Næturvaktin

Like the previous commentator, I saw this programme when BBC4 presented it as part of their Iceland season. The first couple of episodes I liked, but I was a bit lost. Once I got to know the characters, though, I loved it more and more. The characters are beautifully drawn and magnificently played: you don't think of it as acting, you feel you're seeing a window into someone's life. I also thought Daníel should have paid more attention to Ylfa, starting with telling her she looked nice in episode 11, but life isn't perfect. Ólafur, for me, is the finest achievement: on the one hand, he's the perpetual underdog, so that you can't help feeling sorry for him, but on the other hand, he is forever doing something stupid. My favourite episode is the eleventh, where Georg tries to teach his embarrassed and uninterested pubescent son the Facts of Life with the help of a copy of Hustler ("The man has a penis, the woman doesn't have a penis. Well, that one does, but she's deformed.") and a white-board for vocabulary and diagrams. I was quite relieved when that one was over, because I was laughing so much it hurt. I shall certainly buy the DVD, which I am pleased to find is available with English subtitles.

I'm a fan of Scandinavia. I have watched quite some Scandinavian TV series and films and have come to the conclusion they are really experts in making productions who don't feature a lot of explosive and intense action themselves but merely interest by stimulating the watcher his/her deepest and silent emotions. With Iceland being no exclusion.

Næturvaktin brings a mix of drama and comedy to keep the audience at the edge of their seat by making them think and make them create expectations of what might happen to the protagonists next. With a lovely scenario played out by Jón Gnarr Kristinsson as a communist-like supermarket leader with five university degrees and just as good performing deuteragonists like Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon and Jörundur Ragnarsson you can't waste time by checking out this Nordic gem.

The type of humor might not be suitable for everyone. Although, i very much enjoy the office-like and "daily basis" humor more than a whelm of attempts at being funny, issued by more than one Hollywood-made TV-series nowadays.

Don't take my word for it, please go have a look yourself and if this series grabbed your attention, don't mind checking out dagvaktin and fangavaktin. The sequels in the trilogy who are just as good.

If you still can't get enough of Georg and his buddies. You can always watch Mr. Bjarnfredarson the movie.

Perfect and perfect and more perfect and even more perfect.

It should be difficult to believe that, from such a small country by population like Iceland, produces this master piece. This shows perfectly well that it does not need a huge crew and writers when one team can be called more than talented. Simply clever from the start.

The characters are built so well that you either want to see them or not at all. The setting is absolutely amasing - nothing much but yet, everything.

One simply recognise these people involved, be them main characters or punters that you can only hope this will never see an American version. Do not touch this Hollywood, this is not for you - please let people look like people and feel like one.

This series is the best Iceland has to offer. With decade long comedic background, Jón Gnarr manages to act as the most narcissistic, power hungry character ever to be viewed on television. The series as a whole has the storyline of basic encounters but manages to make those situations extremely hilarious. If anyone is looking for a good laugh, this is the stuff for them.