Heimsendir

I'm a huge fan of the Icelandic "Shift" franchise and I'd been hunting this, another project from the same team, for years. I eventually found it whilst on holiday in Iceland in a DVD shop and reacted like I'd uncovered the holy grail. Heimsendir is a slow-burning thing, showing the gradual collapse of a rural mental institution from glorious revolution to bitter anarchy. It's very dry, of course, but mesmerically constructed. A lot of familiar faces are here but the star turn is Jörundur Ragnarsson's "multiple personality" Margeir whose oscillation from innocent child to brutal dictator is a breath-taking performance. The warm analogue visuals accompanied by Barði Jóhannsson's oppressive electronic score gives it a strong Kubrick vibe into the bargain. It's definitely less bombastically silly than Shift was but it's a singular vision that should have reached far more eyeballs than it did.