This lovely film stars my favorite foreign country. As someone who visits Iceland every winter, I'd say it does a great job spotlighting a treasure on Earth.
Here we follow the travels of American podcast producer Chloe (Kaitlin Doubleday) and friends as local guide Johann (Joel Saemundsson) shows them wonders of the Land of Fire and Ice.
This film, whose cinematographer Tomas Orn Tomasson is Icelandic himself, shows the country in its glittering glory -- places like the steamy Secret Lagoon, an ice cave, Diamond Beach, Viking Village and stretches of coastline featuring the wonderful Saebraut, Gardskagi, and Akranesviti lighthouses.
Along with the beyond-charming Saemundsson, the movie features a handful of Icelandic actors, a sprinkling of Icelandic phrases -- i.e., we often hear the good-day greeting "goðan daginn" -- and an introduction to Icelandic food specialties including vinarterta (a layer cake) and rugbraud (a dense bread baked underground beside thermal springs).
In contrast with past reviewers, I think the movie's story line is perfectly fine. We don't expect profundity in a story about a vacation and finding inspiration. "Why choose the next adventure when everything I want is right here?" concludes Charlie (Colin Donnell), Chloe's erstwhile boyfriend, in a quiet lesson for us all. In the best tradition of the Bard -- yes, Shakespeare -- the movie ends with all of the characters happily pairing up.
My only quibble with this film, and it is a minor one, is its geographical incorrectness. The tourists hopscotch across the Icelandic map during their week-long adventure. In real time, it would take longer to reach by SUV. I find it intriguing that this film entirely skips some of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland, including the Blue Lagoon thermal pool and Geysir, namesake of all of the world's other geysers. In addition, the tourists never see a sheep or a fishing trawler -- lifeblood of Icelanders since the time of the Vikings -- stop at an iconic Reykjavik hot-dog stand famously visited by Bill Clinton years ago, or get a glimpse of Hofid, the stately Reykjavik mansion in which a meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev presaged the end of the Cold War.
The movie ends as the sky fills with the dancing Northern Lights. In my own experience, this spectacle of nature typically makes its appearance less suddenly and its performance gradually grows in splendor with less-rich hues. Such points are minor. As for me, after seeing this film, I immediately wrote my travel agent to see if she is still up and operating, given the coronavirus. I cannot wait to return!
Here we follow the travels of American podcast producer Chloe (Kaitlin Doubleday) and friends as local guide Johann (Joel Saemundsson) shows them wonders of the Land of Fire and Ice.
This film, whose cinematographer Tomas Orn Tomasson is Icelandic himself, shows the country in its glittering glory -- places like the steamy Secret Lagoon, an ice cave, Diamond Beach, Viking Village and stretches of coastline featuring the wonderful Saebraut, Gardskagi, and Akranesviti lighthouses.
Along with the beyond-charming Saemundsson, the movie features a handful of Icelandic actors, a sprinkling of Icelandic phrases -- i.e., we often hear the good-day greeting "goðan daginn" -- and an introduction to Icelandic food specialties including vinarterta (a layer cake) and rugbraud (a dense bread baked underground beside thermal springs).
In contrast with past reviewers, I think the movie's story line is perfectly fine. We don't expect profundity in a story about a vacation and finding inspiration. "Why choose the next adventure when everything I want is right here?" concludes Charlie (Colin Donnell), Chloe's erstwhile boyfriend, in a quiet lesson for us all. In the best tradition of the Bard -- yes, Shakespeare -- the movie ends with all of the characters happily pairing up.
My only quibble with this film, and it is a minor one, is its geographical incorrectness. The tourists hopscotch across the Icelandic map during their week-long adventure. In real time, it would take longer to reach by SUV. I find it intriguing that this film entirely skips some of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland, including the Blue Lagoon thermal pool and Geysir, namesake of all of the world's other geysers. In addition, the tourists never see a sheep or a fishing trawler -- lifeblood of Icelanders since the time of the Vikings -- stop at an iconic Reykjavik hot-dog stand famously visited by Bill Clinton years ago, or get a glimpse of Hofid, the stately Reykjavik mansion in which a meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev presaged the end of the Cold War.
The movie ends as the sky fills with the dancing Northern Lights. In my own experience, this spectacle of nature typically makes its appearance less suddenly and its performance gradually grows in splendor with less-rich hues. Such points are minor. As for me, after seeing this film, I immediately wrote my travel agent to see if she is still up and operating, given the coronavirus. I cannot wait to return!