Showing @ Odeon, Edinburgh, Sun 29 Jun
Maximillian Hult / Sweden/Iceland / 2014 / 90 mins
If you’re going to make a film about isolation then there are few better places to set it than Iceland. Its windswept sparseness is as good a metaphor for detachment as you are likely to find.
After the death of her husband, Frida (Anita Wall) opens her home to a group of outsiders. The motley crew consists of her granddaughter Lou (Moa Gammel), whose Asperger’s make her withdrawn and uncommunicative, Tom (Erik Lundqvist), a boy hiding from his bullying classmates, and Henrik (Simon J. Berger), an amiable musician and bookseller drifting through life. Her attempts to meddle have mixed results, particularly for Tom who she helps try to find his hidden talents, which appear to be very well hidden indeed. She has more success with sparking a romance between Lou and Henrik, but even this is unable to stave off her grief.
The performances are excellent and special mention should go to young Erik Lundqvist who is clearly a comic genius in the making. Scandinavian filmmakers seem to have a knack at blending the tragic and the comic and this is another fine example. Maximillian Hult takes the marginal figures in a marginal world and makes you care for them.
Showing as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014
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