Jan Krüger | Welcome to the Candy House / 2013

the problem with always going out with sis

by Douglas Messerli

 

Jan Krüger (screenwriter and director) Welcome to the Candy House / 2013 [5 minutes]

 

Poor Hänsel (Martin Hansen) and Gretel (Marlene Melchior) are lost, this in an urban German city, once more. They hear the noise of a circus carnival and share a delightful ride on a merry-go-round, but it’s getting late and it’s time to find a bed for the night.

 

    They try to find a room in a cheap local hotel, without luck. Even the local hostel turns them away, as they, caught in the dark of the night are afraid they will be left out in the dark. But a friend old crone (the first Witch is Toby Ashraf, no. 2 is Vasilis Thanasis, and no. 3 is Tim van Nuland) hands out a small leaflet which eventually leads them to the site of “Ficken 3000”—which the audience of the premier showing of this film immediately applauded.

     Once inside, things are even more strange as they wander the dark downstairs corridors where naked men, many dressed in witch masks appear every so often from the porno warrens.

      When Gretel isn’t looking, one of them grabs Hänsel and pulls him into a stall. Gretel, missing her beloved brother, goes in search for him, finally finding her naked brother being sucked off by one of the “3000 films’” loyal tenants. We gather from her comment, “Hänsel, not again!” that her poor brother has had a tendency in the past to eat the candies or be eaten by the “candies,” attracted evidently as he is to such underground homosexual activities.

      She pulls him away from danger, as the two rush off, the other gay “witches” following after.

     Finally, they reach the street, hail a taxi, and, giggling in relief for their escape, suddenly become aware that their own taxi driver is also a Witch.

      There’s no moral in terrifyingly charming German children’s film by Jan Krüger, except, perhaps, that Hänsel should clearly get out more often without his sister around to protect him.

 

Los Angeles, May 26, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (May 2024).