Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes

 

Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes

Director ~ Kevin Kopacka

Writers ~ Kevin Kopacka, Lili Villányi

2021, Germany

Stars ~ Anna Platen, Jeff Wilbusch, Frederik von Lüttichau

There is great set design and plenty of atmosphere as a couple come to the castle she’s inherited, and weirdness then ensues. He’s a dick, barely capable of speaking without negativity or condescension; she’s a bit of a selfish ice maiden. They seem made for one another. And then there’s a sharp turn into a shock-scene and then meta.

Expert recreations of subgenres are the norm now, and Kopacka’s film is no slouch. The title font is a dead giveaway that this will be a pastiche of retro-styles; both story and cinematic nature will be period pieces. Giallo is foremost, but the feel goes through ghost stories, films-within-films-within-realities-within-realities, a stop by vampires and home invasions, euro-horror, mystery, counter-counter psychelica and seemingly whatever takes its fancy. It’s the kind of esoteric playfulness that leaves cineasts beguiled and reviews almost as opaque as the enterprise itself.

The difference to old giallo to recent neo-giallo is that the latter is more self-aware in its playfulness where the former can often feel like cut-and-paste held together by great aesthetic: ‘Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes’ goes all kind of places, fakes out this way, piles on layers and gothic restlessness, and probably demands more than one watch to work out. A little like a melding of 'Knife + Heart' and the work of Cattet and Foranzi. It doesn’t outstay its indulgences or invite impatience, leaving its mysteries quite intact because it doesn’t really move beyond the abstract and ambiguous. You’ll be left scratching your head but thinking that that’s your fault.  There are lots of dead ends and possibilities, and of course it all goes up in flames, but light on conclusion. As a fever dream of a couple’s disintegration, there’s plenty to delve into here.