Peter Hammer’s debut feature Revir: Everything You Hold Dear looks at two siblings who are in their thirties. The first of these siblings is Susie, a taxidermist, the creative one in the family who experiences nuanced motions. Her brother Sune is the one with the business mind but there are some things he holds on to. A Zoom call from their estranged mother of these Danish siblings upend their emotional states as an in person meeting looms.
Most documentary filmmakers go big and fast as a way to relate to their viewers. Hammer’s choice to use opposing methods may not be for everyone, but he lets his stories happen instead of forcing it up on us. We get to know both Susie and Sune through conversations with either their customers or what seems like funders. One of those scenes is how we find out that Susie cut her first animal at 10, and she turned out ‘fine’.
Hammer also does a few things to make his documentary stand out. For once, I’m actually into how it stages some of its scenes. There’s a room in Susie’s workshop where she stage the animals, and sometimes, Hammer puts the siblings and the objects in their lives on that backdrop.
At other times, the siblings find themselves in the real world and those unvarnished scenes feel more rewarding. They fly to Budapest for a taxidermy competition and their mother decides to fly there as well to have that meeting both parties are dreading, and Hammer places his camera to show that a few other things are happening in the real world that they may be oblivious too. Scenes like this play the perfect notes.
- Release Date: 5/1/2023
