Jar City
Director: Baltasar Kormakur (Iceland/Germ/Den)
Cert: 15
Time: 1 hr 35 mins
I’ve heard that Iceland is looking to tourism to lift it out of the financial mire that it appears to have brought upon itself. If that is the case then Jar City will do little to help its plight, for if there is one word that encapsulates its mood, it is bleak. The weather, the landscape, the architecture, the food, the people and the story, all of it, bleak.
That said, there can be no doubting that this is a fine film which begins with two separate story lines and for a while one thinks that it might be an Icelandic version of the film Crash, which won an Oscar for Best Picture in 2006. One involves Erlandur a gruff and stoical policeman (who could have been modelled on David Jason’s Frost) who is brought in to solve a homicide, whilst at the same time trying to salvage the life of Elma, his wayward daughter, who has gone off the rails following his divorce.
The other involves Orn, a young father, who is struggling to come to terms with the loss of his five year old daughter from a rare brain disease. As the story develops these separate strands become ever more entwined, in what turns into a gripping and emotional journey.
If you enjoy gritty drama then this is for you but top up on Prozac if you are feeling a tad low.
Rating: 3/5
Patrons: 4
CA
