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Showing posts with the label Iceland

Ljósvíkingar (Icelandic/English) [Odd Fish]

A heartwarming tale of dreams, identity and acceptance, set in a small community in the picturesque Westfjords of Iceland, this film was quite alright. I wouldn't call this film a gay film per say, but stories of self acceptance and being true to yourself and such themes are integral part of the film, so it does make sense to review it here. We meet two childhood friends Hjalti and Bjorn who run a fish restaurant in a fishing village they both grew up. Hjalti's wife and son moved to Reykjavik, after the son came out gay and was constantly bullied in school, so things between him and wife are not ok. Also he cannot accept that his son is gay. When Bjorn's father dies, he decides he has had enough and decides to come out as trans to his friend and the entire community. This is the same time when the dup also are getting an opportunity to keep their restaurant open throughout the year with a. New tour group starting northern light tours. When Bjorn comes out, suddenly Hjalti...

Cop Secret (Icelandic)

This film was much fun to watch. An ode to a lot of Hollywood action cop buddy movies with a gay twist is how this film can be best described. Of course, you need to remember to not take this film seriously. It's a spoof, and a parody of sorts of all the films in this genre. It is not even close to a perfect movie, but it manages to be a whole lot of fun for those in the mood for an action comedy. And I sure enjoyed it. Detective Bussi is Iceland’s most famous and toughest cop in leather jacket with glasses bashing bad guys. He is trigger-happy, he is a brat, always angry and he has no respect for the rules. He’s a loose cannon but he gets results. Enter Hörður. He is the cop from neighboring town, very tough, a dapper, muscular, pansexual former model. There have been a series of bank robberies and no money stolen and police is perplexed. Man behind these robberies is Rikki, who it turns out used to model with Hoarder but quit after an accident. The police department makes the two...

Hjartasteinn (Icelandic) [Heartstone]

This film is a story of teenage sexuality and teen angst in an idyllic Icelandic village. Agreed the film was stretched too much, for something that could have been shown in much less time but that doesn't take away the fact that it is an authentic and emotional look at growing up and becoming aware of your feelings, surroundings and sexuality. Thor and Christian are two pre-teen best buddies in an Icelandic fishing village where apparently everyone knows everyone's business. Its an idle summer and the two friends spend time playing, walking around, enjoying nature. Thor has a restless single mother and two intrusive older sisters, while Christian's volatile, homophobic father and mother are on the verge of a split. In between all this, they also try to flirt with 2 sisters but clearly Christian has very strong feelings for Thor, which he fails to see. Completely dejected by his surroundings, Christian decides to take his life. This is when Thor realizes about Christia...

Rökkur (Icelandic) [Rift]

What was this film? This was my reaction after I finished watching the film. One of my most regular visitors on my blog, Luigi, wanted me to check this film out and post my views here. But I am sorry my friend, I may not be very kind to this film overall. A visually striking and cinematographically one of the most beautiful films that I have seen in recent times, the film failed big time on my expectations. There are very few thrillers where the central character happens to be gay and anytime something new comes up, I really look forward to it. The good thing is that the sexual identity of the central characters is not the main issue here. They could as well have been any estranged straight couple. Gunnar has broken up with Einar and has moved on with another guy. But Einar cannot quite seem to let go. One night, Gunnar receives a late night call from Einar that worries him and he leaves immediately to visit him to a remote outpost. This is Einar’s family home where the couple has...

Órói (Icelandic) [Jitters]

Jitters is a coming of age drama set in Iceland. This film is like watching a group of teenagers through a secret camera and following the happenings in their life. The incidents can be positive, tense, romantic, eye openers or whatever but it does provide a fun , positive look at today's youngsters focussing specifically on Iceland. This is a group of trouble proned friends lead by Gabriel. On a 3 week English Immersion trip to Manchester, he shares a room with Marcus who is free spirited. He brings some character in life of Marcus and on their last day, they share a kiss. It is a short lived romance as it ends when they both come back home. They do keep sharing text messages though. Friends and family notice a change but he decides to keep a secret. We also get to know the lives of all of his friends. His best friend is having troubles with his girlfriend. He wants to score with her but she is not so easy to budge. We also have Greta, who just cant live with her mother anymore an...

Eleven Men Out (Icelandic)

This film is both comedy and also shows dysfunctional characters in Icelandic areas. This is an identical plot to the German movie Guys and Balls but where the Guys and Balls was funny and very interesting, the same cannot be said about this film. Eleven Men Out is a very depressing, serious, and awkward movie where the acting is barely passable. And I did not like that the main character's son gets caught in the middle of his father coming out and his mother being a slut and a drunk. Ottar, a famous local football player playing for the first and most popular team in Iceland announces in the beginning of the movie that he is gay just to get a story and a picture in the local magazine. Life is not the same then. He is forced to quit the team. Being a rebel, he joins a local third rate local gay team to show everyone that he can still be gay but a great footballer. The rest of the movie is the tribulations of him adjusting to his new life and team. His father is a psychiatrist and a...