101 Reykjavik

Iceland is a strange country, isolated from the rest of the world and with a strong sense of its traditional identity; but also affluent, liberal and with a reputation for hedonism. '101 Reykjavik', named after a district of its capital city famed for its nightclubs, takes a wry and jaundiced look at that society, viewing it through the perspective of Hlynur, a depressed, childish and insular young man living at home with his mother. Hlynur seems a very Icelandic sort of anti-hero, and the link between the nature of the characters and their place of abode gives this quirky comedy a distinctive and authentic feel, although it seems slightly surprising how much female attention the socially defective Hylnur is able to attract. There are more sophisticated movies out there, but '101 Rekjavik' is always entertaining and certainly worth watching, especially to anyone who's wondered what it really must be like to live in such a peculiar outpost of the western world.

I have been living in Iceland for a year and a half and got a picture of the country, its people and its capital, Reykjavík (I actually even lived in the 101 postal code in Reykjavík). This movie is really highlighting a type of persons that I have met quite often in Iceland. I think it is a clear and accurate picture of an important part of the young population. The main actor, Hilmir Snær Guðnason (Hlynur), is really expressing this disillusion that you can feel while enjoying Reykjavík's night life. If you want to go to this marvelous country or if you just interested how one can survived after a few months winter night, this is the movie to go watching. But do not worry, there is more than that in Iceland.

At first I thought this would be yet another melancholic Scandinavian psycho-drama involving a boy and his coming out lesbian mum. The plot is indeed somewhat along these lines, but there's nothing melancholic let alone Scandinavian about this funny funny movie.

However this is not exactly a comedy either although it turns out to be comical enough. Rather it's a slice of life seen through the glasses of an almost 30 years old drone, brilliantly played by Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, living off benefits and his far too indulgent mother.

Hlynur the anti-hero sleeps til noon, loafs around at home all day and drinks all night. Although he manages to sleep with members of the opposite sex, he can't bear to wake up to them. In other words he's a modern Peter Pan refusing to grow up -- if you can imagine Peter Pan as an apathetic chain-smoking sloth in a parka. And he seems fairly content with his simple non-life until Victoria Abril waltzes in .

The scene where Hlynur's mum confesses her new found sexual direction is nothing short of wonderful. It has an unerring ring of truth to it: a family drama played out over a quiet cuppa in the kitchen and it manages to be moving and hilarious at the same time. In that very scene Gudnason also shows off his exquisite acting skills: with great restraint and uttering PC platitudes he betrays the emotional battle raging within. Pathetic yet sympathetic.

Hlynur is played with just the right blend of indifference, impotence (although not sexual) and self-pity needed for the part and, though fairly unsympathetic to begin with, he grows on you as he reveals himself as a lost little boy. That much of his depressive nerd personality is more or less kept throughout the whole process is yet another proof of the quality of the acting and writing in 101 Reykjavik.

All the main actors central to the plot give stellar performances and many of the marginals too. The music is interesting, scored by our very own Damon Albarn (of Blur) and Einar the Sugarcube (Bjork's Svengali). I especially liked the ambient-reggae version of the old Kinks standard Lola.

Some of the dialogue is in Icelandic which is fine as long as it is subtitled. Much of it is however in English delivered in a bizarre -- but fortunately intelligible -- cocktail of Icelandic and Spanish accents.

There are few drawbacks to this flick, the main one being the obligatory landscape scene of some glacier or lava... I forget. But that's like criticizing a three star restaurant for a spelling error in the menu. -- The superb Reykjavik nightlife scenes are however not to be missed and could well serve as advertisements for Icelandair.

One nice oddity is the nowadays little used narrator voice-over. Well, actually Hlynur serves more as a commentator to the respective fixes he finds himself in, deadpan, mordant and hilarious, but rarely explaining much which the viewer hasn't already divined far better than Hlynur himself ever will. I suspect that these comments are original quotes from the novel on which the film is based.

Played out with extremely dry, self-depreciating, almost Jewish humor, the movie draws to an end as a fairly touching story of familial love disguised as an adult coming-of-age movie, wrapped inside a black comedy. And as often enough happens in real life this Gordian knot of personal problems more or less unravels itself. In a movie however such a solution may seem cheap, but this one gets away with it as the characters just carry on with their lives after redefining the nuclear family.

This is the directing debut by actor/director Baltasar Kormakur, who also wrote the script. Actors do often not make the best directors, but Kormakur proves to be an exception to that rule. The characters are well developed as one could expect, but they are not allowed to get in the way of the storytelling, which relies more on visual details and physical acting than endless dialogue and over-dramatization. This is doubly impressing considering the literary origin of the movie.

And maybe this is a clue to why this film works so well: it is uniquely Icelandic (or should I say Mid-Atlantic), drawing on European and American filmmaking traditions, thus enjoying the best of both worlds: old and new. I know it will work in Britain and Europe and the Americans seem to like it as well judging by the rave review 101 Reykjavik got in Variety and the success at the influential Toronto film festival.

I saw the film 101Reykjavik during one of my sessions as a projectionist at a movie theater in Helsingborg. I had no previous knowledge of the film neither had I heard anything about it, but boy was I in for a treat.

Although the movie seems incomplete story wise, the characters and the dialog is superb and some of the plot twists make you fall out of the chair in laughter. So despite the lack in story development the overall experience is great. The music (by among others Damon Albarn) compliments the pictures wonderfully with its playful themes of the old classic "Lola". It is really a variation of the old "Slacker" theme but it is done without any moral judgement on the characters. Some people aren't ment to become important and some are. Hlynur (the protagonist) is constantly torn between his selfconscious criticism of the world and the inevitable fact that he has to live in it and he gets by as best as he can. Would the story had been allowed to develop even further the movie would have been the ultimate voice of the "Slacker" generation but since it falls short the best one can do is just take it for what it is and enjoy.

I would warmly recommend the movie to everyone under 35, the older generations might want to check out something else.

Others have rehearsed the plot so here are some general comments.

The best thing about this film is Victoria Abril who is not so much a woman as a force of nature. I must admit I've not seen any of her work with Almodovar, but I was surprised to learn from the DVD filmography that she's been working in European cinema since as long ago as Richard Lester's 1976 "Robin and Marian". She was 40 when this film was made, so hardly a 'toygirl' for the fiftyish mother (although quite a catch, it must be said).

I guess Lola was changed from an Icelandic character to Spanish to draw in the European art-house audience but it's still a decision which works well as she personifies an outside force which arrives and turns Hlynar's world upside down.

The film feels very much like the novel adaptation it is - quite a lot of voice-over and exposition - but there are a number of deadpan cinematic jokes of the Kaurismaki variety, combined with sexual outrageousness in the Almodovar vein. Some of the humour only becomes apparent on repeated viewings; in all the fusion of styles works surprisingly well.

Overall, this probably won't change your life but it's a lot of fun.