(Otto)
2015 · 9m · Holanda
Directed by Job Joris, Marieke
Genres: drama, family, fantasy
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
A woman who cannot have children steals a little girl's imaginary friend and keeps him secret from her husband, until the girl comes asking for her friend back and imagination brings them all together.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise reads like Hallmark-approved magical realism—infertility + imaginary friend = redemption arc—but I'd need to see if Joris and Marieke actually subvert that sentimentality or just lean into it.
A formally composed meditation on absence and longing that positions itself within a lineage of European magical-realist family cinema; the restraint required to keep an imaginary character present without kitsch will determine whether this earns its tenderness.
The whole film pivots on a single decision: how to visualize Otto without letting him become precious or obvious—whatever visual or performance grammar they chose to make an invisible child feel necessary and real is what separates this from a greeting card.