Junior, an Icelandic man living in Germany, returns to his homeland and is immediately assaulted by a reality which is hard for him to understand. To begin with, the rude taxi driver demands an exorbitant amount for the trip to what appears to be a seedy trailer park in the boondocks, where an assortment of Junior's relatives live. Not having enough to pay for the ride, the driver takes all his money plus his jacket, leaving him, and his German friend Rupert, in a state of bewilderment. Rupert wonders aloud what kind of place has Junior brought him to.
The characters in the small enclave are odd people that are not dealing with reality. The place is a heaven for all kinds of outrageous behavior. Junior's grandmother walks around with a dead seal she uses for a purse. Senior, his old man, makes copies of his computer in the duplicating machine. Then, there are Ray and Davis who act as guards of a pedestrian crossing and as their long lost mother return, they learn they are twins in reality, something that just by looking is hard to imagine. Everyone in the park appears to be related in one form, or another of the rest.
An Icelandic comedy directed by Valdis Oskardottir, at first looks confusing, but staying with the story, it makes for a strange film to enjoy. The humor is localized and at times, hard to get, but Ms. Oskardottir has everything under control as she moves strings showing a bunch of people that have decided to stay out of touch with reality, staying close to a place that makes no demands on them and where they can live the way they want.
Gisli Orn Gardarsson shows he is up to what the director asked him to do. He was good in "Country Wedding" and shows why he is an actor that will have success in his country as well as in the international cinema. The best known face is that of Daniel Bruehl, a German young man trying to hide from his criminal uncle among the people in this far away place. Others in the film include Bjorn Hlymur Haraldsson, Ingmar Egger Sigurdsson and Olafur Darri Olafsson.
The characters in the small enclave are odd people that are not dealing with reality. The place is a heaven for all kinds of outrageous behavior. Junior's grandmother walks around with a dead seal she uses for a purse. Senior, his old man, makes copies of his computer in the duplicating machine. Then, there are Ray and Davis who act as guards of a pedestrian crossing and as their long lost mother return, they learn they are twins in reality, something that just by looking is hard to imagine. Everyone in the park appears to be related in one form, or another of the rest.
An Icelandic comedy directed by Valdis Oskardottir, at first looks confusing, but staying with the story, it makes for a strange film to enjoy. The humor is localized and at times, hard to get, but Ms. Oskardottir has everything under control as she moves strings showing a bunch of people that have decided to stay out of touch with reality, staying close to a place that makes no demands on them and where they can live the way they want.
Gisli Orn Gardarsson shows he is up to what the director asked him to do. He was good in "Country Wedding" and shows why he is an actor that will have success in his country as well as in the international cinema. The best known face is that of Daniel Bruehl, a German young man trying to hide from his criminal uncle among the people in this far away place. Others in the film include Bjorn Hlymur Haraldsson, Ingmar Egger Sigurdsson and Olafur Darri Olafsson.
