Esprit d'équipe

I saw this last night at the Fort Lauderdale Intl Film Festival and I was disappointed. While the Cast (especially the lead) is quite stunning to look at, most of the film's only laughs come from the lead's drunken ex-wife. The print of the film we saw was blurry and could not be focused. It was very hard to keep up on reading the subtitles, they were very fast, much faster than normal. The story just didn't go much of anywhere and the ending was quite uneventful. The look of the film is of course very cold and gray, I assume this was filmed during the summer, I can only imagine how gray, cold and isolated it would look in winter. Lots of old lame gay jokes and of course the needless use of drag queens. (why does every gay movie have to have a drag queen lurking about somewhere). Wait for the DVD on this one, but don't expect much.

It's been a long time since we've had a genuinely funny film here in Iceland. Been to dramatic over the last years. This film is first and foremost a feel-good and light affair about a star football player that comes out of the closet and the way he and his family deal with it. It's not the old story of somebody coming out and having huge problems with it, the main character here seems to have no problems with his gay life and it's more his teammates and most notably his teenage son and ex-beauty queen wife that have some unclear issues about him being gay. The film decides to take the humorous road and it's refreshing to see a film about gay themes that does not take itself too seriously. It does have it's dramatic moments, but the drama/comedy is a nice blend and the film makers manage to do this very well. The director has been very popular here in Iceland with his earlier films but has yet to do anything notable outside of Iceland, this seems to be the film that might get him noticed abroad, let's hope so anyway.

The film wastes no time getting to the meat of the story: a successful player in one of Iceland's top soccer teams reveals to the press that he is homosexual. That revelation and how it is done produces the only good laugh. For the remainder of this gay caper, the humor goes flat. (Humor is of course cultural. Maybe in Iceland they find the film funny.) The real underlying comedy is how the main character's homosexuality is the object of virulent reproach while the wife's chronic drunkenness is almost accepted as normal. As can be expected of such light fare, all ends in a positive mood and with a big hurrah for gay pride.

Comparing this film (categorized as a comedy) with other queer comedy titles throws off the potential viewer.

While possibly droll in a few parts, Eleven Men doesn't raise even a wry chuckle.

What this film does do is track the fallout of a professional soccer player and his family (parents, siblings, ex-wife and child) along with the interactions in his soccer club (old and new) when that player announces that he is gay.

While working hard to not be political or for/against the gay cause, the player's new team can't help but be caught up in the hype of their new gay player and the stigma it throws on the team.

Not as dry as a documentary, but not as light as an American attempt at the same material. Interesting more than entertaining. Good, just not fun.

i really enjoyed this film...caught it at the American Scandinavian Foundation last night here in NYC. it was a realistic, emotional, and full of humor. of course, the sexy hunky guys were a plus!! does it really rain so much in iceland? i thought bjorn and lilja were wonderful actors. i was impressed with their work. and the scene where the mother is on the bed crying...HILARIOUS and very realistic. my mother did something similar when i came out at the age of 17. so the dialogue about the dish was perfect. i thought the film did a good job of showing what a teenage son might go through with a parent coming out. i'm just glad no one killed themselves, like in most icelandic films i've seen! instead, this one ends on a really light, positive note. i wonder what the reality of gay live in iceland is...i'll have to research that. thanks, Mr. Douglas, for a very enjoyable film!