7/10
Uneven, but very enjoyable
3 March 2002
While watching this film I found my attention slipping from time to time. At other moments I was thoroughly enjoying myself. So my reaction to this film is mixed.

Two eccentric young women, Rannvá and Barba, come to their native Faroer to find some connection with their past and their families. In the beginning of the film it seems, because of the women's erratic and provocative behaviour, that their only objective is to show the local inhabitants how extremely boorish and unsophisticated they (the locals) are. But through a series of seemingly unrelated events and persons we learn more about the history of both characters and the seriousness of their quest for belonging.

Accompanied by their faithful driver Rúni, who himself is on a quest for work in an interesting but never fully realized sub-plot, they drive through the beautiful Faroer landscape. Their moods swing from the deeply tragic to the highly exhilarated.

It is in these exhilarated moments that the girls really come to life and for me these were the scenes that I found most enjoyable. A feeling of genuine fun is transmitted through the TV-screen (I missed this one in the cinema) and this made me really like these women.

The tragic scenes seemed to me a little over the top and did not feel very genuine, too much like two actresses desperately trying to convey an emotion they do not feel at that moment. It was in these moments that my attention wandered from the screen and it is here that I think this movie is mostly unconvincing.

All in all still a very enjoyable, nicely paced film with good camera work and editing, conveying a slight sense of disorientation which helps in evoking the spirit the women are in.
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