Tag: iceland
Toronto 2023 Review: SOLITUDE Quietly Pushes Back Against Our Too Busy World
Do you know that tentative, tiny hand wave that shows up (oh so gently) in the movies from time to time? A recent example of this is the final shot of Donnie Darko, where Jenna Malone offers a raised hand...
Neuchâtel 2022 Daily: I AM WHAT I AM From China, BEAUTIFUL BEINGS From Iceland
If Saturday is alright for fighting, as Elton John once claimed, the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival suggests watching movies, instead. The festival's final day of screenings features all kinds of recommended titles, including Something in the Dirt, Maika, Freaks...
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: LAMB May Not Be What You Think
Whatever the trailer may make you think, maybe it's best just to let go of your preconceptions before watching Lamb. This is the kind of cinema to go into blind, ready to connect with characters and the journey they find...
Locarno 2021 Review: COP SECRET, Fast-Paced Nordic Cop Action Spoof With Progressive Bent
Hannes Þór Halldórsson, a football goalkeeper who plays for Valur Reykjavík and the Iceland national team, world premiered his feature-length directing debut Cop Secret in the Locarno Film Festival's international competition. Halldórsson shot a genre spoof with a progressive bent...
Now on VOD: Logan Lerman, John Hawkes in END OF SENTENCE
Logan Lerman, who recently displayed a wide range of anger in the Amazon Prime series Hunters, and John Hawkes, who began his career in the 1980s and has distinguished himself in a host of films and TV shows from Hollywood...
Toronto 2018 Review: LET ME FALL Is Sublimely Harrowing
Stella and Magnea, it feels stressful to just write their names after witnessing the excruciating awfulness of their lives. Let Me Fall is centred on their very intense relationship. An attraction that brings with it chaos, reminiscent of the two...
Review: THE SWAN, a Lyrical and Sobering Look at Adulthood Through a Child's Eyes
A wilful young girl sent to work on a farm in rural Iceland – a waning traditional Icelandic practice to instill independence in children – uncovers some uncomfortable real-world truths in The Swan (Svanurinn), Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir’s serious-in-tone coming-of-age drama...
Review: UNDER THE TREE, Where a Feud Begins
On the heels of Winter Brothers, a dramedy about alienation, brotherhood and "being loved and fucked" (read the review), comes yet another Icelandic dramedy, Under the Tree. Compared to the artist Hlynur Pálmason behind Winter Brothers, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson has...
Cannes 2018: In ARCTIC Clip, Watch Mads Mikkelsen Dig a Hole
I would follow Mads Mikkelsen to the ends of the earth. So the idea of the actor trekking solo in the arctic regions sounds absolutely delightful. But I get it. Maybe you're not so easily convinced. Mikkelsen stars in Arctic,...
Venice 2017 Review: UNDER THE TREE, Reason Eclipsed in Dark Icelandic Social Satire
Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson third feature, a social satire Under the Tree, aptly embodies the present times when primal urges emerge coagulating the state of civilization into homo homini lupus-type of society when populism and other forms of extremism cast thick shadows over reason.
TRAPPED: Kormakur's Icelandic Crime Series Gets An English Friendly Trailer
Iceland's Baltasar Kormakur maintains something of a split personality ... at home he's the acclaimed director of a string of arthouse dramas and thrillers acclaimed around the globe while in Hollywood he aims for bigger, blockbuster fare like Contraband, Two...
Warsaw 2015 Interview: SPARROWS Director Rúnar Rúnnarson On Finding God In The Sins of Men
Since its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Rúnar Rúnarsson's sophomore feature Sparrows (read Jason Gorber's review) has been on a successful streak, netting the top prize at the San Sebastian film festival, Silver Hugo at the...
Toronto 2015: Kormakur's TRAPPED Ushers Iceland Into The Nordic Noir Wave
If not for the fact that everything has fallen apart around him, Andri's life would be perfect. The chief of police in a town so small that the biggest issue of the day are locals calling to complain about their...
Exclusive Clip: BRAVE MEN'S BLOOD, Can't A Guy Even Take A Shower Anymore?
Icelandic crime flick Brave Men's Blood will open via various Video On Demand platforms next Tuesday, October 8, and we've got an exclusive clip to share. Here's the synopsis from when it debuted in its native land last year: In order to...
Miike Colonizes Mars In TERRA FORMARS Teaser
Miike is back! (Fancy that.) With a teaser for next year's manga adaptation Terra Formars, which appears to be one of his most ambitious projects to date. With shooting scheduled for Iceland next month (a first for a Japanese film)...
Road Trip In Reverse With The Teaser For Icelandic Comedy BACK
Icelandic production house Mystery Island had a bona fide international hit on their hands with their previous feature - the dark drama Metalhead - and while the tone of their latest effort could not possibly be more different I imagine...
Crime Flick CITY STATE 2: BRAVE MEN'S BLOOD Gets A New Trailer
I can count on one hand the number of sequels Icelandic movies have gotten. In the 80s, a comedy series got two, and in the late 90s, an 80s comedy got one, and I think that's it. In the last few...
Trailer For Icelandic Horror Film GRAVES AND BONES
The good thing about the Icelandic film industry is how close knitted it is, which means it's fairly easy to get well known actors or seasoned talent to help you out on a project if the money isn't that great.Such...
Gritty Second Teaser For Icelandic Thriller CITY STATE 2
Icelandic director Olaf De Fleur returns to the scene of the crime with City State 2, the sequel to the surprise Icelandic hit which is currently slated to be remade in the US by James Mangold. The first was a...
Ragnar Bragason's METALHEAD Sets New Record With 16 Edda Nominations
Icelandic drama Metalhead won a fair bit of love in these pages when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival - see the links below for a full review - and it appears that the response in Iceland has...
