Is he the village idiot or a genius in disguise? 17 year old Noi drifts through life on a remote fjord in the north of Iceland. In winter, the fjord is cut off from the outside world, ...
See full summary »
Fusi, a 43 year old man, still lives with his mother. His daily life is characterized by monotonous routine. The appearance of vibrant Sjöfn and young neighbour Hera will upset his old bachelor habits.
Director:
Dagur Kári
Stars:
Gunnar Jónsson,
Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir,
Sigurjón Kjartansson
Páll is an artistic and sensitive young man. Getting dumped by his girlfriend, Dagny, triggers his descent into madness. We follow him on his way to what seems like inevitable doom; at home... See full summary »
Will the 30 y.o. Hlynur ever move out of his mother's apartment in Reykjavík? Social welfare keeps him passive but things change when his mother's Spanish friend, Lola, arrives and stays through Xmas and New Year's Eve.
Director:
Baltasar Kormákur
Stars:
Hilmir Snær Guðnason,
Victoria Abril,
Hanna María Karlsdóttir
Hannes is an old man who has grown apart from his children. Recently retired when his wife gets ill he tries to reconcile with them and to atone for his cold demeanor in the past.
In a remote Icelandic farming valley, two brothers who haven't spoken in 40 years have to come together in order to save what's dearest to them - their sheep.
Director:
Grímur Hákonarson
Stars:
Sigurður Sigurjónsson,
Theodór Júlíusson,
Charlotte Bøving
Five stories interwine into one. A blind man hovers above the city. Everything looks set for a perfectly normal evening in Reykjavík, until the the power goes off? The door of a bank ATM ... See full summary »
In less than twenty-four hours, a middle-aged academic and his nearly half his age fiancée will get married in Iceland's windswept island, Flatey, amid endless preparations and bitter second thoughts. Is this what they really want?
Is he the village idiot or a genius in disguise? 17 year old Noi drifts through life on a remote fjord in the north of Iceland. In winter, the fjord is cut off from the outside world, surrounded by ominous mountains and buried under a shroud of snow. Noi dreams of escaping from this white-walled prison with Iris, a city girl who works in a local gas station. But his clumsy attempts at escape spiral out of control and end in complete failure. Only a natural disaster will shatter Noi's universe and offer him a window into a better world.
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. See more »
Goofs
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. See more »
Although distant in time and space, this work is reminiscent of post-WW2 Italian neorealism, with a sprinkle of dry Nordic humour. The grandiose setting of Iceland's north-western fjord region is the real protagonist: that huge white cone-shaped mountain looms in the background, very similar to Dante's Purgatory mount, meting out penance and confining the souls living within its shadow. The actors - like in neorealistic movies - seem (but aren't) taken from the street, they look completely natural, they have jobs and behave like real people. The title character is amazingly expressive, despite his shaved head and eyebrows. With a fractional movement of the eyes and mouth he moves us to tears or laughter. The dialogues are scanty, but the continuity makes it all very clear: Noi is a child prodigy, who is tied to an inescapable, remote environment. He is at variance with his teachers, but loves - and is loved by - his disjoint family. He dreams of escaping to an entirely different world, a world of sunny beaches and palm trees, taking along the girl he is infatuated with. But deep down he knows his dream is doomed: there is no escape from his icy ghetto - almost.
21 of 24 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Although distant in time and space, this work is reminiscent of post-WW2 Italian neorealism, with a sprinkle of dry Nordic humour. The grandiose setting of Iceland's north-western fjord region is the real protagonist: that huge white cone-shaped mountain looms in the background, very similar to Dante's Purgatory mount, meting out penance and confining the souls living within its shadow. The actors - like in neorealistic movies - seem (but aren't) taken from the street, they look completely natural, they have jobs and behave like real people. The title character is amazingly expressive, despite his shaved head and eyebrows. With a fractional movement of the eyes and mouth he moves us to tears or laughter. The dialogues are scanty, but the continuity makes it all very clear: Noi is a child prodigy, who is tied to an inescapable, remote environment. He is at variance with his teachers, but loves - and is loved by - his disjoint family. He dreams of escaping to an entirely different world, a world of sunny beaches and palm trees, taking along the girl he is infatuated with. But deep down he knows his dream is doomed: there is no escape from his icy ghetto - almost.