The primary picture of György Pálfi’s Hen – an prolonged close-up on a rooster’s cloaca as she lays an egg – would possibly take the prize for essentially the most arresting opening shot of 2025. It’s definitely a sight most cinephiles gained’t have seen earlier than, and there’s loads of them to return within the Greek director’s poultry image, which take a chicken’s eye view from the very chick that hatches forth from that egg as she finds herself thrust right into a world past the manufacturing unit farm flooring. Differentiated from the fluffy yellow sea of different chicks by her uncommon darkish brown plumage, one she’s grown, the central rooster’s (whom for the sake of simplicity will henceforth be known as Hen) bodily distinction sees her separated from the flock when the employee transporting them pronounces his boss gained’t take the odd one out. He places Hen within the cab of his truck and declares his spouse will make her right into a high-quality soup. Hen has different concepts.
Hen needs to stay – and greater than that, Hen longs for a household of her personal. She gazes longingly at a clutch of eggs, and is repeatedly thwarted in her makes an attempt to hatch certainly one of her personal by varied ancillary people, who’ve their very own drama happening. When Hen finally ends up at a distant homestead, snatches of dialog and an eventual harrowing confrontation reveal there’s one thing a lot darker happening – however what are the foibles of human beings to a lonely rooster? Pálfi’s digital camera stays at eye-level together with his feathered protagonist by all types of trials and tribulations, together with a confrontation with some pigeons and a tense chase by a fox.
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It’s a movie that might simply be dismissed as a gimmick, following within the footsteps of competition faves Viktor Kossakovsky’s Gunda, Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO and Andrea Arnold’s Cow which equally foreground the experiences of farmyard animals to inform a wider story about humanity, however Pálfi’s sense of humour and dogged willpower (eight chickens had been educated for the central function) grant Hen some clemency. Giorgos Karvelas’ vivid cinematography emphasises Hen’s plucky angle and sense of curiosity concerning the world round her, however the movie takes us to some surprisingly darkish locations as effectively, devolving into an surprising third act the place all hell breaks free. It’s a unusual, uniquely compelling movie, empathetic sufficient to make any carnivore assume twice about their rooster nuggets whereas by no means turning into a screed about meat-eating or farming. Furthermore, it’s a nice introduction of the irreverent eye of György Pálfi, who has simply as distinctive a view on the world as his beloved hen heroine.
