A girl is caught between the life that took her brother and her own inability to strike out on her own. In her grief, she finds solace in the dark music of Black Metal and dreams of becoming... Read allA girl is caught between the life that took her brother and her own inability to strike out on her own. In her grief, she finds solace in the dark music of Black Metal and dreams of becoming a rock star.A girl is caught between the life that took her brother and her own inability to strike out on her own. In her grief, she finds solace in the dark music of Black Metal and dreams of becoming a rock star.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 11 nominations
- Hera
- (as Þorbjörg Helga Þorgilsdóttir)
- Karl
- (as Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson)
- Knútur (11 years old)
- (as Mikael Emil Kaarber)
- Director
- Ragnar Bragason(attached)
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAll entries contain spoilers
- Quotes
Hera: [singing at the fest] Flesh and Blood, to earth you shall return. Courage of a warrior, anything shall burn. The scorched earth, devouring our best. The scorched earth, always killing everything. My pain, it drains my soul. Plagued defeat. Black sands of Iden, as far as the eye can see. Lacerated all land, as far as the eye can see. There shall be no end...
- Crazy credits(~1:39:54) Lukka the Cow - Gríma, Dog 1983 - Perla, Dog 1992 - Perla
- SoundtracksAm I Evil
by Diamond Head
After this initial introduction, Bragason transports us to the early 90s, addressing the main character already in adulthood. With gloomy and melancholy appearance, always wearing a leather jacket and black clothes, Hera is now quite adept of the black metal way of life. She isolated herself from the outside world and is disconnected from the small community in which she lives. Her only moments of balance seem to be next to her guitar, with which she risks to compose her own musics, or when she listens to her cassette tapes or reads magazines in her room.
The presence of Hera is disruptive to her parents. Unable to break free emotionally and psychologically from the memories of the tragedy, she lives committing petty crimes in self-destructive acts and causing confusion in the neighborhood. Her dressing style and her personality are also a painful form of her parents remember their dead child. This is reflected in the depression of her mother, Droplaug, played by Halldora Geirharðsdóttir (known for Englar alheimsins - Angels of the Universe - 2000 and Hross í oss - Of Horses and Men - 2013), and in the hidden suffering of her father, Karl, interpreted by Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson (he acted in Englar alheimsins - Angels of the Universe - 2000, Myrin - Jar City - 2006, Hross í oss - Of Horses and Men - 2013 and Everest - 2015). Thus, each one experiences the grief and the pain in their own way, but it is clear that that accident compromised the family's harmony.
With a peculiar intimate view of heavy metal and black metal movements, Bragason does in Metalhead a production with quite personal characteristics, printing throughout the script references carefully cited and associated with the soundtrack. It is through music that the director expresses and exposes the psychological and emotional state of the protagonist, from her feelings to her internal conflicts. Fans of the genre, besides the recognition of the songs, will delight in with Victim of Changes (Judas Priest), Heartless World (Teaze), Run For Your Life (Riot), Strange Wings (Savatage), Me Against the World (Lizzy Borden), Am I Evil? (Diamond Head), Symphony of Destruction (Megadeth), Í Helli Loka (Sólstafir) and Svarthamar (Pétur Ben & Þorbjörg Helga Þorgilsdóttir - Málmhaus).
The symbolism is present throughout the film. The clothes, the music, the melancholy or obscurity, the corpse paint (face paint in black and white), death, religion, in scenarios such as the church or the cemetery, in the bitter cold of winter, and even in Norwegian characters, a reference to Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) and Per Yngve Ohlin (Dead), founding members of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, land that created the subculture of the Norwegian black metal. Some documentaries address and depict this time, as Den Svarte Alvor - The Black Seriousness (1994), Satan Rir Media - Satan Rides the Media (1998), Once Upon a Time in Norway (2007) and Until the Light Takes Us (2008).
Clinging to period details is another strong point of the film, giving it a certain nostalgia of the 80s and 90s. We have the record player and vinyl records, cassette tapes and walkman, household appliances, such as microwaves, cathode ray tube TV and VHS video tapes and cars, all faithfully depicting the period in question. The beautiful shots of Iceland and the moments of black humor soften the delicate issue addressed in the narrative, contrasting with the inner desolation of the protagonist. The performance of Þorbjörg Helga Þorgilsdóttir is one of the highlights of the movie, giving veracity to the story of the main character.
Metalhead is a film that is based on a universal theme, music, employing it to show how people deal with pain, loss and suffering. The story shows the search for an identity and for oneself, an attempt to find meaning for life that goes beyond music.
Originally posted in: https://vikingbyheart.blogspot.com.br
- Vikingbyheart
- Jul 27, 2016
Details
Box office
- Budget
- €3,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $56,439
- Runtime1 hour 37 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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