With the singular exception of Yorgos Lanthimos (DOGTOOTH, THE LOBSTER), the surreal comedy feature is something that is rarely seen outside the festival circuit. Although it’s difficult for a film in this genre to really stand out and make a lasting impression, it continues to be a surprisingly popular genre that yields surprising and often delightful results. THE BUNKER by Greek-German director Nikias Chryssos is a case in point: what what it lacks in substance it certainly makes up for in style and the inventiveness of its colourfully surreal situations.

Substance, of course, is by no means obligatory and can in fact be an overrated quality that lends an unwelcome air of pretentiousness to this genre. It’s more than enough for a film just to be funny and twistedly inventive, and while such matters are undoubtedly subjective, THE BUNKER at least remains consistent in its vision and purpose as it pushes its bizarre tale to its (un)natural conclusion.

Corporal punishment yields surprising results…

It’s also a film that clearly makes great use of an undoubtedly limited budget. The whole film takes place in a bunker deep in the woods, the situation played out between a student lodger and a rather strange family consisting of a mother, a father and their son Klaus. Making his way through the dark snow covered woods, the Student is disappointed by the lack of a view advertised for his room in the deeply coloured, dimly lit neon-glow of the bunker, but it more than meets his requirement as a place of peace and tranquility where he can set to work on his theory based on the Higgs particle.

But not for long. The Mother and Father are keen for their 8-year old (but looking considerably older) son to advance his studies, as his education is poorly developed for a boy his age living permanently – for a reason we don’t know (or care about) – in a bunker. The Student has to pay for all those extra dumplings and napkins somehow, so he is encouraged/pressured into taking over the education of the strange boy, who appears to have no capacity for the retention of facts and information. Corporal punishment yields surprising results – better than cheating – but when the Student starts indulging in this unheard-of concept of ‘playing’, the Voice of Heinrich that speaks to the Mother warns that action may need to be taken.

There are lots of unsavoury and disturbing film references brought into play here. The low budget surrealism of David Lynch’s ERASERHEAD is evident, the mood and tone has a ‘giallo’ feel to it, and there’s more than a passing resemblance to the situation of Yorgos Lanthimos’ DOGTOOTH, but director Chryssos confidently establishes his own tone. The grotesque blends seamlessly with the humour and it never lets any suggestion of substance, allegory or pretension intrude on the simpler pleasures that the film has to offer.

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