The Finnish fantasy horror Hatching is something you shouldn’t take at face value, especially when there’s something else underneath the layers its projecting to the world.
A quiet, green suburban town – a happy family of four living in a 2 storey home. Mother Aiti (Sophia Heikkilä) introduces the family via a selfie stick shooting home video, so we meet the Dad of the household Isa (Jani Volanen) – who loves gardening, the 12 year old gymnast Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), and bratty younger brother Matias (Oiva Ollila). The pleasantness is interrupted when a black bird slams into the glass window, which the daughter Tinja opens to investigate, but the bird flies in and starts destroying the decor. After capturing the distressed bird, the mother ‘puts it out of its misery’ and prompts Tinja to dispose of it with a creepy smile. It’s after the disposal in the organic waste, where Tinja meets the girl next door Reeta (who is also a budding gymnast) and her dog, which – out of character – bites her.
After Aiti and Tinja put Matias to bed with a lullaby, we finally see that the mother is trying to paint the family as picture-perfect or ‘instagram-worthy’ family. Even Tinja is harsh on herself after viewing her gymnastic efforts her mother shot. That night, Tinja can hear creepy bird noises outside, and after discovering the corpse of the bird from the bin has disappeared, ventures out into the neighbouring woods to find the black bird. It’s there, she discovers the black bird squawking on the ground. Thinking the black bird is still in pain, she attempts to end its life again with a rock, but not with much success. It is then she discovers a small bird’s egg, which she takes home and nurtures. But with each day passing, the egg grows larger in size. While secretly mothering the egg and gymnastic training, the egg eventually hatches into a largish creepy-looking human-sized bird, who instantly sees Tinja as ‘mother’.
But the pressure is on with Tinja trying to perfect her gymnastic skills with her mother scrutinising her moves. It’s not until the giant bird starts mutating further into something else, things start getting quite ugly and grotesque. Could Tinja’s discovery of a single egg destroy the perfect image that Aiti is trying to portray?
Directed by Hanna Bergholm, Produced by Silva Mysterium, and Story by Ilja Rautsi and Bergholm, Hatching is a pleasant and disturbing portrayal into perfection vs imperfection, with a horror twist. Would you nurture something with love and care in order to be perfect, or take the instant satisfaction if it was directly handed to you? At a run time of just under 1 hour and 30 minutes, the nightmarish thoughts will stick with you for a while, next time you seek perfection.
Hatching – in Australian cinemas from 26th of May from Rialto Distribution. Check your local cinema guide for more details.
Screener was supplied by Dead By Dawn Australia for review purposes.
