Nói albínói (2003)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Dagur Kári

Writer:

Dagur Kári (writer)

Release Date:

28 February 2003 (Iceland)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A wonderboy and drop-out on an Icelandic village scale, Noi (17), dreams of escaping from his remote fjord with the girl from the filling station...

Plot Keywords:

Fjord | Winter | Village | Mountain | Escape

Awards:

20 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Tómas Lemarquis	...	Nói
Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson	...	Kiddi Beikon
Elín Hansdóttir	...	Íris
Anna Friðriksdóttir	...	Lína
Hjalti Rögnvaldsson	...	Óskar
Pétur Einarsson	...	Prestur
Kjartan Bjargmundsson	...	Gylfi
Þorsteinn Gunnarsson	...	Þórarinn Skólastjóri
Guðmundur Ólafsson	...	Alfreð Kennari
Haraldur Jónsson	...	Teitur Sálfræðingur
Gérard Lemarquis	...	Frönskukennari
Greipur Gíslason	...	Dabbi
Páll Loftsson	...	Pabbi Dabba / Bankastjóri
Ásdís Thoroddsen	...	Bankastarfsmaður
Ásmundur Ásmudsson	...	Barþjónn

Also Known As:

Nói (USA) (promotional title)
Noi the Albino (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

France:82 min | Iceland:93 min | Netherlands:90 min (Rotterdam Film Festival) | Netherlands:95 min | Sweden:89 min | USA:93 min

Country:

Iceland | Germany | UK | Denmark

Language:

Icelandic | French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | South Korea:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-7 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Bolungarvík, Iceland

Company:

Zik Zak Kvikmyndir

Trivia:

Palm trees are repeatedly present in the movie as a symbol: on the Viewmaster slide, on Noi's father's shirt, on the cake her grandmother bakes and on the green wallpaper at his house.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the scene where the psychiatrist examines Nói, the former behaves strangely negligent. No health care professional would administrate an intelligence test by giving the subject scarce instructions, since these are part of a standardized protocol. Instead, he would give detailed instructions asking the subject if he has understood them and should be present during, at least, a portion of the test.

Quotes:

Lína: Kiddi! What are you doing here?
Kristmundur 'Kiddi Beikon' B. Kristmundsson: I've come to raise my son.
Lína: Isn't that a little bit late?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Niceland (Population. 1.000.002) (2004)

An excellent first effort

If you want to learn how to make mayonnaise while learning French, how to smoke, how to destroy a piano with an axe, how not to rob a bank, and how to survive in an environment of mind-numbing boredom, Dagur Kari's first feature Noi Albinoi may be the key. Noi is a coming-of-age comedy/drama with a morbidly deadpan sense of humor, but it is also a film that tackles a very serious subject, the physical and emotional isolation of bright teenagers growing up in an environment that does not nurture them. Set in Bolungarvik (pop. 957) in Iceland's Western Fjords, the stark quality of the remote village sheltered between the seacoast and the frozen mountains has a bluish glow that makes the world seem ominous and the relentless quiet of the secret snow conveys a tone of oppressive solitude.

This is the environment a gangling 17-year old named Noi must face each day. He is a notorious underachiever whose routine consists of avoiding school and trying please his alcoholic father Kiddi (Throstur Leo Gunnarsson). Convincingly portrayed by Icelandic actor Tomas Lemarquis, Noi is an enigma. With his shaved head, pallid complexion, and intense eyes, it is hard to know if he is an albino or a devotee of Hari Krishna. We first meet Noi in his bed as his grandmother (Anna Fridriksdóttir) tries to wake him up for school by firing a rifle over his head. Though he is considered by the school psychiatrist to be exceptionally intelligent, Noi is not fond of school and makes his teachers crazy with his lack of punctuality, sleeping in class, and general uncaring manner.

When he goes too far by placing a tape recorder on his seat to record the lecture while he goes home, his expulsion from school is the predictable result. Feeling trapped, Noi retreats to the basement of his grandmother's house where he can think about an exotic destination to escape to, made more real when his grandmother gives him a stereopticon to view pictures of a land of beaches and palm trees. His interest in life picks up when Iris (Elín Hansdóttir), a young city girl, shows up in town from Reykjavik to take a job at the local gas station. Awkward and stumbling, Noi manages to get a date but her father, a local bookseller, warns him to stay away from his daughter. On their "romantic" first date, they break into a local museum, Iris taking it on herself to break the glass on the front door while Noi attempts to jimmy the lock. They come across an exhibit showing places on a map but, as they discover, there's no button for Iceland, a rather apt metaphor.

Noi takes a job digging graves in the local cemetery where the priest hilariously attempts to use a remote control from his house to direct him where to dig a grave and the two haggle over the depth of the grave to be dug beneath tons of ice and snow. Noi's exasperation builds until he takes things into his own hand, which leads to a series of serio-comic adventures more emotionless than anything this side of Fargo. While the ending may ultimately be liberating, I was unprepared for the film's sudden dark turn. Kari, however, pulls it off and makes us care deeply about what happens to the icy town and its eccentric inhabitants. Noi Albinoi is an excellent first effort.