Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.07.2010, Side 45

Suðurgata 41 · 101 Reykjavík · Tel. +354 530-2200 · www.natmus.is
The country’s largest
museum of cultural
history featuring a
permanent exhibition on
Iceland’s extraordinary
history from settlement
to present day.
Opening hours:
Summer
(May 1st – September 15th)
Daily 10–17
Winter
(September 16th – April 30th)
Daily except Mondays 11–17
National Museum of Iceland
Reykjavík Literally
A Guided Walking Tour
Join us for a fun introduction to
Icelandic literature, with a bit of
history mixed in. This 90 min.
walk is at an easy pace and suits
everyone. Starts at Reykjavik City
Library in Tryggvagata 15.
Free of charge.
Reykjavik City Library
www.borgarbokasafn.is
Tel. 411 6100
Every Thursday in July and August at 5 pm.
Geysir Fact #3
Cheap Cars
www.geysir.is
Icelandic home cooking with a modern flair
Pósthússtræti 9 Reykjavík Tel : 578 2020
www.icelandicbar. is info@icelandicbar. is
Shark • lobster• Lamb • Whale • Puffin • fish • Wild game
ALL the icelandic beers Kitchen open till midnight!
28
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09 — 2010
Despite the economic crash, Icelan-
dic film has come into its heyday.
From Sunshine Boy, a 2009 docu-
mentary about a mother’s search for
an autism treatment, to Nói Albinói,
a bittersweet coming-of-age story (the
best kind), Icelandic films have come
into their own. The film industry got
a slow start because of a lack of fund-
ing over most of the 20th century, yet
Iceland still managed to squeak out
films from as early as 1904. The ex-
hibition ICELAND :: FILM explores
Icelandic film all the way back to its
roots. Take a couple of hours and a
notepad, and let yourself get fired up
about all the Icelandic films you need
to watch.
All you need is the watching sta-
tions organised along the wall, each
showing two- or three-minute clips
of a handful of films made around
the same time period. The exhibit
guides you chronologically through
Icelandic film.
ICELAND :: FILM is mostly
friendly to those who don’t speak the
language, with write-ups in English
and several other languages, except
for a key feature: there are no sub-
titles. I guess this is advantageous
because those without a good grasp
of Icelandic will be less tempted to
spend the entire afternoon watching
a screen—the exhibit also has watch-
ing stations showing several features
full-length. The downside is that you
don’t know what in tarnation is going
on, especially in the language-heavy
films. The visuals are still stunning,
the music still moving, the charac-
ters still multifaceted, but the plot is
almost impossible to decipher, espe-
cially from the three-minute clips.
Icelanders are proud and protec-
tive of their landscape and culture.
This is apparent even from the ear-
liest films in the exhibit—mostly
documentaries. The Rescue Feat At
Látrabjarg (1949) was created in a re-
markable coincidence. It was meant
to be a documentary and re-enact-
ment about the demise of the British
fishing trawler Dhoon on the rocky
cliffs of Látrabjarg a few years earlier.
But as the film crew were making
the doc on-site, another British trawl-
er capsized near the same spot, the
people of the nearby village valiantly
rescued the ship’s crew, and all was
captured on film.
Another antique film, Horn-
strandir (1944-1948), features the
dramatic Hornstrandir peninsula in
Iceland’s Westfjords. The landscape
is spectacular, its cliffs hosting vast
numbers of birds in the summer.
And for a weird mix of new (at the
time) filmmaking technology and
traditional folklore, make sure you
watch The Last Farm In The Valley
(1950), Iceland’s first feature length
fictional film. Its wonderfully ter-
rible special effects make it an acci-
dental comic gem.
ICELAND :: FILM is an ongoing
exhibition at the Culture House in
Reykjavík.
Art | Films
STEPHANIE ORFORD
JULIA STAPLES
Cold On The Outside,
Warm On The Inside
ICELAND :: FILM chronicles 100 years of Icelandic spirit
A SELECTION OF
ICELANDIC FILMS
The Raven Flies
(Director Hrafn Gunnlaugsson, 1985)
“I am Inigo Montoya. You killed my fa-
ther. Prepare to die.” Well almost, but not
quite. This is a revenge historical fiction
that doesn’t quite end as you’d think. Dirty
faced Vikings fight it out against stunning
basalt cliff beaches in southern Iceland to
a soundtrack that’s sometimes distracting-
ly ‘80s. An insight into the workings of Ice-
landic Viking tribes a thousand years ago.
ChildRen oF naTuRe
(Director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, 1991)
A pensive, tragic, surprisingly funny love/
adventure story of an elderly Icelandic
couple reclaiming their freedom from a
nursing home. Icelandic landscape porn—
ravishing to the greatest effect, with a
soundtrack to equal it. Could have done
without the inexplicable magical realism.
Nominated for an Oscar.
angels oF The univeRse
(Director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, 2000)
The powerful illustration of a man’s de-
scent into mental illness. Páll’s bouts of
rage, complete with table flipping, are
emotionally trying to watch, but make the
film’s quiet moments all the more effective.
One scene you’re cringing at the stress Páll
puts his family through, and another you’re
chuckling conspiratorially with the boys
from the psychiatric hospital in their glori-
ous night on the town. As in Children Of
Nature, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson’s fade-out
visuals create a dreamy atmosphere and
impart an altered sense of passing time.
How delicate “normal” perception of real-
ity is.
101 Reykjavik
(Director Baltasar Kormákur, 2000)
A tale of sex and love in Reykjavik. Each
scene is like a short story in itself, and is
crafted with the care of a Wes Anderson
film with fastidious attention to character
details. We find ourselves laughing at sad
things, like the hapless protagonist—an
adorable loser with no future who lives
with his mom and eats cereal while he’s
in the tub. Reykjavik is painted as a crazy-
sex-party town where everyone is doing
everyone. But there’s another side to sex,
too.
nói The albino
(Director Dagur Kári, 2003)
Nói, a misfit boy from an Icelandic fjord
town, takes awhile to warm to, but you do.
A storyline that threatens to be ham-fist-
ed at first (e.g. boy genius solves Rubik’s
cube) unfolds into an unusual coming of
age tale. Some would say bleak, but a ray
of optimism shines through. Careful visual
symbolism—blue tinted scenes offset vio-
lent splashes of red, and sixties wallpaper
features prominently.
Special | Best Of Reykjavík
Bókin, or Bókabúð Braga as it is of-
ten called by locals, is quite easy to
spot when walking down Hverfisgata.
It’s the only storefront on the street
with piles of books blocking the win-
dows. This is not your neighbourhood
Borders. Or Eymundsson. There is no
quaint cookie-cutter café to be found
on the upper level, nor are there any
stuffed puffins or tourist souvenirs near
the register. This is a grown-up book-
store. It is not for the faint of heart.
It is impossible to just pop into
Bragi’s for a few minutes. When you
go, you need to set aside a few hours.
The books, all previously owned, are
stacked everywhere and arranged in
no recognisable order. You can find
gold here, but you need to look for it.
Bókabúð Braga rewards perseverance.
Operated since 1964, Bókin has a sys-
tem that seems to work, although that
may not be evident the first time one
stops by, intrigued from the exterior
only to walk in bombarded from all an-
gles with large stacks of musty tomes.
Admittedly, it can be a bit intimidating.
Sometimes you just don’t know where
to start.
When you do finally muster up the
courage to enter this amazing book-
store, you will be met with books,
magazines, records, and comics on just
about everything, in just about every
language, from just about every time
period. It’s a treasure chest for book-
worms, antique collectors, and anyone
who wants to check out a unique Reyk-
javík establishment.
Check it out.
Used Books Are The Best Books
Reykjavík’s Most Unique Bookstore
Bókin (Bókabúð Braga)
Klapparstígur 25-27, 101
ALLISON SAVAGE
JULIA STAPLES