Hatching (5 Stars)

This is the 16th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival Nights.

The Fantasy Film Festival has saved the best till last. Almost last. There's a 17th film, but I skip the last fil each day because I'd miss my last bus. I left immediately after "Hatching" and went for a small snack at the Brezel und Bier in Feuerbach. It's at the station, so it's ideally placed for quick visits.

In the introduction to the film, the director Hannah Bergholm said that it's a film about the lack of love in a seemingly ideal family. That's obvious from the start.

Tinja is a young girl, 11-ish, who lives in a beautiful home with her parents and her young brother. She's training as a gymnast, not because she has any love for gymnastics, but because her mother wants her to. Her mother was a successful gymnast as a child, and she expects Tinja to follow in her footsteps. It's obvious to the viewer that Tinja doesn't have what it takes, but her mother pressures her relentlessly.

Tinja finds a small egg in the forest and takes it home. She keeps it warm, and it grows rapidly. When it hatches it has the form of a large bird, but over the following weeks it changes. It looks more and more like Tinja, and the two develop a symbiotic relationship, feeling one another's pain.

I can't say more without giving away spoilers. All I'll say is that the story alternates between terrifying horror and a touching coming-of-age drama. In my opinion it's clearly the festival's best film.