What We’re Watching: ‘Landmyn,’ an Explosive Local Drama About Family Ties That Threaten to Erupt

The first thing you hear in “Landmyn” is a small dog barking anxiously behind frosted glass. The passageway is strewn with the remains of a life: memorabilia, photographs, useless fragments and belongings hastily packed into boxes and plastic bags. Then a freshly showered woman emerges from the bathroom, and a chaotic, discordant score abruptly takes over.

That opening signals the rough, raw and rousing ride ahead. “Landmyn,” whose title means “landmine,” is filled with memories, some tender and many better left buried. Nico Scheepers, who wrote and directed the film, interlaces tragedy with comedy in a way that feels as contradictory and unsettling as life itself.

The comedy arrives in a rehearsal room, where actors perform a new play with exaggerated melodrama while still clinging to their scripts. Their earnestness becomes unexpectedly funny. The rehearsal is overseen by Johan, a writer-director who takes his work and his wounds very seriously. Played by Ben Albertyn, Johan writes strange, pretentious plays with titles such as “Limpopo Golgotha” and “Chalk Ass.” He keeps detailed mental and written records of his hurts and traumatic childhood, then folds those feelings into his creative work.

One line in the rehearsal, that a man hates his mother, becomes a clue that hangs over the film. “Landmyn” asks when dislike can cross into hatred, even where love is supposed to be unconditional. Scheepers examines how a toxic parent can infect the people she is meant to nurture, rather than treating the family’s pain as a simplistic psychological fantasy.

The premise is simple: after a decade apart, three siblings are finally gathering under one roof. Colette, the older sister living in Scotland, arranges a comfortable beach cottage for the winter reunion. But the meeting collapses into tension when she casually reveals that their mother, Annatjie, will also be there.