Animals’ (‘Tiere’): Film Review | Berlin 2017
A sense-scrambling trip into the Twilight Zone from Polish-born, Swiss-based director Greg Zglinski, Animals was one of the guilty-pleasure fringe delights at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. This darkly comic thriller about a married couple’s nightmarish alpine retreat pays obvious dues to Hitchcock, Polanski and Lynch, but is too stylish and self-aware to fall into the trap of mere pastiche. As a superior genre exercise, it is assured a healthy festival future, but venturesome distributors may also see the potential in its classy European psycho-horror pedigree.Not to be outdone by major awards ceremonies, the 17th Vilnius International Film Festival closed March 29 in the Lithuanian capital with festivities that included a pumped up emcee, a stage decked out with large neon blocks and dramatic music that swelled when award recipients made their way to the stage.
The top winner of the country’s top festival was also its buzz film: Courage by Polish-Swiss director Greg Zglinski. Set in Poland, the drama about a tragic event that changes the lives of two brothers earned the Best Film Award and €7,000 (roughly $9,340) in the New Europe-New Names competition program of first and second feature films from Eastern and Central Europe.