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From Amazon.co.uk
Modern-day Iceland is terminally weird, if writer-director Baltasar Kormákur's debut film 101 Reykjavík is anything to go by. Our guide to this particular Icelandic saga is Hlynur, 28-year-old unemployed slacker and one-man Nordic-gloom factory; "I'll be dead after I die. I was dead before I was born. Life is just a break from death," he muses. After his gut-freezingly boring family Christmas dinner--whose highpoint is watching a video of last year's ditto--you can see his point. Distraction, and a welcome dose of Southern warmth, comes in the form of his mother's flamenco teacher Lola (the delicious Victoria Abril). Only after sleeping with her does he discover that she's not just Mum's teacher, but her lover as well.
A little like Pål Sletaune's 1997 Norwegian postie-comedy Junk Mail, 101 Reykjavík gets a lot of lugubrious fun from its protagonist's sheer social and emotional ineptitude--though to give Hlynur his due, most of his mates seem equally clueless, (the women, as so often in this kind of movie, come off rather better). We've been here before, of course--as a male with a severe case of delayed adolescence is gradually brought to engage with adulthood--but the offbeat humour and eccentric details of Kormákur's film keep it fresh and engaging. Whether--in view of remarks like "Reykjavík is like some backwater in Siberia, with glaciated diarrhoea,"--it will do much for the Icelandic tourist trade is another matter!
On the DVD: Filmographies for Kormákur, Abril, and lead male actor Hilmir Snaer Gudnason; subtitles and menu; and the theatrical trailer, which contains snatches of several scenes evidently cut from the final release. The sound is clean and immediate (score co-composed by Damon Albarn) and the widescreen print preserves the original 16:9 ratio. --Philip Kemp
Product Description
An offbeat comedy set against the backdrop of Iceland's capital city nightclub scene. Hlynur (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), whose girlfriend Hofi is exasperated by his lack of ambition, spends his days asleep and his evenings cruising the Reykjavik club and bar scene. This is all changed over the Christmas holidays when he begins to spend most of his time with Lola (Victoria Abril), a Spanish flemenco teacher and lesbian, who Hlynur finally persuades to sleep with him on New Year's Eve. When his mother Berglind returns from her holidays she also begins a relationship with Lola and then announces that Lola is pregnant. Hlynur's life is now much more complicated when he realises that he is probably the father, the baby will be brought up as his sibling and he begins to experience all sorts of feelings including suicidal ones.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Ernie
Format:DVD
101 Reykjavik revolves around the life of 'Hlynur' a 30 year old unemployed slacker, who although a grown man still lives with his mother, spends his time drinking, smoking, surfing the net for porn and sleeping with all the women he can get his hands on. Everything in Hlynur's life is just the way he wants it... uncomplicated; and when a friend of his mother, a Spanish flamenco instructor named Lola, comes to stay with them, Hlynur's cosy little world is shattered forever.
Although labelled as a comedy the humour is typically Icelandic, very dark, dry, and full of pathos. And while the film revolves around Hlynur's life, it's also a cynical look at Reykjavik's hedonistic and liberal society.
Overall, while '101 Reykjavik' isn't the best Icelandic film out there, it's still a great film with an entertaining witty story and a definitely worth a look if you're a fan of indie films.
Although labelled as a comedy the humour is typically Icelandic, very dark, dry, and full of pathos. And while the film revolves around Hlynur's life, it's also a cynical look at Reykjavik's hedonistic and liberal society.
Overall, while '101 Reykjavik' isn't the best Icelandic film out there, it's still a great film with an entertaining witty story and a definitely worth a look if you're a fan of indie films.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By James Aitken
Format:DVD
On one level this film has a somewhat "run of the mill" story line. It can be viewed as the story of a twenty-something male unable to grow up or form relationships. The kind of story we've all seen many times before. However, the beauty of the film lies in its eccentric characters and setting and the black comedy moments that are provided throughout (such as the main character's unsuccesful attempt to kill himself on the top of a mountain).
The main character Hlynur is unemployed, has a bad on/off relationship and has no idea what to do with his life other than surf for internet porn and get drunk - indeed he says at one point that its as if he is dead. Into his life, one Christmas, comes his mother's Spanish flamenco teacher (who, it later transpires, is also his mother's lesbian lover). All hell proceeds to break loose. Somehow, despite the depression of some of the situations they engineer themseleves into, one can't help but like Hlynur, and all of the characters in the film.
The film is a bit let down by its ending, which is a bit too "happy ever after" (Noi Albinoi is a similar film from Iceland but a great deal more "edgier"). It redeems itself with its the soundtrack which is really original. All in all this is a pleasant evening's viewing, and something different - I didn't really find it as depressing as some of the other reviewers seem to have found it.
The main character Hlynur is unemployed, has a bad on/off relationship and has no idea what to do with his life other than surf for internet porn and get drunk - indeed he says at one point that its as if he is dead. Into his life, one Christmas, comes his mother's Spanish flamenco teacher (who, it later transpires, is also his mother's lesbian lover). All hell proceeds to break loose. Somehow, despite the depression of some of the situations they engineer themseleves into, one can't help but like Hlynur, and all of the characters in the film.
The film is a bit let down by its ending, which is a bit too "happy ever after" (Noi Albinoi is a similar film from Iceland but a great deal more "edgier"). It redeems itself with its the soundtrack which is really original. All in all this is a pleasant evening's viewing, and something different - I didn't really find it as depressing as some of the other reviewers seem to have found it.
By Edo Deweert
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
many years ago i spent several years teaching in a small community in the canadian arctic; i fell in love with the land, the snow, the ice and of course its people.
then years later along came sigur ros, embodying for me in music what i had felt at the edge of the arctic ocean.
i became fascinated with how such a small country could be home to not only such incredible music, but to be an inspirational environment for non-native musicians such as nico muhly and brian eno.
and then i discovered icelandic cinema, quirky, sensual, yet every bit reflecting the issues we are all dealing with in every nation, in every community all over the world.....as such, it is not providing a new insight in humanity, as an apparently aimless young man , drifting from one drunken party to another , faces the facts of life.
it is touching and full of humour, often understated.
for those among us who are not fluent in icelandic, the english subtitles went a little too fast, but then, the characters had a lot to say.
sick and tired of the pappy hollywood fare? try this movie, you'll like it
then years later along came sigur ros, embodying for me in music what i had felt at the edge of the arctic ocean.
i became fascinated with how such a small country could be home to not only such incredible music, but to be an inspirational environment for non-native musicians such as nico muhly and brian eno.
and then i discovered icelandic cinema, quirky, sensual, yet every bit reflecting the issues we are all dealing with in every nation, in every community all over the world.....as such, it is not providing a new insight in humanity, as an apparently aimless young man , drifting from one drunken party to another , faces the facts of life.
it is touching and full of humour, often understated.
for those among us who are not fluent in icelandic, the english subtitles went a little too fast, but then, the characters had a lot to say.
sick and tired of the pappy hollywood fare? try this movie, you'll like it
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Book beats the Movie
The book 101 Reykjavik is better, funnier than the movie also because the movie ends 'well', rather than - like the book - continues being a funny statement against the boredom of... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Windmill2011
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cold Comfort in Iceland....
Scandinavian countries do some great offbeat movies, quirky little indie films that entertain as well as give an insight as to how their inhabitants cope with (or not, as the case... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Tim Kidner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Immoral, irresponsible but utterly irresistible!
I bought this movie on impulse a few years ago, after spending a cracking holiday in Iceland, and watch it at least once a year. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2011 by Cartimand
4.0 out of 5 stars
unusual and engaging film
Enjoyed this film - don't know why I missed it when it first came out. Good to see a more realistic presentation of Iceland - rather than the hyped up version we all were fed in... Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2010 by Mrs. Valerie B. Astles
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun but not as much substence as there could have been.
Reykjavik 101 is the story of twenty-something Hilmir, who still lives at home with his mother whilst enjoying, through lack of interest in anything more meaningful, a life of... Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2008 by Dead Celeb
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple and Powerful
This film is a pure and easy, gives a window into a young man's life and the trauma embedded with his life. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2007 by Mr. D. J. Arnold
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fall in love twice!
Not one to give away the plot, all I can say is that this film is an absolute gem and I can't recommend it highly enough. Read more
Published on 14 May 2006 by Miss Wolfie
3.0 out of 5 stars
Light but intelligent
This is a warm and entertaining comedy about life in urban Iceland. It's not a terribly deep film, but it has an engaging nordic charm and eccentricity. Read more
Published on 16 April 2006 by David Welsh
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Amsterdam of the Arctic ?
"101 Reykjavik" provides an interesting insight into life in modern day Iceland, as seen through the eyes of a 28 year old unemployed slacker,Hlynur, who lives with his divorced... Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2005 by L. Davidson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!!
seen the film few times and read the book. it is published in english as well!! loved it.
Published on 16 Nov 2003
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