Cringe: the movie.
There’s quite a bit of _Funny Games_ in it, in some ways it feels like the beginning of that film extended over a whole movie (and without the dark comedy). It very effectively nails the point that you shouldn’t be overly polite to people who are clearly problematic. All the actors are great, at first Fedja van Huet’s acting choices were turning me off, but then I realized that’s the whole point. He did his job very well, I felt uncomfortable from beginning to end (the scenes of him insulting his son are quite disturbing, if you know what he’s saying). Great build up and a very nice pay-off, sometimes the characters behave a bit too irrationally (at the same time, you could argue that insecurity is kinda built into the characters of Bjorn and Louise, if you pay attention to the subtleties). Cinematography could’ve been a little sharper at times, not a fan of how they occasionally use dark, dramatic music during scenes where nothing tense is going on, maybe could’ve used a few more scenes of the families bonding in Italy, but all of those are minor issues. Recommended, just keep it mind that you have to sit through a lot of stuff that’s intentionally awkward.

7.5/10