Of Horses and Men/Hross í oss (2013) - Beautiful images in small, disjointed, overrated debut

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Two horses mate, with a rider stuck on top of the female horse on this peculiar poster for Benedikt Erlingsson's Of Horses and Men

In Iceland we meet a row of men, - and a few women, - who are closely connected to their beautiful horses.

Of Horses and Men is written and directed by debuting Benedikt Erlingsson (Thanks/Takk fyrir hjálpið (2007, short)).

It is an unconventional film with beautiful images of Iceland and horses, esteemed photography by Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson (The Deep/Djúpið (2012)). Instead of a real story, we get several incidents involving men and horses, and in this way the title is a very precise declaration of the contents here.

Mating, death, transportation, pride, regret, pain and tenderness are presented thematically. But when the very short, and according to IMDb, (they list a 10 mil. $ budget!), unbelievably expensive film ends, the film still feels skimping on some aspects. It occurs to me that Erlingsson might have taken the trouble to collect his main interest (men and horses) in a real story instead of all these abrupt situations of varying poignancy. Of Horses and Men is therefore a bit disappointing, a small film that is locally - in Scandinavia - excessively praised.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Uncertain (IMDb claims 10 mil. $, which seems an unbelievably high figure)

Box office: 239k $

= Box office disaster (projected return of 0.07 times its cost)

[Of Horses and Men was released 28 August (Iceland) and runs 81 minutes. Shooting took place in Iceland. The actual budget is unknown; IMDb lists 10 mil. $, but I have projected it at 3 mil. $, which gives the 0.07 return, (if IMDb's figure is correct the return would be 0.02.) The film won 6/14 Edda awards (Iceland's Oscar) and the Nordic Council's Film Prize, among other honors. It was Iceland's Oscar bid but did not get nominated. Erlingsson returned with The Show of Shows (2015, documentary) and theatrically with Woman at War/Kona fer í stríð (2018). Of Horses and Men is fresh at 100 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Of Horses and Men?