Animals (Tiere)
Directed by Greg Zgilinski
Austria/Switzerland/Poland | 2017 | Fiction | 95 min | German w/English subtitles
Film Source: Be For Films
Time warps and reality bends after a married Viennese couple on their way to an alpine vacation in a Swiss chalet collide with a sheep on the road in this concussed, broken-mirror psychological thriller. Playfully sinister and cleverly constructed, this entertainingly enigmatic headtrip was loosely inspired by Dutch artist MC Escher’s “Relativity.” Polish-born, Switzerland-based director Greg Zgliński took over the script from the French-born, German-raised Austrian writer and director Jörg Kalt after Kalt committed suicide while developing the work. The film’s transcontinental, polyglot pedigree reflects its indeterminate identity and resistance to classification – just as the story’s chimerical architecture and talking-cat’s-cradle structure reflect the shifting, illusory nature of the characters’ relationships. Evoking David Lynch and Roman Polanski — or maybe an impishly malevolent Charlie Kaufman — Animals offers an alluringly delirious trompe l’oeil for the adventurous filmgoer. It’s a constantly twisting cinematic labyrinth that viewers will enjoy getting lost in. ~SJ
