Cognitio (2018)
Cognitio (2018)
Synopsis (by writer and director Rebecca Emcken - from youtube):
Tobias (Lasse Steen Jensen) is hospitalised in a psychiatric institution. Here, he meets Emil (Lior David Cohen), a boy with a completely different view on life and the situation he and Tobias is in. The two boys develop a close friendship that brings the mind and boundaries of Tobias to the test.
Review:
If I’m honest Cognitio doesn’t really do it for me. I don’t think it’s as clever as it’s trying to be, and I found it a touch dull. It’s a 19-minute Danish short film directed by Rebecca Emcken (who also directed We Are Okay Now | Vi er okay nu (2017)). It’s the story of an institutionalised boy, Tobias, and the friend he makes, Emil, at the institution. The opening scene is quite good where Tobias is chatting with his psychiatrist with clips interspersed of him and Emil – the music is nice and there’s some pleasant birdsong.
The friendship between Tobias and Emil is convincing and well-acted. The two are seen hanging out, drawing together, listening to music and playing football. They talk about sex and masturbation too, which is a topic which Tobias seems rather unsure of. There are indications that Tobias and Emil might like each other as more than friends, but nothing explicit happens to definitively say so, although in one scene it is suggested that Tobias is potentially fantasising about Emil. At the very least Tobias seems to become a more sexual person because of Emil.
The two boys clearly have a level of trust and a good bond as they take drugs together and party, but their friendship turns sour as Emil becomes more jealous and controlling. There does appear to be a sort of co-dependency between the boys.
There’s a plot twist towards the end which is heavily foreshadowed and is easy to see coming. I found this rather disappointing as it all feels a bit obvious, making the short underwhelming. The acting is definitely the strongest point of Cognitio, but the plot falls short for me.
Favourite quote:
“I think it would be really good for you to make some friends, so you don’t feel alone. After all, you are in a place where people know what you are going through.” - Psychiatrist
tone: Sombre
Score: 3/10
Other observations:
Boy in mental hospital hallucinates friend - maybe I’m being harsh, but I thought it was a kind of obvious plot twist.
I say the plot twist is foreshadowed for a few reasons:
- None of the other characters interact with Emil or even look at him throughout the film, and when Tobias interacts with Emil in front of Frederik (one of the other patients who Tobias befriends), Frederik hurries away as he is probably shocked by Tobias’s hallucinogenic outburst.
- Also at the very beginning of the short, the psychiatrist asks Tobias, who has been at the institution for roughly a week, if he’s talked with any of the others – surely if Emil was real the staff would have noticed him and Tobias hanging out constantly – but instead she encourages him to make friends as if he hasn’t already.
Tobias is played by Lasse Steen Jensen of short film We Are Okay Now | Vi er okay nu (2017) and the music video of Kadie Elder’s First Time He Kissed a Boy (2014).