338. Koko-di Koko-da; movie review

 

 

KOKO-DI KOKO-DA

Cert 18

87 mins

BBFC advice: Contains sexual violence, threat

It is as if David Lynch's surrealism meets Michael Haneke's brutality in the very strange Koko-Di Koko-Da.

Johannes Nyholm's film is a psychological horror so dark that its central characters are gradually driven mad.

Tobias (Leif Edlund) and Elin (Ylva Gallon) are already coming from a very sombre place following the sudden death of their daughter (Katarina Jakobson).

He insists they should go on a camping trip and put their tent up in the wild, isolated forest. It turns out to be a big mistake.

In their nightmares come a band of nursery rhyme characters who were depicted on a music box they gifted to their daughter before her death.

These include a sadistic elderly 'entertainer' (Peter Belli) in a boater and white suit who leads a giant thug (Morad Baloo Khatchadorian), carrying a dead dog and a zombified teenager (Brandy Litmanen) with a gun.

At their disposal is a pit bull terrier which they instruct to tear victims apart.

The macabre troupe appear when Elin needs to relieve herself and glory in gore.

If you are with me so far, congratulations - because it is longer than I managed to understand what was going on in Koko-di Koko-da.

The most bizarre element is that every time the horror is visited upon the couple, it stops as if it has been Tobias's dream.

But he remembers it so vividly that he is convinced that the crazy trio really are going to turn up and kill  them.

Thus, the scene plays out in slightly nuanced forms over and over again.

What does it all mean? Who knows?

Does it have to have a meaning? Who knows?

Does anyone care? Who knows?

Sorry, I thought I try repeating myself for effect. Doesn't work does it?

Reasons to watch: It is very quirky

Reasons to avoid: Too abstract

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 3/10

Did you know? Koko-di Koko-da is from a Swedish nursery rhyme Our Rooster Is Dead

The final word. Johannes Nyholm: "The main reason for making this film is that I’m fascinated by the everyday situations and power struggles lurking beneath the surface in relationships; what is not said, what is embedded between the lines. The love and happiness they once shared has evaporated, and so has the care they used to show for each other."

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