As a couple goes on a trip to find their way back to each other, a sideshow artist and his shady entourage emerge from the woods, terrorizing them, luring them deeper into a maelstrom of psychological terror and humiliating slapstick.
Grief can be one of the most profound emotions a human being is capable of. It affects us in ways so deep we have dedicated textbooks and careers to understanding it, and we are still untangling its intricate webs. Johannes Nyholm channels that powerful emotion in “Koko-di Koko-da” as it winds itself deep into surrealist nightmares that unsettle us and deliver us a complex allegory about grief. Nyholm uses unsettling imagery and deeply personal characters as anchors in a slowly expanding surrealist dream cycle where we aren’t so sure what’s real and what’s not to effect both a profound sadness as well as a lingering tension. “Koko-di Koko-da” delivers on dread as we watch these two character’s world slowly unhinge after the death of their child three years prior only to come to a gripping conclusion.
Tobias (Leif Edlund) has a problem. He keeps waking up to the same moment in time: his wife, Elin (Ylva Gallon), asks to pee, and promptly three bizarre figures step out of the woods to torture and murder them. This scene plays out in a myriad of ways roughly three years after the unexpected death of their daughter during a family vacation. The couple is tense, bickering over nothing important, with an undercurrent of powerful emotions waiting to burst forth. As Tobias struggles to survive the onslaught we begin to wonder: Is this a curse? Some supernatural time loop? Is this a metaphor? Nyholm lets us wonder for quite some time as the movie builds and builds.
There’s much to be said for this film’s sparse imagery. While the scenarios themselves feel rather dreamlike, Nyholm does every stunt, every action as practical as he can. Not once do the horror effects feel forced. It’s smartly choreographed and edited out slowly to help convey that dread. The three figures don’t just stab everyone and leave. They take their time, taunting and laughing. The sheer horror of being attacked by strangers mirrors the horror of films like “The Strangers” and “Us.” We watch this couple get terrorized and because we’re in a loop, we start to dread the next loop, hoping Tobias can spring them from their bloody cage.
Nyholm isn’t interested in the metaphysics of a time loop, however, as he doubles down on symbolism and folk imagery throughout the course of the film. Several vignettes of shadow puppets tell a story, without any words, of a family. In one vignette, it directly details the death of the daughter. In another vignette, it details two humans who capture a colorful bird and it burns down when lightning strikes its cage. All of these are warmups for the surrealist conclusion of Elin’s dream wherein we gain her perspective and her nightmares, instead of Tobias’. This use of folk storytelling breaks up the pacing of the story and allows us vague visuals to interpret.
The movie never lingers on terror too often and moves at a methodical pace. Even as it sets the rules of its universe, it shows us the underlying story: these two parents trying to make it work. Leif Edlund and Ylva Gallon star as the titular parents Tobias and Elin. Both deliver measured performances doling out simple everyday frustration while later going into a full frenzy. We spend the most time with Edlund’s Tobias and we learn to both hate and appreciate his character. Combine these performances with the cinematography team Tobias Höiem-Flyckt and Johan Lundborg’s sparse cinematography and you get a slow-moving dreamy feel.
“Koko-di Koko-da” feels like a night terror you don’t realize is terrifying until it’s too late. We’re drawn in by the initial story but linger for the meat of the story. The resolution to the story does an impressive job of tying things up emotionally while leaving the audience room to interpret the literal ending. It’s an impressive tale, weaving together dream sequences with emotional attachments. Grief makes us behave in strange ways, often exploding out of us when we least expect it. “Koko-di Koko-da” perfectly captures the complicated aspects of grief that we ascribe to them while also terrifying the audience.
Available on VOD December 8th
