Thrown out of the marital home when his wife catches him watching a sex tape featuring him with a woman who is not her, the foolishly-tatooed Atli (Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson) slinks back to the home of his parents, Inga and Baldvin (Edda Björgvinsdóttir and Sigurður Sigurjónsson). But they are distracted not only with mourning for Atli's brother, who disappeared many years ago, but also by a feud with their next-door neighbours (one of whom, I was delighted to realise, is played by Selma Björnsdóttir, runner-up of the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest!) The feud concerns a tree in Inga and Baldvin's garden which casts a shadow over the neighbours' lawn. As Atli goes about trying to win access to his daughter, the neighbourly feud spirals out of control.
It seems that most films from Iceland are given the 'black comedy' tag, but this one is darker, and has less comedy, than most: although the feud's ultimate resolution would be unlikely to happen in real life, it is all too easy to imagine real life getting at least close to the film. As for Atli's storyline, after the initial 'ho ho ho, his wife caught him looking at a sex tape' moment, there are no laughs there. In fact, Atli's storyline is one of the main flaws of the film: it is interesting in a soap opera sort of way, but it is not obvious why so much time is spent on it when the focus of the film is supposed to be, presumably, the feud over the tree. It is almost as if the writers, Huldar Breiðfjörð and Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (the latter also directed) could not spin out the feud to fill the entire film so thought they would use Atli's situation as padding. Another flaw of the film is poor lighting: interior scenes, especially, often look bleak and washed-out. While that may be intended to set the tone of the film, the viewer can not help wondering why these people in their nice houses do not switch on a few lights...
Acting honours go to Björgvinsdóttir, who does a very nice turn as a parent whose grief over her other son's disappearance finds relief only in her antipathy to her neighbours. Sigurjónsson's portrayal of her husband, unsure how to cope with her, is also good, although he loses his admirable subtleness in the final few minutes and descends into acting-by-numbers, which is a shame. Steinþórsson is competent in his soap opera role. As the neighbours, I particularly enjoyed Þorsteinn Bachmann and the afore-mentioned Björnsdóttir's realistic portrayal of joyful relief when their missing dog turns up on the doorstep - all the more poignant for the viewer, who knows the dog is not as healthy as he at first seems...
It seems that most films from Iceland are given the 'black comedy' tag, but this one is darker, and has less comedy, than most: although the feud's ultimate resolution would be unlikely to happen in real life, it is all too easy to imagine real life getting at least close to the film. As for Atli's storyline, after the initial 'ho ho ho, his wife caught him looking at a sex tape' moment, there are no laughs there. In fact, Atli's storyline is one of the main flaws of the film: it is interesting in a soap opera sort of way, but it is not obvious why so much time is spent on it when the focus of the film is supposed to be, presumably, the feud over the tree. It is almost as if the writers, Huldar Breiðfjörð and Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (the latter also directed) could not spin out the feud to fill the entire film so thought they would use Atli's situation as padding. Another flaw of the film is poor lighting: interior scenes, especially, often look bleak and washed-out. While that may be intended to set the tone of the film, the viewer can not help wondering why these people in their nice houses do not switch on a few lights...
Acting honours go to Björgvinsdóttir, who does a very nice turn as a parent whose grief over her other son's disappearance finds relief only in her antipathy to her neighbours. Sigurjónsson's portrayal of her husband, unsure how to cope with her, is also good, although he loses his admirable subtleness in the final few minutes and descends into acting-by-numbers, which is a shame. Steinþórsson is competent in his soap opera role. As the neighbours, I particularly enjoyed Þorsteinn Bachmann and the afore-mentioned Björnsdóttir's realistic portrayal of joyful relief when their missing dog turns up on the doorstep - all the more poignant for the viewer, who knows the dog is not as healthy as he at first seems...