauma and a couple relationship going down is definitely there and following that cat is necessary to understand how to overcome and to learn how to move on.

Good atmosphere, creepy and tense. You need a little patience, but I think It's one of the most original ideas in the genre in the last years.

At its core Koko-Di Koko-Da (2019) is a story of a man and his wife, lost in maze-like wilderness in and around the dense forests of Sweden, whilst being terrorized by a small band of eccentric characters. It's also a surreal, low budget horror film about grief and unrelenting sadness.

The directing is insisting and noteworthy, and the performances are all great. Dismissing it merely as artsy, would just undermine its intention. Koko-Di Koko-Da definitely has a purpose, and an clear vision. But it is unconventional.

Gore is on a scale 2/10 Movie is 6.5/10

I'm glad I watched it.