Heartstone/Hjartasteinn (2016) - Guðmundsson arrives with a stunning puberty drama for the ages

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+ Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Animal Movie of the Year + Best Debut of the Year + Best Icelandic Movie of the Year + Best  Nature Movie of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year 

 

An atmospheric purple sky looms over two young male friends on this neat poster for Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson's Heartstone

Thor and Christian are best friends in a countryside part of Iceland, where in the midst of the wildness of nature they go through a virtual juvenile whirlwind of emotions.

 

Heartstone is written, co-produced and directed by debuting Icelandic master filmmaker Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (Þröng sýn (2005, short)). The English title is a literal translation of the original Icelandic title.

With a sensory, (thematically) intense range of images in nature and involving animals, often dead, Heartstone kicks the adult construction that is 'the harmonic-calm idea of puberty (and nature)' with gorgeous visuals and performances that are good almost beyond comprehension. From both Baldur Einarsson (Bömmer (2020, miniseries)) and Blær Hinriksson (Rainbow Party (2015, short)) as the boys Thor and Christian the camera catches telling looks, palpable electricity, moments of bubbling friendship as well as tears, and more poignant depth and feeling than one ordinarily sees. Einarsson and Hinriksson both deliver brutally honest, truly incredible performances.

Heartstone works as a private time traveling machine back to the volatile emotional vortex of puberty that we all have to pass through, and its third act moved and upset me deeply. It is an absolutely peerless film about how it might always be damned painful to realize that one is a stone fish. 

Related posts:

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Top 10: Best gay-themed titles

 

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 446k $

= Uncertain

[Heartstone premiered 1 September (Venice Days) and runs 129 minutes. Guðmundsson began working on the script in 2007. Shooting took place in Iceland. The film's biggest markets were Iceland with 324k $ (72.6 % of the total gross), Denmark with 85k $ (19.1 %) and South Korea with 35k $ (7.8 %). It may have a higher gross than listed here, since several markets it was released in regrettably do not figure on the film's BoxOfficeMojo site. The film won 9/16 Edda awards (Iceland's Oscar), a European Film award and was nominated for the Nordic Council prize, among other honors. Guðmundsson returned with Beautiful Beings/Berdreymi (2022). Einarsson returned in Draugurinn (2018, short) and theatrically in Agnes Joy (2019); Hinriksson in Shells (2018, short) and theatrically in From Iceland to Eden (2019). Heartstone is fresh at 84 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Heartstone?

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?

Noi the Albino/Nói Albinói (2003) - Kári's personal, escape-themed debut

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+ Best Icelandic Movie of the Year

 

The title character sprints through a winter landscape on this poster for Dagur Kári's Noi the Albino

When Nói doesn't get up for school, his grandmother goes out and gets the shotgun and fires a shot off out through his window. Nói may be a wunderkind, as his psychologist announces, - but he is also preoccupied and lazy, and a bit of a rascal.

 

Noi the Albino is written and directed by debuting, great Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kári (The Good Heart (2009)).

It is an unpredictable film that Kári has made, marking the arrival of the Icelandic Jim Jarmusch-reminiscent auteur. He stylishly serves us a mercilessly cold and undesirable portrayal of Icelandic life, which is only uplifted by harsh absurdly comical scenes, SPOILER such as Nói's dropping pig's blood all over his grandmother and father, or when he has to dig a grave in the middle of a blizzard.

Ultimately Noi the Albino is a tragedy that celebrates the eternal dance with the idea of escape, poignantly understandable here in a small Icelandic fishing village.

 

Related posts:

Dagur Kári: 2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

The Good Heart (2009) - Cox/Dano paired again in Kári's financially disastrous, original, warm and great dramedy 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 1.1 mil. €, approximately 1.28 mil. $

Box office: 1.3 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.18 times its cost)

[Noi the Albino premiered 24 January (Angers European First Film Festival, France) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in Iceland, including in Reykjavik, and in Cuba. The film opened #92 to a 4k $ first weekend in North America (New York), where it peaked at #81 and in 7 theaters, grossing 60k $ (4.7 % of the total gross). The film sold 5,511 tickets in co-producing country Denmark, coming to approximately 418k DKK or 65k $ (5.1 %). The film won 6/11 Edda awards, Iceland's Oscar, was nominated for 3 European Film awards and several other honors. Kári returned with Dark Horse/Voksne Mennesker (2005). Tómas Lemarquis (Blade Runner 2049 (2017)), who plays Nói, returned in Nina's House/La Maison de Nina (2005). Noi the Albino is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Noi the Albino?

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020, VOD) - Hilarious Ferrell comeback

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+ Best Comeback of the Year: Will Ferrell + Best Music Movie of the Year

Two united melodious believers adjoin on this poster for Dave Dobkin's Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Lars of Iceland is a middle-aged man living in his publicly shameful father's house. As this arrangement is coming to an end, Lars' dream of going to the Eurovision Song Contest comes to life, performing with his singing partner Sigrit.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is written by Andrew Steele (The Cicada Hunk (2015)) and co-writer/co-producer/co-star Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)) and directed by Dave Dobkin (52nd St. Serenade (1992)).
Based on the fascinating broadcast phenomenon that is the Eurovision, the world's biggest song contest, which attracts around a couple of hundred million viewers every year, - but is not widely known outside of Europe, - the film has a ball with the outlandish costumes, uncool lyrics and gimmicks that always surround the contestants. The Iceland setting invites more fun, as the Viking-rooted, deeply peaceful and naive residents suddenly have the world's attention, - or at least so they are portrayed here.
Rachel McAdams (The Family Stone (2005)) is funny and does a good impression of the good-natured, comfortable and sweetly naive Scandinavian woman. Will Ferrell (Stranger than Fiction (2006)), who has slumped in countless comedies way under his earlier level in recent years, returns to form here with a very funny performance in a film that is obviously deliberately 'clean' enough for family consumption. (The 'pure' Icelandic protagonists make the absence of foul language and awkward sex scenes auspicious.) Pierce Brosnan (The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson (1996)) is great as Ferrell's hugely disapproving father, an exaggerated type of stock character; their scenes together are among the film's funniest.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, - a title that also matches the awkwardness of the often hilarious Eurovision acts, - also has Dan Stevens (The Guest (2014)) a real delight as the show's popular Russian act, an over-compensating super-macho (but closeted gay) singer of wealth, who tries to lure Sigrit from Lars. Both Stevens and McAdams/Ferrell do quite good accents, and the implicit critique of Russia's anti-gay policies is appreciated much, not least in the (very gay) Eurovision context. The film also has a visiting American quartet of random young tourists, who are effectively set in their place in a few scenes that are also funny because they showcase the rampant anti-Americanism in Europe under President Trump. No doubt much of the inspiration and fun in this film stems from Ferrell's being married to a Swedish woman in real life.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga takes no new ground, and it isn't a nonstop barrage of laughs, but it's a damn good time with a beloved star returning to something with a sweeter edge to it. And then it has songs like Double Trouble, Lion of Love and, yeah, the really memorable: Jaja Ding Dong!

 

Related post:

 

2020 in films - according to Film Excess

 

Watch the Volcano Man music video from the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - VOD
= Uncertain
[Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga premiered 26 June (Netflix) and runs 123 minutes. Ferrell was introduced to the Eurovision by his Swedish wife in 1999. He attended the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal to research for the script. Shooting took place in Iceland, the UK, including London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and in Tel Aviv, Israel. 3.6 mil. $ were reportedly spent in Iceland, of which 1 mil. $ was the Icelandic government's contribution in the form of a production incentive. The release, which was to coincide with the 2020 Eurovision in May, was pushed out due to the Corona crisis cancelling the song contest. The film became the top-ranked streaming item in the North-American Netflix service as well as in many other markets. The budget and viewership data are regrettably kept secret by Netflix. Dobkin returned with Resident Alien (2020, TV-series) and is slated to return theatrically with Wedding Crashers 2 (announced). Ferrell has 6 upcoming projects, among them a TV-series, currently 5 of them in pre-production and the last one just announced; McAdams returns in Sherlock Holmes 3 (2021). Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is fresh at 63 % with a 5.78/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga?

Klovn The Final (2020) - Hvam and Christensen close their ball with plenty of hilarity

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Frank and Mia stand on a very dramatic lava landscape on this eye-popping poster for Mikkel Nørgaard's Klovn The Final

Frank is turning 50 but learns that his wife Mia feels that their marriage is coming apart, as his best friend Casper leads him on a poorly timed celebratory adventure to Iceland.

Klovn The Final is the third and intended final film in the Klovn trilogy, based on the long-running popular sitcom, written by co-writer/stars Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam (Dan-Dream (2017), both) and directed by great Danish filmmaker Mikkel Nørgaard (Klovn (2005-09)).
The story is classic for the Klovn universe; SPOILER the adulterous Iceland trip comes apart fast, and instead the two old pals hole up in an old friend's house, who is also Frank's neighbor. An escalating lie that would be humiliating to escape force the two out on thin ice, as Frank becomes increasingly aware of his marriage's impending breaking point.
There are a few weak points to the story: SPOILER Frank, though medically trained, doesn't at least attempt to save Mia's aunt, as she collapses while watering plants in the house; Casper in the end doesn't simply ply his phone from his mother-in-law's hands, as a photo-sharing activity grows dangerous, (and effectively repeats the ending of the first film, Clown/Klovn: The Movie (2010).)
The new film doesn't really take any new ground, but the story is wacky enough, - starting out as a slightly claustrophobic, undeniably absurd variation on Rear Window (1954) that later gets air and more locations, - and original enough that we can't tell its zigzagging course. The stars are experts at their comedic deliveries, and The Final has enough of its comedic duo's self-deprecating trademark lines and faces that fans will laugh plenty and be well entertained. SPOILER Funniest moment: When both Frank and Casper explain away their collapsing Iceland stories with possible brain tumors. - A simply hilarious scene.
Even so it is probably fine that this is the final for this universe and characters, which have run their course now.

Related posts:

Mikkel Nørgaard: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Klown Forever/Klovn Forever (2015) - A raunchy laugh smash 
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The Keeper of Lost Causes/Kvinden i Buret (2013) or, Grumpy and Ethnic Find a Woman in a Pressure Chamber
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   
Klown/Klovn - The Movie (2010) - Nørgaard, Hvam and Christensen strike comedy gold

Watch the trailer for the film here, regrettably without English subtitles

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Klovn The Final premiered 30 January (Denmark) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in Denmark, including Copenhagen, and in Iceland. The film sold 120k tickets in its opening weekend in production country Denmark. It is set to open in Iceland 14 February and in Norway 13 March. Nørgaard does not have his next project announced yet, and neither do Hvam nor Christensen. 227 IMDb users have given Klovn The Final a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Klovn The Final?

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) - Stiller's sweet, visually splendid Christmas present

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A carefully designed, neat poster for Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

 

Walter Mitty is a negative asset manager with LIFE magazine. He is a daydreamer, who, due to the magazine's closing, goes out on an adventure to locate a lost photograph.

In a way, Walter Mitty, co-produced, directed by and starring Ben Stiller (Zoolander (2001)), is an easy target to make fun of, because it could resemble a midlife crisis project for the star: SPOILER In it, among other things, he swims with a shark, survives a volcano eruption and climbs a mountain, - and one of the supporting characters at one point remarks that he is "as if Indiana Jones decided to join The Strokes!" But discarding the film on this basis would be a shame, because it is also a very pure-hearted project with an underlying humanism and joy to it, which, in any crisis period, is welcome.

The film at one point directly references Into the Wild (2007), - a film with a similar theme of self-discovery through adventure-seeking, but one that packs a major emotional punch, which Walter Mitty never gets near. It has lots of good music (including its score by Theodore Shapiro (Spy (2015))), which helps mask that the film's depth is very surface-bound. Visually, Walter Mitty is impressively sumptuous and skillfully designed, with cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh (Blackhat (2015)).

Stiller is good as the title character, in particular in his scenes with Kristen Wiig (Nasty Baby (2015)), which are incredibly sweet. Adam Scott (Krampus (2015)) makes a very credible a-hole, and Sean Penn (Fair Game (2010)) seems a bit involuntarily comedic as a photographer/philosopher.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is written by Steve Conrad (The Pursuit of Happiness (2006)), based on James Thurber's (The Male Animal (1939, play)) same-titled 1939 short story, which was first adapted in 1947. It is a very sweet and uplifting film.

 

Related reviews:

 

Ben Stiller: While We're Young (2014) - Baumbach offers another observant, clever downer (actor)

Tower Heist (2011) - Ratner's so-so financial crisis comedy (actor)

I'm Still Here (2010) or, Joaquin Phoenix's Bad Joke (unsuspecting subject) 

Greenberg (2010) - Baumbach's uniquely downbeat LA-romance depressant (actor)

Blades of Glory (2007) - Copycat comedy about ice figure skating (producer)

The Cable Guy (1996) - Stiller's dark comedy is a riot

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 90 mil. $

Box office: 188.5 mil. $

= Flop

[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty premiered October 5 (New York Film Festival) and runs 114 minutes. The film had been in development ever since 1994, when producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. had the idea to make another adaptation, following his producer father's 1947 film. Jim Carrey was set to star for years, and other filmmakers involved include, but are not limited to, Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Richard LaGravanese, Chuck Russell, Owen Wilson, Scarlett Johansson, Sacha Baron Cohen and Gore Verbinski. Stiller was finally announced as director-star in 2011. Filming took place in Iceland, Greenland, British Columbia, Canada, California and New York, including in the Time-Life Building, in and around May 2012. The film opened #7 to a 12.7 mil. $ first weekend in 2,909 theaters in North America, where it grossed 58.2 mil. $ (30.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 11.9 mil. $ (6.3 %) and Russia with 11.3 mil. $ (6 %). Had American audiences welcomed the film more enthusiastically, (their market share is unusually low for a homegrown, big movie), the film might have made a profit. It appeared on National Board of Review's top 10 list of the year and made an additional 15 mil. $ on DVDs and Blu-ray, which, if added to the gross, still doesn't change the film's flop status. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is rotten at 51 % with a 6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty?