101 Reykjavik

2000 film from Baltasar Kormakur (Jar City)
not the most innovative film formally, takes not really long enough to create much
generally shot-reverse stuff, with a floating camera at times
canted angles to look a bit 'zany' (not completely ineffective), ditto on close-ups
seems to change filmstock halfway through; move from theatrical pastels and lots of fill lighting (low key on faces) to faster, higher contrast, creating greater 'realist' affects
at times dawdles along like a slacker comedy, but has some excellent moments
clear psychoanalaytic interpretations, which are brought to the fore in pleasingly complex ways (though whether this is luck or judgement)
film could be too subjective, but has some moments where the lead (too attractive for a 'nerd' manages to come outside of himself, break up his own character and unsettle the audience)
these (too few) moments deliver a pretty cutting and effective view of the milleu; the lack of the paternal figure, the casual racism, the casual violence in the gender relations
politically, the film is difficult to read; could easily be regressive, wish for return to the symbolic order (conclusion), if straightforward critique, yet a darker sort of satire seems to at once emerge on this very wish
dissapointing for its lack of invention, when, despite itself nearly, it has some fine moments

Voksne Mennesker (Dark Horse)

This quirky 2005 film, from the director (Dagur Kari) of the alright 'Noi The Albino', is a decent distraction.
It is filmed in a weird black and white, grainy style, giving it the feeling of a real low budget, indie, small enterprise, which it of course is. The shots aren't particularly amazing, but the general drained out look, as a visual effect,just about works.
This is a film about messing about, but it perhaps doesn't quite have the cojones to follow this through. It's not a pure portrait of slackerdom, there's a bit too much of a plot in it for that. This allows it a nice emotional moment at the end (the colour move), but the mediation is perhaps not quite worth that.
This film works better as a study of living in the present, with silliness. This could make it interesting and subjective study, though it perhaps is too keen to go for knockabout humour at times, which can dull the effect.
Overall? Diverting, but not much more.

The Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action

Five Films that run between seventeen and twenty two minutes, an ecletic mix of comedy, tragedy, and farce that were the academy's selections for the category this year.
Kavi: A bit of a Unicef advert, but an important call-to-attention of the human slavery business in India. It seemed a little like a number of even-tinier films tacked together, but had some fine shots and convincing performances. The music was delightfully different.
The New Tenants: A comedy/ farce that brings up a few laughs, and has one very arresting character (the druggy). However, it is not sharp enough to have consistent comedy, and tries to pack too much in, leaving an unsatisfactory and pretentious ending. Lacks the bite better direction could have given it.
Miracle Fish: Probably the winner we would have crowned, this establishes well and has a wondrous, dreamy quality to both the child's vision and the whole later scenes. Nicely enigmatic, shot with an eye to lighting effects, but quick enough for the format. It rather over-eggs the ending, but all told very impressive.
The Door: Undoubtedly the most boring to watch, and it is unrelentingly gloomy, easy to cast off with a big who cares. One was rather wishing for it to end. Despite this, the auteur would likely make the best feature film of the five. There are some wonderful, slow moving shots of the snow, the weary travellers passing through. Individual scenes, individual pictures (the ferris wheel, the entire packing-up scene) are nicely, calmly evoked. Perhaps with a more focussed sriptwriter, this could be a talent. Not a great short film though.
Instead of Abracadabra: Delightful, funny little piece of Scandanavian whimsy, with strong comedy of embarrasment (in an absurd manner) as well as some near-slapstick. It had cheery music, a bright and breezy aesthetic, and was the funnest to watch out of all the five. It also had an ability to make itself rather touching, the absurdity and silliness cloaking real characterisation. Impressive.
So, we have very different themes in all five, and if none really blew us away then all had some redeeming features. The winner, 'The New Tenants' was the wrong decision; it may not have been the worst to watch, but it was the worst made. We will watch out particularly for the directors of 'Miracle Fish' and 'Abracadabra', though we will also do so for the director of the rather dull 'The Room'.
Short Films are rarely seen, but are a terrific medium that should be brought out of the film school. To reflect on the use of images, slow or fast, to tell no story or a quick one, we look forward to having more experience of the art form.

Myrin (Jar City)

Pretty standard police procedural. Cop has a case, has a personal life. It's well shot, it's it curious who, though there is no particular resembelance between examples, you can alays tell nearly staright away whether that's the case?
Anyway, it goes along at a decent pace and leaves you curious for the ending. There's a few cliches, a bit of hokiness, and some rather unnecessary confusion resulting from things not being laid out clearly enough (this isn't deliberate). The characters are also not cared about deeply.
However, as we said, it's decent and well paced enough, not edge of the seat but comfortably sitting back.
It feels like one of a series of pieces about the cop, which it, surpirisingly enough, is (at least in book form). The cop characters isn't particularly engrossing, though he is at the same time a well drawn character who we simply don't get to know well enough to get TOO involved.
We don't want to have a go at this film, it treads lightly on you mind and is pretty much the definition of mildly diverting. Decent enough, that's what we can say.

Noi Albinoi (Noi The Albino)

An Iclandic coming of age tale, this is an unrevolutionary but perfectly well structured and charming film. We are slightly unsure why the lead is an albino, apart from that it makes the point that it rather doesn't matter he is aan albino. It has a light tone throughout, whimsical even, and scenes of fine comedy on occasion. The central thrust, if rather ridiculous at the end, is a curious but all the same traditional tale of the end of adolescence and the entrance of real life.
If we were being cruel, we would say it is neither a particularly dramatic (satisfying) drama nor a particularly comedic comedy. Failing to fit into these genre straightjackets is not a fault a priori (though we'd be lying if we didn't mention that it often leads contemporary European cinema to rather pointless blind alleys)however, and the film just about manages, through well paced direction and the beautiful sweeping backdrops of the landscape, along with a healthy variety of twists and subplots, to keep us involved in the ultimately rather surreal tale.