Viajantes Destemidos

Northern comfort was a comedy that much is true but I think for the most part of was a drama. Just with little sprinkles of comedic moments here and there. This movie follows a group of four people who are terrified of flying, so they take a course but when they get there a man named Charles is taking them instead and they end up all getting stuck in iceland, where they deal with love. Hate, finding themselves and losing their minds as each attempt to get home. I'm happy that spall was in this great actor and his character was the fun one out the bunch. I think overall this film was still good for what it is.

Northern Comfort is certainly different. It's a novel plot with an opportunity for it's characters to be endearing, but instead follows individual arcs where none of them are particularly likeable.

A small group of people with a fear of flying undertake a course to overcome their phobia. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, they find themselves marooned in Iceland. Whilst the the plot does get going, for a relatively short film it doesn't fly by at all.

It's quirky, but fails to capture enough attention to be able to recall the names of the characters. The comedy is weak, provided through the unconventional or deadpan. Some beautiful scenery is showcased, but you could watch an advert from the Icelandic tourism board for that.

Some films are heart-warming and life-affirming, Northern Comfort isn't either, nor is it a comedy, in the sense that I didn't laugh at all whilst watching it.

I can sense what the creators were aiming at, an offbeat stab at the anxieties, atomisation and general perversity and shallowness of modern life, centred around fear of flying but attempting to tackle some deeper issues. It may have worked better as a straight up drama, or with the insertion of some actual jokes - an effective satire.

Timothy Spall is usually decent and he isn't bad here, just underused. The cinematography is fine and the central performance of Lydia Leonard is rather good.

None of the characters really connect with one another (which might be intentional) and there is a sense of loneliness pervading the whole thing, enhanced by the cold and harsh Icelandic environment. The plot takes some turns into weird territory, but not really weird enough to make a real statement. There were opportunities for some physical comedy, but these were overlooked (perhaps, the makers felt actual humour would be too crass?).

'Jokes' revolve around random men showing pics of their genitals as a seduction attempt; a random hook-up between two men which might be a desperate career move, a coming out revelation or both; a social media 'influencer' who describes her career as 'travelling the world and taking pictures of my bum' and a taxi driver driving whilst drunk. Oh, and one of the characters has a silly haircut.

If any of that sounds promising to you then maybe this will appeal.

As a final side note, I wonder whether this is the type of slightly disturbing and dissatisfying product that AI, raised entirely on a diet of social media and the internet, will create in the future?

Normally love any thing Timothy Spall is in but this was disappointing. Started out with great premise then was just silly and predictable. It couldn't work out if was to be a comedy or more serious drama. None of the characters were that likeable and when they do flights for those with a fear of flying they just take off, fly around for under an hour and land at the airport they took off from. Story too unbelievable and by the end I didn't care what happened to all of them.

The parter the main character was with wasn't a nice person and you got annoyed that she wouldn't own up and admit she was still scared of flying which was basically the whole of the storyline.

A group of people, all with an intense fear of flying, attend a course, and when they finally end up in the air, their flight goes wrong, and they get marooned in Iceland.

It's bizarre, I have no other word to describe this film, it is just utterly weird and zany. I thought it was going to be so much better.

I honestly can't say I disliked it, that wouldn't be fair, but I definitely wouldn't want to sit through it again. Billed as a comedy, but very thin on laughs, but definitely an interesting character study.

It takes some seriously weird turns, the whole Alfonso situation was so bizarre, but did give us the film's funniest sequence. For me, Edward was the most interesting character, sadly his backstory just wasn't developed enough.

One thing it did, was make me want to visit Iceland, it looks sublime.

Timothy Spall stood out, but then he always does.

Quirky, disappointing, but bizarrely watchable.

6/10.