Dark Star Pictures and OCN Distribution bring us the spiffy Swedish fantasy horror of Koko-di koko-da directed by Johannes Nyholm in a packed new blu-ray as a new entry in one of Vinegar Syndrome’s ever-growing partner label releases.
Tobias and Elin (Leif Edlund and Ylva Gallon) are happily married and celebrating their daughter Maja’s birthday, decked out in adorable bunny face paint. All is not well though as Elin succumbs to a severe shellfish allergy and while hospitalized finds that Maja has perished. Three years pass and we find a broken Tobias and Elin on a camping trip as a sort of last ditch effort to pick up the pieces of their marriage (and not really succeeding in the slightest). After pitching a tent in the woods down a random farm road off the highway, they are accosted and assaulted by a strange troupe of fairy tale figures come to life. This terrible event traps them in a seemingly never-ending time loop of torment by these bizarre characters as they seek to escape their demons both literal and figurative.
Coming across as if Michel Gondry went REALLY dark, Koko-di koko-da (named after the incessant earworm of a tune that crops up repeatedly and significantly throughout the film) is a fascinating, beautiful, heart-breaking, darkly funny and thrillingly surrealistic flick that combines naturalistic, handheld cinematography with more heightened nightmare sequences and captivating segments that mix animation and puppetry in a way that entrances while offering insight into the characters’ inner turmoil. While the general premise of using overt horror as a manifestation of a character’s grief and depression is one that has been used quite a bit in recent years (often coined with the term “elevated horror” by pretentious hipsters afraid to say they enjoy horror for what it is), Koko-di koko-da uses this trope in some fairly unique and interesting ways. While it does teeter into heavy-handedness on a couple of occasions, in general, the film’s mix of terror, dark fantasy and even darker humor in places really works for me and creates an experience that has me looking into Nyholm’s other works with anticipation.
On the audio and visual front, the presentation is quite good. The disc’s mastering captures both the dark and grainy handheld imagery and the bright and engaging animation with equal aplomb. Its Dolby 5.1 audio mix is sufficient to get that maddeningly catchy song stuck in your head for days.
Dark Star has loaded this sucker with extras too. We have a full-length audio commentary director Nyholm and actor Leif Edlund that, while not essential, was still periodically engaging as a combination of on-set anecdotes peppered with more typical “describing what’s happening in the scene” type stuff that isn’t as interesting. But you know, if you want to know who was peeing in that one scene, this is the place to find out. We’ve also got some random snippets of more jokey behind the scenes footage and some deleted scenes. None of this stuff is super essential but may be of interest to fans of the movie. The biggest value add on the extras front in my opinion is the inclusion of three of Nyholm’s earlier short films that showcase his inventive handmade aesthetic and interesting quirky animation skills. Las Palmas is probably the best of the three, a creative and oddball fusion of puppets and babies that channels Michel Gondry even more than much of his other stuff. Of course, we’ve also got the usual trailer gallery as well.
To wrap it all up, I have to say, if you are a fan of bizarre, creative cinema, you owe it to yourself to check out Koko-di koko-da. It is well worth a watch.