NOI THE ALBINO (Dagur Kári - Iceland/Denmark/Germany/UK 2003).
This is Icelandic director Dagur Kári's debut film about seventeen-year-old Nói (Tómas Lemarquis) who lives with his grandmother in a small village on a remote fjord in the north of Iceland. In winter, the fjord is cut off from the outside world, surrounded by ominous mountains and buried under a shroud of snow. If he feels like it, or when his grandmother wakes him up by firing a rifle through the window next to his bed, he attends school. But most of the time he aimlessly drifts around, dreaming of escaping this white-walled prison with Iris, a city girl who works in a local gas station. But his clumsy attempts at escape, like robbing a bank, spiral out of control and most of his attempts to get out end in dismal failure.
I feel very lucky for not living in the god-forsaken place Nói has to spend his days. We're never quite sure how to understand this seventeen year-old boy. Director Dagur Kári consciously poses the question: Is he the village idiot or a genius in disguise? When a psychologist drops by to assess the boy's problems at school, he claims the boy is a genius. But in real life, his behavior ranges from the socially handicapped to plain idiocy. Tómas Lemarquis is impressive with a restrained performance, mostly reliant on facial expressions or body language.
I saw Dagur Kári's recent film DARK HORSE (2005) before this one, and enjoyed it much more, but that's not to say either one of them is better than the other. "Dark Horse" is much lighter and optimistic in tone, but lacks a really believable central character, while "Nói Albinoi" has a better story with a more fulfilling resolution, plus the (for me at least) quite unique Icelandic setting complete with the strange isolation and the icy-blue cinematography. A wonderful if somewhat distancing experience. The ending is shattering.
Camera Obscura --- 8/10
This is Icelandic director Dagur Kári's debut film about seventeen-year-old Nói (Tómas Lemarquis) who lives with his grandmother in a small village on a remote fjord in the north of Iceland. In winter, the fjord is cut off from the outside world, surrounded by ominous mountains and buried under a shroud of snow. If he feels like it, or when his grandmother wakes him up by firing a rifle through the window next to his bed, he attends school. But most of the time he aimlessly drifts around, dreaming of escaping this white-walled prison with Iris, a city girl who works in a local gas station. But his clumsy attempts at escape, like robbing a bank, spiral out of control and most of his attempts to get out end in dismal failure.
I feel very lucky for not living in the god-forsaken place Nói has to spend his days. We're never quite sure how to understand this seventeen year-old boy. Director Dagur Kári consciously poses the question: Is he the village idiot or a genius in disguise? When a psychologist drops by to assess the boy's problems at school, he claims the boy is a genius. But in real life, his behavior ranges from the socially handicapped to plain idiocy. Tómas Lemarquis is impressive with a restrained performance, mostly reliant on facial expressions or body language.
I saw Dagur Kári's recent film DARK HORSE (2005) before this one, and enjoyed it much more, but that's not to say either one of them is better than the other. "Dark Horse" is much lighter and optimistic in tone, but lacks a really believable central character, while "Nói Albinoi" has a better story with a more fulfilling resolution, plus the (for me at least) quite unique Icelandic setting complete with the strange isolation and the icy-blue cinematography. A wonderful if somewhat distancing experience. The ending is shattering.
Camera Obscura --- 8/10