The “Practical Magic 2” press tour might be taking over the world, but Tony Vahl’s impressive feature debut “Krux” also finds space for the supernatural. Set in the final days of the WWII and premiering at TIFF and San Sebastián, it portrays a German village waiting for the inevitable: the arrival of Soviet troops. Some of its inhabitants look for ominous signs and listen to prophecies.
Others don’t want to wait for a destiny they believe would be worse than death. She used to tell me that you shouldn’t hang laundry on New Year’s Eve because someone might then hang themselves. I was really fascinated by this,” Vahl tells Variety.
The mayor – his Nazi cult. People always need something they can hold onto. A belief is such a powerful thing.
It can help you – or it can destroy you.” While Vahl leaves certain things unsaid – “I didn’t want to say ‘Russians’ or limit it to just one nation” – the fear is real. At that time, people didn’t talk much about the war. But my grandmother was different.
She told me that in the old days, corpses would float down the river. Then she said: ‘People would go in the water.’ I didn’t understand what it meant. It sounded like a fairy tale – and a horror movie.
But I remember how it made me feel. It never left me.” As the Third Reich collapsed, mass suicides claimed the lives of thousands of Germans. For the longest time, nobody talked about it.
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