Hatching - Film Review

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Hatching is Directed by Hanna Bergholm and Written by Ilja Rautsi. With a run time of 87 minutes for audiences aged 15 and above, it'll screen in select cinemas nationally on 26 May 2022. It stars Siiri Solalinna as Tinja, Sphia Heikkilä as her mother, Jani Volanen as her father, Oiva Ollila as Matias her brother, Ida Määttänen as Reetta her neighbour, Reino Nordin as Tero and Saija Lentonen as the coach.

This is a Finnish thriller that centres upon 12 year old Tinja, a gymnast desperate to please her mother. A woman obsessed with presenting the image of a perfect family to the world through her popular blog, she's demanding and expects excellence of Tinja. Soon after a bird crashes through the window to their home, Tinja finds a bird's egg in the woods and hides it in her room. Fascinated, she secretly incubates it under her blanket as it grows, larger and larger. When it hatches, what emerges, has to be seen.


The film opens on a picture perfect family. Beautiful home, everyone impeccably dressed, smiling and happy for social media perfection. The family is a necessary accessory in this mother's video blog. There's the adoring husband, the annoying little brother and a daughter who worships her mother and would do anything to please her. One day this seemingly idyllic existence is shattered by a bird crashing through the glass window, and causes havoc in the room, crashing its perfection as it tries to flee. It seems to be a metaphor for what's to follow. Without giving it away, you might get a few chuckles out of how environmentally aware the mother is.

Beneath the surface there are cracks in the facade. A mother who is a tad ruthless and pushes her daughter to her physical and emotional limits. A father who doesn't really get involved and escapes to his own world and accepts that his wife is strong willed and knows what she wants. A daughter who is under pressure and suppresses her needs and her feelings, and a son who feels ignored while all the focus is on the perfect gymnastic performance.


Young performers are game strong, judging from the past couple of movies I've seen, especially in the case of Siiri Solalinna who plays a challenging role as Tinja in this film. The camera rests on her face on many an occasion, her sole performance carrying many a scene, covering both the light and dark side of her character. Her nuanced performance and expressive face does not miss a beat, and is one to watch.

The rest of the cast is a strong ensemble who complete the picture through suppressed winces and performative smiles, adding to the tension. This is not your standard slasher horror movie but a dark, adult fairytale. It can be watched by both fans of dark stories and those afraid to watch horror films. It's a short and simple story told in the most startling way. It'll leave you trying to work out and make sense of the psychological aspects of the film long after its ended. It allows room left to your imagination.





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