Hatching (2022) (original title Pahanhautoja) has taught me a few things. I discovered, for example, that the Finnish are also capable of making very bad films. Some will see it as a poetic work, others as a very artistic film. Some will see it as a masterpiece, while others will shout “O Genius! And quite honestly… I don’t know who scares me more. One thing’s for sure: they all scare me far more than the film itself.

I absolutely hated this film. I dare to hope that Hanna Bergholm will be brought down by the critics. Enough to change careers. She’d be better off as an accountant, bricklayer or gardener. We don’t need this kind of movie.

So… Is there nothing to salvage from this film? Yes: I loved the first 20 minutes. I enjoyed those 20 minutes, which I found very original and relatively interesting. But after 27 minutes (yes, I counted!), I didn’t believe it for a second. And when you don’t believe it… well, it’s hard to be scared.

Admittedly, the creature, as filthy as it gets, isn’t the one I’d most like to come across. I wouldn’t want to come face to face with it. But I’m even less likely to try to tame it or make friends with it. This film, good for flushing down the toilet, has no credibility, no coherence.

The whole main family is unsympathetic. They’re all absolutely clueless. As soon as I reached the first half-hour, I knew it was going to be very long. But I wasn’t expecting such torture. What wouldn’t I do to please my readers?
What sacrifice shouldn’t I make, in the name of cinema? Honestly, I could have done without this one.

But to add insult to injury, the film gets worse every minute, hard as it is to believe or even understand. It’s no better than “Titanium”, which obviously won the Palme d’Or at Cannes! I’ll try to understand why so many people liked this film. But I think I might just ask them to stop taking drugs or alcohol, because, frankly, at this stage, it’s just not right!

My Rating

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.