Nightborn
Director: Hanna Bergholm
Writer: Hanna Bergholm, Ilja Rautsi
Cast: Seidi Haarla, Rupert Grint, Pamela Tola, Pirkko Saisio, Rebecca Lacey, John Thomson
Part of: SLASH ½ Filmfestival
Seen on: 8.5.2026

Plot:
Saga (Seidi Haarla) and her husband Jon (Rupert Grint) have taken over Saga’s grandparents‘ home in the Finnish forest. After extensive renovations, their family life is completed by a baby. But as soon as their baby is born, Saga is sure that something is off with it. But she seems to be the only one who thinks that anything is amiss.

Nightborn nails a particular kind of discomfort that comes with motherhood in an equally humorous and horrifying way. I greatly enjoyed it.

Nightborn nicely continues the slew of movies we seem to be getting recently that are all about the hard parts of motherhood, the alienation it can cause for various reasons (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Mother’s Baby, Die My Love, and Nightbitch all come to mind). Saga’s misgivings about her child and the way they are being brushed off, if they are seen at all, certainly feel realistically familiar – and I am one of the lucky mothers who has a relatively easy child and a very supportive family.

Saga has neither, and her loneliness and isolation are very palpable in the film. There are moments I want to punch Jon for her sake, even though or maybe because he really is a husband who tries to be supportive. The rest of Saga’s family isn’t any more help either, making talking about what is happening virtually impossible for Saga.

The film tells its story effectfully and with absolutely fantastic visuals, creating the perfect atmosphere around Haarla’s absolutely masterful performance that makes us feel with Saga every step along the way. Even better is that it retains a sense of humor despite everything.

The film’s weakest point was probably it’s baby puppet animation, but it is a flaw that I could easily forgive. In short, I was very pleased with this opening of the SLASH ½ Filmfestival for me this year.

Summarizing: very cool.