NZIFF 2025 Craccum Coverage | Reedland

Review by Daniel C.

Reedland is a film I don’t know how to describe. It’s been 2 days since I watched the movie, and I still haven’t gathered my thoughts about it. There were parts I really loved, for example the start was amazing, the dark open waves of reeds rustling in the night wind were beautiful, I adored Johan’s interactions with his granddaughter, I thought the “thriller” aspects were really well done… but there’s a lot I haven’t wrapped my head around. For one, there were a few scenes that made me go, “uh-“ – particularly two scenes (if you’ve watched the movie you’ll recognise them immediately). I don’t know if they made me like the movie less? But I almost wish they weren’t there. 

That being said, if the film didn’t have scenes like those, then Reedland wouldn’t be Reedland. It’s so particularly weird, maybe “Lynch-esque” is a better word, but there’s also moments so warm and kind. There’s graveness in the realism of the film, a lot of terrifying things happen in the small town, but so much of it is just ordinary farm work; you’ll never see reed cutting done more artistically than here. When Johan sets flame to bushes, the black smoke barrels ominously into the sky and you can feel the warmth of the embers flickering by the ground. 

After the showing, the director, Sven Bresser, came down to do a few Q&A questions. They really illuminated a lot about the film, though too much to put into words here. Still though, thinking about the movie, I don’t really know what to say. All I’ll end with is that it’s a very strange film, wonderful at points, but still very, very strange.