Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: IT HATCHED [Austin Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]
Balance in horror or, at least, mythology needs to be prevalent in the reasoning of a character and their perception of a world. "It Hatched" [World Premiere/Dark Matters] is bathed in a beautiful cacophony of light and distance. As an Icelandic film, it uses that backdrop as the film progresses as a texture of isolation. A pre-credits sequence speaks to the darkness within but doesn't quite show its basis. Now granted the notion of the underworld (as well as the Caliban myth) might be in play but this probably dips more into Icelandic lore that is not really explained here. The story mostly focuses on a couple: a marine engineer and a child psychologist but those ideals of life before seem to fade away once they find themselves in a isolated cabin in the rural country space of Iceland. His reasoning (the marine engineer) is that they need to get away and yet they are trying to have a baby. The performances of both characters, especially of lead actor are stilted , seemingly on purpose, while jumping at times between exaggeration and almost monotony.
Gunnar Kristinsson plays Petur as a voice of reason when something goes inherently awry but it seems he is the one that has unleashed something even before they arrived. The issue is the latter half of the film literally shifts him too severely as a character and, while dynamic and keeping with the horror roots, it seems too wide a pendulum. Now there are allusions to "The Shining" but the would-be characters in the house don't really adjust to what the film seems to trying to show so the stakes wander. They are made clear once but it literally needs to be said to the character (whether it is his subconscious or not). The film is beautiful to watch simply because it is so skewed and the visuals, including lens choice and color, reflect that.
On the reverse, Vivian Ólafsdóttir as Mira seems to reflect this as well as if she has always been there. The McGuffin at the center of the film (which this reviewer won't give away) is bathed in notions of reasoning and reality but it also might be truly metaphorical. Mira's reaction and continuing action but also progression is unlikely but might be a bigger part of Petur's perception as if it is being told purely from his perspective hence an unreliable narrator. But an epilogue throws that into disarray. "It Hatched" wants to blend certain aspects of European horror with a bit of Icelandic isolation and existential angst which, while dynamic at times, feels too disjointed with its uneven acting, though stylized. Despite that, the film does create an inherent mood that is visually ambitious but also from an aural perspective, a credit to writer/director/cinematographer Elvar Gunnarsson. C+
By Tim Wassberg
