Jar City (2006)
"Mýrin" (original title)

A murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.

Director:

Baltasar Kormákur

Writers:

Arnaldur Indriðason (novel), Baltasar Kormákur (screenplay)

Stars:

Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson

10 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson	...	Erlendur (as Ingvar E. Sigurðsson)
Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir	...	Eva Lind
Björn Hlynur Haraldsson	...	Sigurður Óli
Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir	...	Elínborg
Atli Rafn Sigurðsson	...	Örn
Kristbjörg Kjeld	...	Katrín
Þorsteinn Gunnarsson	...	Holberg
Theodór Júlíusson	...	Elliði
Þórunn Magnea Magnúsdóttir	...	Elín
Guðmunda Elíasdóttir	...	Theodóra
Walter Grímsson	...	Handrukkarar
Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson
Magnús Ragnarsson	...	Lögfræðingur
Rafnhildur Rósa Atladóttir	...	Kola
Jón Sigurbjörnsson	...	Albert

Storyline

Örn's daughter is dead because of a rare genetic disease. By this time Erlendur has to find Holdeberg's killer. He has to find out what happened 30 years ago and to connect it with his case and he has another problem...His relationships with his daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | interrogation | shotgun | rat | skeleton | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Memento Films [fr]

Country:

Iceland Germany Denmark

Language:

Icelandic

Release Date:

20 October 2006 (Iceland)

Also Known As:

Jar City

Filming Locations:

Hvalsnes, Reykjanes, Iceland

Box Office

Budget:

ISK 180,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bavaria Pictures, Blueeyes Productions, Degeto Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The take-away food Erlendur is eating is boiled sheep's head known as "Svið", an Icelandic delicacy.

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Connections

Remade as Jar City

User Reviews

one of TIFF 2007's best

Baltasar Kormákur was there to answer questions at the first screening of this excellent film at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007. He did a terrific job, both of directing the film and of untangling some of the details for us after the screening.

This was a film that we picked up at the last minute, to see on the first day of the festival. We went in with absolutely no expectations and were thrilled to find one of the best films of the festival laid out before us.

Everything about this film was outstanding: casting, sets and locations, acting, directing, and the subtitling was unobtrusive but effective. It has a wonderful black humour to it in spots, too. No wonder Iceland has chosen this film as its Oscar contender.

I know I'll see this film again! Not only that, but I've ordered all of the books in the series by Arnaldur Idridason that I could find in translation, because I found his story so compelling and want to read the further adventures of Detective Erlendur. I sincerely hope Kormákur directs more of them.