Iceland review - 2014, Qupperneq 16

14 ICELAND REVIEW
1. Life in a Fishbowl has been praised by
critics and the public alike; one critic
calling it “the best film in icelandic
film history.” it’s already the highest-
earning film in icelandic movie the-
aters this year, beating The Hobbit and
Wolf of Wall Street. Did this reaction
surprise you?
not at all [tries to keep a straight face,
then laughs]. yes, of course. When you’ve
worked on a project this long, nine years,
you become one with it. Before the final
editing, we had no feeling for the film
anymore, so we ran test screenings with
people from the street, from the film
industry and bankers—all kinds of peo-
ple—to sample their first reaction. People
stood up and applauded. one ‘outvasion
viking’ sang and danced. So we knew it
wasn’t terrible but this is much more than
we could have hoped for.
THe leGenD oF ZeTa
eygló Svala arnarsdóttir sits down with young filmmaker Baldvin Z (born 1978) and asks him
ten questions about his latest work, critically-acclaimed contemporary drama life in a Fish Bowl
(vonarstræti; 2014), his road to success and what lies ahead.
2. What surprised you the most?
i felt it was right, in a character-driven
movie like this, to show the human aspect.
‘Who wants to watch a mother and daugh-
ter eating spaghetti?’ i thought, yet found
it important that people would believe that
it was authentic. i was pleasantly surprised
that viewers mentioned exactly that, how
normal the story felt. People were longing
for a film like this, a contemporary story.
3. in the film the stories of a young,
single mother taking desperate mea-
sures to make ends meet, an alcoholic
author with a tragic past and an up-
and-coming banker in the boom years
before the 2008 economic collapse are
intertwined. Where did these stories
come from?
originally, nine years ago, i had the idea of
making a film about Móri, the drunk who
lost his child. a few years later the story of
the single mother, which is based on a story
from my family, came to me. Then in 2010,
Biggi [co-writer Birgir Örn Steingrímsson
of the band Maus] approached me with the
banker. i had originally considered a lawyer.
a friend of his had insider information about
what went down in the banking world. That’s
what seemed the most surreal to me—i
might as well have directed a space movie—i
never could have made this up. Bankers have
said that we nailed it: the lingo, the atmo-
sphere, the characters.
4. the actors have been praised for their
effortless interpretation, and the writers
for how multifaceted the characters are.
What is the key to good characterization?
Q a