Coping with fun with an outrageous creature in the back: The highly emotional fantasy drama immediately comes into the head seven minutes after midnight, which had the handkerchief consumption in the cinema in record height nine years ago. At that time, a tree, who came to life with Liam Neeson’s voice, met a 13-year-old boy who feared the life of his seriously ill mother.
At the Berlinale, a film is now running that is not so unlike seven minutes after midnight: The Thing with Feathers, based on the novella Grief is the Thing with Feather
By Max Porter. Instead of a tree, a nasty crow rumbles through the area, which gives the film a much darker coat. In the middle of this tour de Force there is a desperate Benedict Cumberbatch.
With The Thing with Feather, Benedict Cumberbatch receives his own seven minutes after midnight
In contrast to seven minutes after midnight, we do not experience the story (only) through the eyes of a child. The Thing with FeaTHers focuses on the father played by Cumberbatch, whose wife died unexpectedly. Now he is sitting at home with his two sons and has no idea how to get the next step in this life torn out of the fishing.
Frozen, paralyzed: director Dylan Southern observes the father, destroyed on the ground Great darkness in the picture also have a depressing effect. Here and there the light of a lamp penetrates blurry, but above all, a darkness spreads in front of the camera, while the dishes are stacked in the sink.
Cumberbatch’s father figure is more and more capsized by the world, sinks into his disordered feelings and, despite the hardness, fails to talk to his sons. He is too caught in his hopeless thoughts until he hears an eerie voice. With a croak, she makes her way into the film and finally mutates into a monster.
A large -sized crow knocks onto the front door and builds up in front of the nameless father. For a long time we only see that frightening scheme of the monstrous wüterich, who not only awakens to life with a very effective creature design, but also extremely exhausted from David Thewlis’ murmurous voice. The Werwolf from Harry Potter is now spreading its black springs.
Similar to Professor Lupin, which Thewlis embodied in the cinema from the third Hogwarts school year, the crow he spoken as a threat and protector proves to be a threat. She challenges the father to finally deal with the feelings that tear him apart, his sons and his entire life. A whispering from the off -road that drives crazy and later disturbed by its appearance.
Despite the obvious metaphor, The Thing with Feather ensures highly emotional horror at the Berlinale
From the children’s room to the supermarket: there is no escape from the droughts of the colossus, which suddenly jumps from dark corners in the alienated apartment and aggressively commanding ensures welding beads on Cumberbatch’s forehead. The British actor could not be further away from his Marvel hero Doctor Strange. In the Thing with FeaTHERS, he is completely in the despair of his figure.
The crow does not want to know anything about this natural dairy. A rather empathetic beast that threatens and insulted. Over time, a relationship between the eerie house guest and the father, who brings a certain mutual respect and understanding away from terror, develop, even if the basic nightmare never ends and confidence in the tormenting crow fluctuates.
What director Dylan Southern, who is also responsible for the script, wants to tell with The Thing with Feathers, is basically significantly formulated after a few minutes. Since the father cannot cope with his grief alone, the crow appears from his drawings to show him the way – rather rough than loving. Southern understands his film as claustrophobic horror piece.
The predictability of the dramaturgical processes does not reduce the emotional force of the film. Both Cumberbatch and the convincing children’s actors, Richard Boxall and Henry Boxall, give the pain a vulnerable, tangible face in contrast to the dark crow, which even taught crab ultras. This monster will follow you in your nightmares for a long time.
At the same time, it is fascinating to experience how Southern between the moments that obviously conjure up the gray, creates a thoughtful atmosphere. It primarily creates a feel for the anesthetic feeling that threatens to devour everything after the loss of a loved one. Even Cumberbatch, a Hollywood star, dissolves completely in Southern’s pictures in the dark.
We saw The Thing with Feather as part of the Berlinale 2025. So far, the film has not yet had a German theatrical release.