City State (2011)

Set in modern day Iceland, an immigrant vows revenge after losing his unborn child in an attack by a crime syndicate, thereby binding his fate with a troubled policewoman, her corrupt police commander, and a crime lord who's losing his edge.

Director:

Olaf de Fleur Johannesson (as Olaf de Fleur)

Writers:

Olaf de Fleur Johannesson (screenplay), Hrafnkell Stefansson (screenplay)

Stars:

Zlatko Krickic, Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Ingvar Sigurdsson

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zlatko Krickic	...	Sergej
Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir	...	Andrea
Ingvar Sigurdsson	...	Gunnar (as Ingvar E. Sigurðsson)
Sigurður Sigurjónsson	...	Margeir
Björn Thors	...	Rúnar
Björn Hlynur Haraldsson	...	Ingolfur
Elva Ósk Ólafsdóttir	...	Katrin
Gísli Örn Garðarsson	...	Jói
Gladkaya Luna	...	Jelena
Leo Sankovic	...	Stanko
Stanko Djorovic	...	Ivan
Elma Stefania Agustsdottir	...	Svetlana
James Davis	...	Gunnar's Bodyguard
Jonathan Pryce	...	Jimmy
Philip Jackson	...	William

Storyline

When a foreign mafia decides to take control of the Icelandic drug market, a police woman lost in violence, a mechanic revenging for his lost son, a crime kingpin with a heart condition, a corrupt officer in love with a prostitute will destroy each other.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Iceland

Language:

Icelandic English Serbian Russian

Release Date:

14 October 2011 (Iceland)

Also Known As:

City State

Filming Locations:

Reykjavík, Iceland

Box Office

Budget:

$800,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$162,562

Company Credits

Production Co:

Poppoli Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was produced without any public funding. The staff worked on low salaries to be able to make the film.

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Connections

Followed by Brave Men's Blood (2014)

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Soundtracks

Svartur svanur
(aka "Black Swan")
Written by Árni Heiðar Karlsson
Performed by Árni Heiðar Karlsson (as Arni Haider Karlsson), Gunnar Hrafnsson and Mattías Hemstock

User Reviews

Enjoyable attempt at Tarantine style cinema in Iceland

City State or Borgariki, is a twisted tail of criminals foreign and domestic and their dealings with somewhat questionable police force. Set in the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, it mirrors some aspects of what has been supposedly happening during the last decade as foreign criminals take on the their somewhat softer counterparts in Iceland.

Each scene of this movie plays wonderfully on its own, with all the actors doing some of their best work (at least in this type of a movie) and filming and sound/music really well done. It was wonderfully surprising to see Jonathan Pryce pop up couple of times and the almost amateur actor Zlatko Krickic was superb.

The downfall of the film is its cutting. It could be possible that the story was somewhat at fault, but mostly it felt as each scene was not related to the next. There were even some totally unnecessary time jumping, which looked to be done as an afterthought.

City state would have been a better movie with faster pace, tighter story and cutting. Having said that, this film goes on my list of Icelandic films I recommend to foreigners.