Posterized: The Best of Icelandic Cinema
Friday, April 17, 2020 at 1:00PM by Nathaniel R
A few weeks back we celebrated Romanian cinema due to Whistlers, their most recent Oscar submission, hitting VOD. Why not follow suit today as Iceland's latest Oscar submission, A White White Day, arrives for home viewing? A White White Day is a moving character study about a widower dealing with new revelations about his wife after her death in a car accident. Meanwhile he's building a home for his daughter against the Icelandic landscape which makes for memorable recurring tableaus. We reviewed it at TIFF last year and it's worth checking out. Especially if you love Nordic cinema or are familiar with the work of Iceland's greatest movie star Ingvar E Sigurdsson, who is typically perfect here. We imagine that this film would have ruled this year's Edda Awards (Iceland's Oscars essentially) but the Eddas have been postponed indefinitely (they were originally scheduled for March) due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And on that note let's look back at the most essential, famous, acclaimed, influential (or some combo thereof) Icelandic films of the past 40 years via our Posterized series. We've put asterisks beside all the titles that star Sigurdsson since we love him and you will too after screening A White White Day.
How many of these 18 Icelandic films have you seen?
Land and Sons (1980, Ágúst Guðmundsson) This is considered the "origin" point of contemporary Icelandic cinema. The drama about the tension between farms and cities and a young man during the Depression was their first feature submitted to the Oscars. Since 1980 the Icelandic film industry has grown and they now produce around four or five films per year (not to mention numerous Hollywood productions shooting there for their landscapes). A handful of films annually might not seem like a lot but their population is under 400,000 so it's pretty good per capita!
When the Raven Flies (1984, Hrafn Gunnlaugsson) For a good long while this bloody Viking epic was the most famous Icelandic movie. It failed to score an Oscar nomination, though.
Children of Nature (1991, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson) This romantic drama about a couple escaping their senior citizen home to live in the country became Iceland's first (and still only) Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Friðriksson is prolific and he went on to become his country's most submitted director with six Oscar entries in total. Iceland is still looking for that elusive second Oscar nomination, though (the closest they came was The Deep in 2012 which made the finals -- it also just missed this particular list of Icelandic movies to seek out so its fate repeats!)
Remote Control (1992, Óskar Jónasson)
A very popular (in Iceland) punk comedy about two siblings and a mother's missing remote control. (Iceland sent a more traditional period drama to the Oscars that year, As in Heaven)
Cold Fever (1995, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson)
This international production is about a Japanese businessman (Masatoshi Nagase) having a peculiar trip to Iceland for mournful reasons. American actors Lili Taylor and Fisher Stevens co-star with various Japanese and Icelandic actors. (It wasn't submitted to the Oscars, surely because of the international/multi-language factor.)
Angels of the Universe* (2000, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson)
Our favourite Icelandic movie star headlines as a schizophrenic in this Oscar submission set in a mental institute. This was Ingvar Sigurdsson's seventh feature (the most famous before that was the 1996 Oscar submission Devil's Island which we almost included in this list but a few titles had to go to keep the list manageable). Sigurdsson won the Edda Awards for Lead Acting. In fact he won Best Actor in the first two consecutive years of Iceland's top film prize. The film co-stars Baltasar Kormákur as a fellow asylum inmate. Kormakur was soon to become the country's most popular director.
101 Reyjkavik (2000, Baltasar Kormákur)
This international arthouse hit about a young man and his mother and the Spanish woman (Victoria Abril) they both fall for, heralded an important new talent in the director's chair. Kormakur would go on to become Iceland's most internationally successful director and it started here. Now he makes masculine star driven Hollywood programmers like 2 Guns (2013) and Everest (2015) inbetween his Icelandic pictures. It wasn't submitted for the Oscars despite its popularity but that could be because it's in multiple languages (including English). It won the Screenplay prize at the Eddas which was the first of Kormakur's 8 wins (in various categories).
The Sea (2002, Baltasar Kormákur)
Kormakur's follow up to his debut was a dysfunctional family drama that was his first Oscar submission. It won 8 Edda Awards and is in some ways the quintessential Icelandic film, including nearly every trope the country's cinema (hell, a lot of Nordic/Scandinavian cinema for that matter) loves to lean into.
Noi the Albino (2003, Dagur Kari Petursson)
This Oscar submission and cult hit about a teenage boy who dreams of escaping his tiny universe on a fjord surrounded by mountains and snow was a major hit at film festivals. It was eventually nominated for three European Film Awards.
Cold Light* (2004, Hilmar Oddsson)
This drama about a man haunted by his past became Iceland's Oscar submission and won Sigurdsson his third Actor of the Year prize at the Eddas.
Jar City* (2007, Baltasar Kormákur)
This crime drama and Oscar submission is about a weary police detectice (Sigurdsson) and a murder investigation in a small town.
Volcano (2011, Rúnar Rúnarsson)
This critical favourite and Oscar submission is another dark family drama (Iceland loves those) about a patriarch trying to reconcile with his estranged children.
Metalhead (2013, Ragnar Bragason)
This film, which won the most Edda Awards in its year (but lost the best film prize to the next film in our list) has developed a cult following. It's about a girl who loves black metal and dreams of becoming a rock star. We've never quite understand why metal music is so popular in Nordic countries but here's an example of it.
Of Horses and Men* (2013, Benedikt Erlingsson)
NEW FAVOURITE AUTEUR ALERT. We fell hard for Benedikt Erlingsson, an actor turned director, with this difficult-to-describe movie about odd people and their even odder relationship with horses. Though it was submitted for the Oscars, it was obviously way too weird for them.
Land Ho! (2014, Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens)
No, it's not strictly an Icelandic picture and it's in English. But it feels right to include here since it an Icelandic/US co-production and, more importantly, practically doubles as a 95 minute advertisement for Iceland's Tourism Board. Two old friends take a trip to Iceland and live it up. It's a very charming picture and if you've ever visited Iceland you'll recognize the famous destination spots! (Yes, we've been. Three times! To the country not the movie. We saw that only once but it's good fun.)
Rams (2015, Grímur Hákonarson)
This dramedy about long-estranged brothers coming together to save their family sheep was a critical darling, won 11 Edda Awards, and became both Iceland's Oscar submission and a European Film Award nominee for Best Film (in a really top notch year. But unfortunately all the very fine nominees lost to the least worthy contender: Italy's Youth)
Heartstone (2016, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson)
Though this coming-of-age teen LGBTQ drama wasn't an Oscar submission (that honor went to Sparrows which was up against Rams the previous year at the Eddas), it won fine reviews, festival honors and took Iceland's top film prize.
Woman at War (2018, Benedikt Erlingsson)
Erlingsson's second feature (and second Edda winner and Oscar submission) was even better than his jaw-dropping debut and proved he was no flash-in-the-pan director. We will now follow him wherever he wants to take us. In this case it was across the Icelandic landscape as we watched a middle age choir director commit acts of corporate terrorism to stop the ravaging of the Icelandic environment. Woman at War didn't manage an Oscar nomination (which is crazy) but it's been optioned for an American remake by Jodie Foster but there's no way the American version will have half as much personality or humor so do yourself a favor and stream this on Hulu, please!
How many of these pictures have you seen? Have you ever been to Iceland? We highly recommend once you can travel again.
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Reader Comments (12)
Can I add 2018's "And Breathe Normally?" (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/and_breathe_normally)
Manages to combine queer cinema with social justice and immigration issues...Tense, absorbing, beautifully acted.
I love Scandinavian cinema but may have missed out on a lot of Icelandic films. Some stand-outs:
Noi Albinoi is a wonderful, beautifully-bleak drama with ethereal music and dark-themed winter landscapes. I have not seen this again since seeing it in our local art cinema back then but that avalanche took my breath away.
Land Ho! is also a sweet and tender story of two men who opted to go to more daring territories and experiences. Despite some predictable set-ups, some affecting moments about making connections with the unlikeliest of people were genuinely touching.
Rams is probably my favorite in the list. This is where landscape and livestock play a crucial role in deepening the tension between estranged brothers and how they must unite to save what matters most in their lives. A lot of heartbreaking scenes without cloying manipulations involving the brothers and the titular rams.
I have not seen Woman at War yet but I will do soon during this lockdown.
I feel like I’ve seen a lot of Danish and Swedish cinema, but somehow, the only film on this list I’ve seen is Land Ho, which I LOVED. I did have the chance to watch A White, White Day yesterday which I found interesting if expectedly slow. Thanks for this list!
I saw the Tommy Lee Jones / Anne Heche "Volcano". Does that count?
I am only a recent imbiber of Icelandic cinema (not from choice, but from lack of availability - it's only my recent decision to visit the Melbourne Film Festival every year, and the appearance of an annual Scandinavian Film Festival for the past half-decade, that has broadened their accessibility for me).
LAND HO!, RAMS, HEARTSTONE and A WHITE WHITE DAY each featured in my annual "Best-Films-Of_201*" lists for their years. WOMAN AT WAR is also very good.
Trivia: an Australian remake of RAMS is currently in post-production, featuring two of our(/New Zealand's) greatest acting treasures in Sam Neill and Michael Caton (as well as Miranda Richardson). It is a remake that I am actually looking forward to, as I am really interested in seeing the Australian perspective on this story.
Also want to endorse dtsf's wish to include AND BREATHE NORMALLY (and/or urge anyone who hasn't seen it to check it out).
I also did see COLD FEVER in the 90s, as it was one of the rare Iceland movies that actually did make it to Adelaide arthouse cinemas back then.
Heartstone -didn't get it- and Woman at War which is superwatchable and has a great female lead.
Rams and Woman At War were brilliant.
I have not seen any of them but "Hardstone " sounds interesting.
101 Reykjavik is a perfect comedy, Movie Days (1994) is also an excellent comedy.
Seen every one, with Rams being my favorite on the list. I'd also like to recommend Fridriksson's "Mamma Gogo," "The Juniper Tree" with Bjork, a documentary called "Last Days of the Arctic," and a short called "The Nail" if you can find them.
whunk -- i saw Mamma Gogo! but no one speaks of it so i ddin't include it here.