If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Steypa (2007, Directors: Markús Thór Andrésson and Ragnheidur Gestsdóttir): I’m not a contemporary art connoisseur by any means, but my reason for choosing Steypa was simple. It’s about Iceland. My husband and I are travelling to the island country in September this year for the Reykjavik International Film Festival, so any chance I get to see the Icelandic culture and environment, I jump.
Steypa is an enjoyable film. The film’s title has two meanings. Steypa is the word for concrete, as in the material used in construction. It also can be used to refer to something that is weird, different or unusual. And looking at the contemporary art scene in Iceland, weird, different or unusual is certainly fitting. The directors focus on seven artists, following them as they choose their materials, display their art in galleries and work on their creations. Amid the quirky pieces of art, however, I found myself more amused and charmed by the artists themselves. Or rather, at their Icelandic sense of humour (if you’ve seen films by Icelander Robert Douglas, you’ll know what I mean). One artist fills Fanta bottles with Pepsi, but admits that he is actually using Coke. “It’s cheaper,” he says. Another steals plant clippings from a seniors’ apartment, noting that no one will really notice if they’re missing.
Even though I would not actually hang any of the artists’ work in my apartment, I appreciate their focus and integrity to their art. There is no limit to their resourcefulness and creativity.
The one criticism I have is that even though each artist is always titled (through a rather snazzy bit of rainbow-coloured animation), I found it rather confusing to remember which artist was which. Barring that, Steypa really is true to a North American meaning of concrete: solid, but with a little weird thrown in.
Trailer
(7/10)
Tagged as:
art,
iceland
From a press release sent out by the Icelandic Tourist Board:
In collaboration with the New York-based curatorial team Package Deals, a handful of feature films will be screened in Toronto during the festival. The film Children (Börn), by well-known Icelandic director Ragnar Bragason, is a compelling look at a group of dysfunctional people in Reykjavik. Shot in beautifully stylized black and white, which complements the film’s dark atmosphere, the story’s unexpected twists and turns lead to a provocative denouement. The film was awarded the Best Screenplay award at the 2006 Edda Awards, Iceland’s equivalent of the Academy Awards, in 2006. This screening marks the Toronto premiere of Children (Börn).
The new acclaimed film Heima will also be screening as part of the Taste of Iceland festival. Directed by Ottawa native Dean DeBlois, Heima, which translates as both “home” and “homeland”, chronicles a series of free concerts that Sigur Rós, Iceland’s biggest musical export after Björk, played in their native Iceland in the summer of 2006. The film provides unique insights into one of the world’s most fascinating and inscrutable bands, captured live while exploring their natural habitat — ”the mysterious, otherworldly landscape of Iceland” — like never before.
Both films will screen at the Cumberland Theatre on Bloor St. Children (Börn) will air at 6:30pm and Heima at 8:15pm, both on Thursday, March 13th.
The film screenings are part of A Taste of Iceland, a weeklong Icelandic cultural festival in the city, which includes free musical events and an Icelandic dinner. Check out the full press release for more details.
Unfortunately, I’m going to be in Austin this week, but if you catch Children (Börn), comment here. I’ve already raved about Heima elsewhere, and you should definitely catch it on a big screen.
And though I’m sad to be missing this event, it just makes me that much more excited for my trip to Iceland this coming September for the Reykjavik International Film Festival.
Tagged as:
iceland,
music
Heima (Director: Dean De Blois, 2007): Ever since Bob blogged about the trailer way back in August, I’ve been desperate to see this film. Screenings have been carefully controlled, and I was fortunate to attend the first Canadian screening last night. Although the film was released on DVD a few days ago, there is really no comparison to seeing a film like this on a big screen with a decent sound system, among a group of like-minded music fans. Sigur Rós is a band from Iceland whose music is nearly indescribable. It’s orchestral and epic and spiritual and beautiful and moving. I’d seen the band perform at Massey Hall a few years ago, and I’d compared the experience to “seeing God.” The film does not disappoint.
First of all, despite the filmmakers’ stated desire to avoid the “touristy” shots of Iceland, it’s impossible to make the country look anything but breathtaking. My wife and I plan to visit in 2008, and this just got me even more excited. I liked the way the film travels with the band to different places in the country to perform free concerts for the population. And I loved that everyone came, from babies to grandparents. It reminded me of my travels in Newfoundland, where evenings at the pub were attended by almost everyone. The music was superb, and by the time I finished watching the film, it was quite possible to believe that Sigur Rós is the only band that matters. The interviews with the band members didn’t add a lot in terms of insight into the music itself, but it was nice to see them in relaxed settings speaking their quirkily-accented English.
I will say without shame that I dozed a little at certain points. That’s not an insult to the music or the imagery. It just felt like the line between waking and dreaming was so thin that was easier to cross over. It didn’t hurt/help that the screening began at 11:15pm and that I’d spent the early part of the evening drinking beer.
I’ll look forward to seeing this again and again when my DVD arrives, but I’d recommend trying to see this in a cinema if you can.
Buy from Amazon.ca
Buy from Amazon.com
Official site for the film (US)
Official site for the film (UK)
(9/10)
Tagged as:
Documentaries,
DVD,
iceland,
music,
Theatrical Release
Jar City (Mýrin) (Director: Baltasar Kormákur): I previewed this film a few weeks back and thought that it looked like a stylish thriller which had the added benefit of being set in Iceland, and that’s essentially what it is. The natural beauty of the Icelandic setting is played down, however, with Kormákur pointing his camera at the bleaker and less spectacular parts of the countryside, which helps to keep the focus on the characters. Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, as police inspector Erlendur, gives a particularly intense performance as a man trying to solve a murder that has its roots in the past. Issues of privacy arise when it turns out that someone has been using the country’s unique genetic database to search for a common thread among several victims. Iceland’s small size makes it a unique place for this sort of genetic research, not to mention the fact that violent crime is relatively rare and word travels fast when it does occur. Despite these unique touches, the film is too much like an episode of Cold Case, CSI, or other television fare to have lasting appeal.
As well, the timeline of events becomes a bit confusing in places, and the presence of three father-daughter pairings fails to resonate as intended. I suspect that these flaws are not present in the source novel, Tainted Blood, by Arnaldur Indriðason, which has now been republished under the title Jar City. As with most adaptations, it’s likely that a lot has been left out, and in the case of this film, what’s missing feels important.
The musical score (by Icelandic pop star Mugison, who also scored Kormákur’s last film, A Little Trip To Heaven) is made up entirely of choral pieces sung by the Icelandic Police Choir, and although the director claims to have been aiming for “ghostly” music, at times and places in the film it feels heavy-handed.
Overall, I found the film enjoyable but ultimately forgettable.
Here is the Q&A with director Baltasar Kormákur from after the screening:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Duration: 14:11
Trailer
Official Site
(7/10)
Tagged as:
iceland,
TIFF
The Boss Of It All (Direktøren for det hele) (Director: Lars von Trier, Denmark, 2006): After a string of serious and political films, Danish bad boy Lars von Trier has directed what he describes as a “harmless” comedy. Ravn, the owner of an IT firm, is interested in selling his company to an Icelandic businessman (a clever cameo by Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson), but for the past ten years has pretended that the actual owner (“the boss of it all”) lives in America. It’s a ruse that has allowed him to blame all the hard decisions on the absent owner and take all the credit for any successes himself. But now he needs to produce this phantom in order to sign the deal, so he hires Kristoffer, an out-of-work actor whose self-importance is comically outsized compared to his talent. The hijinks begin when the company’s employees catch a glimpse of the man they’ve been waiting ten years to meet.
At first, it’s easy to snow the employees with business doublespeak, but soon he finds out that Ravn has been sending emails to them over the years posing as “the boss of it all” and he’s neglected to tell Kristoffer who’s been told which lie. Within a few days, he’s been seduced by one employee, punched by another, and engaged to a third. As the scheme spirals out of both men’s control, the Icelanders return to seal the deal.
At this point, Kristoffer discovers that Ravn’s plan is to sell the company, lay off all the employees, and profit from intellectual property that is not his to sell. Kristoffer’s initial solution threatens a form of infinite regress, with him blaming an absent “boss of the boss of it all.” Fortunately, he changes tactics, but just as we think he is going to show some moral courage, his actor’s ego overwhelms him.
The film plays a bit like a Shakespearean comedy, in that director von Trier inserts himself into the film as narrator at several points, explaining what is coming up or what has just happened. And as a script, it’s clever and frequently hilarious. The actors are also well-chosen, with the two leads especially well-cast. The problem for me is that as a film, it isn’t visually interesting. At this point, I need to insert something about Automavision™, “a principle for shooting film (and recording the sound) developed with the intention of limiting human influence by inviting chance in from the cold and thus giving the work an ‘idealess’ surface free of the force of habit and aesthetics.” What this means is that after the cinematographer chooses a camera position and aperture, a computer algorithm offsets it so that each shot achieves a kind of randomness. In practice, it was slightly distracting, and certainly didn’t add anything to a visually uninspired film.
There are a lot of jokes made in the film at the expense of the “artistic” theatre actor, but in this case, The Boss Of It All might just be more at home on an actual stage.
UPDATE: The film opens in Toronto on July 13.
Official site for the film
(7/10)
Tagged as:
denmark,
iceland,
larsvontrier,
Theatrical Release
