Icelandic Movies

I enjoyed The Ox but it's fairly disturbing.

a reply to: recrisp

No worries bud.
I just assumed that whatever service you used (Amazon TV, Netflix etc) simply bulked out the number of returns for the "Icelandic Movie" search with other World Cinema movies (to make it look like they don't suck for Icelandic movies!).

Mads Mikkelson certainly is a quality actor. He's actually been in quite a lot of big budget projects over the last few years. The recent Marvel Dr Strange movie, StarWars the force awakens, and the series Hannibal, to name a few of them.

Anyway, it's good that you've gotten passed the hurdle that subtitles on World cinema can sometimes be for people.
There are so many excellent movies that deserve so much more notice/credit than they get. Hollywood steals a lot of the good ideas and remakes them for an audience averse to foreign films, but the Hollywood-ized versions usually pale in comparison to the originals.

I actually find I follow and retain the story better on a subtitled film due to the necessity of reading the dialogue.

Lastly, it's not Icelandic, nor is it similar to those you listed in the OP, but I'd like to leave you with a recommendation of the below French Films (Both are relatively well know, as World Cinema goes)

originally posted by: AbdulAlhazred

My favorite movie of all time.

a reply to: zosimov

Good taste!

Yeah, it's got to be 1 of the best French films ever made, and 1 of Vincent Cassels best roles as well.

Thanks for this little list recrisp, although not all of it is Icelandic as someone else probably pointed out.
I loved Adam's Apples, it was the movie that got me into watching other Scandi films. I really like their dry dark humor, and Adam's Apples can be laugh-out-loud funny if you like that sort of humor!
Will check out some of the other ones you mention..
Maybe you might also enjoy 'A Man Called Ove' and 'The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared' both pretty recent Swedish films adapted from novels.

edit: Oh, and 'The Hunt' also with Mads Mikkelsen is another pretty good one, I love that guy in anything he does!

originally posted by: recrisp

originally posted by: Verse
Great thread and something I have been thinking about posting myself. Unfortunately the majority of those movies are either Swedish or Danish, save for Trapped (which is all Iceland) and Fortitude (which is part Icelandic) Some of my favorites are here.

Nói Albínói: www.imdb.com... - A great little gem right here.

Sódóma Reykjavík: www.imdb.com... He had one mission, get a new remote ctrl. What could possibly go wrong?? A crazy trip down the dark worlds of Reykjavík.

Skytturnar : www.imdb.com... - these two friends only wanted to party...welp!

Englar Alheimsins : www.imdb.com... a dark (but funny at the right times) tale of manic depression. Brutal movie.

Næturvaktin : www.imdb.com... - The nr1 funniest tv show in Iceland. You will be saying JÁ SÆLL! after watching this one like you got payed for it.

Black's game: www.imdb.com... A crime thriller that happens around the millenium and follows a newcomer to Reykjavík as he steps up in the drug world. A really fresh take on some events that actually happened in real time (minus the main character)

Löggulíf (and all the life movies) www.imdb.com... - two idiots sign up for Police. Classic in Iceland. From 85 and has aged badly but that's part of the charm too.

Everest - www.imdb.com... This one might come as a surprise but it has an Icelandic director and a lot of Icelandic people made the movie.

I'm probably forgetting a lot and I will return and add some more here, once again, great thread!

Thanks for ALL of the links, I was unaware of all of these!

Whether I can find these are not still remains to be seen, but I will try.

As I am sure you must've already read that I don't know much about anything pertaining to anyone or anything that doesn't live in my Zip Code, sooo... =)

Those look like you may know a thing or two about all of this, and I am very happy that you replied.
I'll try and hunt for these and hopefully I am somewhat successful, I know a lot that I looked for I couldn't find, like, "The Bridge", I did find the U.S. version but I wanted the original.

So I don't look 100% stupid I will say that I knew that some of the actors in certain movies were speaking German, or a language that derived from it. =) It doesn't matter, I just was really happy to have found these, for me it actually opened up a whole new realm of actors and movies that weren't stolen from another country and remade in the U.S.
Although I am a U.S. citizen, born and bred I can now possibly enjoy movies and some series that are originals. Being so foreign film illiterate before, now I am like a little baby just taking his first steps in the 'normal big people world', I guess.

Thanks again for your links, I will definitely try my best to find those and watch them as soon as I can.

I hope that if you have the time that maybe you can make your thread that you were wanting to do, that way it wouldn't be tied to extreme craziness and idiocy like mine is. heheh
You can sure place them here but you might prefer to make your own, the main thing is to let us know what you have, I am sure that a lot of people would find it helpful.

A pro tip:
Do not name it with, "Icelandic Movies" in your title, you will look like an idiot!

lol no worries! This thread is still real interesting even if all the movies weren't 100% Icelandic plus Michael Madsen is one of the best actors of his generation. I have to admit I've no knowledge of danish movies (except the real big ones) so i'm learning something here! I´ll just contribute some more movies to this thread

heere is a list of every Icelandic film ever made for reference. en.wikipedia.org...



Life in a fishbowl (or vonar stræti, which could be translated to the street of hope, its a real street name downtown)
www.imdb.com...
Awesome movie, about post-financial collapse Iceland.

Under the tree - www.imdb.com... a new film, which turned out to be a huge hit about neighbours fighting each other over a big tree, then it escalates...and crazy things happen!

The Icelandic Dream - www.imdb.com... personal fav , this one's about a guy who imports Opal cigarettes and starts selling them, he's also obsessed on the English premier league. This movie's about his daily struggles , pretty good one! Was perfect at the time too, since every single Icelander has opinion on the english football

A little trip to heaven - www.imdb.com... Icelandic director and filmed fully over here. Forest Whittaker and Julia Stiles star.

Börn (children) www.imdb.com... Awesome movie, tells the story of a few individuals and how their lifes connect, sad and dark movie.

Metalhead - www.imdb.com... This one did numbers internationally. Follows a young metal girl who lives in the middle of nowhere and her struggles. Serious movie.. but a good one.

Reykjavík - Rotterdam www.imdb.com... Follows a smuggler (on a big ship) who decides to take on one last job. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur who also stars in it. He later went and redid the movie for Hollywood, directing Mark Wahlberg in his former role, the movie is called Contraband.

Djúpið (the deep) www.imdb.com... Follows true story of a sailor who was the sole survivor when his ship crashed and sunk. He swam for days in ice cold water and his sheer will to live was the only thing that kept him going. Really hard movie to watch but defffo worth it if you can find it somewhere.

Also, there have been a few movies made over here recently, as well as the Game of thrones tv show.
Prometheus , Star wars Rogue one and the force awakens, the secret life of walter mitty (which also happened over here) Noah, interstellar, Flags of our fathers, Batman begins and Fast8.
It's becoming more and more popular to use Iceland for locations.

originally posted by: zosimov

originally posted by: AbdulAlhazred

My favorite movie of all time.

For real!! Awesome movie, that intro scene with the dj playing f the police was such a classic. This movie has followed me ever since it was released.

French movies get the from me! From La haine to Leon to Taxi to Martyrs...all unique in their own right.

originally posted by: Verse

For real!! Awesome movie, that intro scene with the dj playing f the police was such a classic. This movie has followed me ever since it was released.

Love that scene and the one with the eiffel tower the best... oh and don't get me started on that last scene.. :0
Have you heard this album inspired by that film?
www.youtube.com...
I love most of the album.

Thanks again for this thread, Recrisp!
Also thanks to everyone who has added to the list- looking forward to a new hobby (icelandic film)!

originally posted by: Lurker1
I've watched "Fortitude" about a dozen times. I love it. I agree that "Trapped" is also good. I'm hoping both will do new seasons.

"The Kettering Incident" is set in Tasmania, but it's also very good. Also, "Tin Star" with Tim Roth is interesting. Set in a small Canadian town. BEAUTIFUL scenery.

Forgot "The Man in the High Castle". A bit depressing, but a good story.

Trapped is a poor man's Fortitude... heheh I still like it though.
I'll have to add those two movies to my list, I like Tim Roth's stuff.
Thanks for your input on this, the more the better.

originally posted by: intrepid
I enjoyed The Ox but it's fairly disturbing.

It sounds weird, so I'll more than likely love it.
Thanks!

originally posted by: AbdulAlhazred
a reply to: recrisp

No worries bud.
I just assumed that whatever service you used (Amazon TV, Netflix etc) simply bulked out the number of returns for the "Icelandic Movie" search with other World Cinema movies (to make it look like they don't suck for Icelandic movies!).

Mads Mikkelson certainly is a quality actor. He's actually been in quite a lot of big budget projects over the last few years. The recent Marvel Dr Strange movie, StarWars the force awakens, and the series Hannibal, to name a few of them.

Anyway, it's good that you've gotten passed the hurdle that subtitles on World cinema can sometimes be for people.
There are so many excellent movies that deserve so much more notice/credit than they get. Hollywood steals a lot of the good ideas and remakes them for an audience averse to foreign films, but the Hollywood-ized versions usually pale in comparison to the originals.

I actually find I follow and retain the story better on a subtitled film due to the necessity of reading the dialogue.

Lastly, it's not Icelandic, nor is it similar to those you listed in the OP, but I'd like to leave you with a recommendation of the below French Films (Both are relatively well know, as World Cinema goes)

Yeah, I saw that Mads Mikkelson was in mainstream movies now, which is good for him, bad for me, one of the main reasons I liked him was that he wasn't a part of the Hollywood crowd.

That is 100% correct, Hollywood's reputation of removing the life from a really good film just to make a few bucks is sickening, "pale in comparison" perfectly explains it.

I'm like you, I always use closed captions and I used to hate it, but it comes in handy when you get older, plus you just grasp more. (Riding motorcycles for long distances on the highway ruined my hearing, so it's CC for me now)

If I can find the movies you suggest I will watch them, I am finding that it's not so easy to find some of the ones that have been mentioned though, a lot of these are really obscure, at least for the U.S.

Thanks a lot for your contributions! =)

originally posted by: athousandlives
Thanks for this little list recrisp, although not all of it is Icelandic as someone else probably pointed out.
I loved Adam's Apples, it was the movie that got me into watching other Scandi films. I really like their dry dark humor, and Adam's Apples can be laugh-out-loud funny if you like that sort of humor!
Will check out some of the other ones you mention..
Maybe you might also enjoy 'A Man Called Ove' and 'The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared' both pretty recent Swedish films adapted from novels.

edit: Oh, and 'The Hunt' also with Mads Mikkelsen is another pretty good one, I love that guy in anything he does!

I learned some geography while I made this thread, I learned just a little bit more about what is, and isn't, "Icelandic"! heheh

"Dry, dark humor" is a good description of what I like about their movies.

A man Called Ove is one that I remember seeing, I haven't seen it yet, but I will, The Hunt also.

I appreciate you leaving some stuff for us all to watch, this is getting to be a large list. That's a good thing.

Thank you!

originally posted by: Verse

lol no worries! This thread is still real interesting even if all the movies weren't 100% Icelandic plus Michael Madsen is one of the best actors of his generation. I have to admit I've no knowledge of danish movies (except the real big ones) so i'm learning something here! I´ll just contribute some more movies to this thread

heere is a list of every Icelandic film ever made for reference. en.wikipedia.org...

Life in a fishbowl (or vonar stræti, which could be translated to the street of hope, its a real street name downtown)
www.imdb.com...
Awesome movie, about post-financial collapse Iceland.

This definitely turned out to be a more interesting thread than I thought it would, and I really appreciate everyone's help to make it that way.

I have been looking quite a bit today to find some of these, so far I have turned up none.
I have tried the English name and the foreign name, but I have only found one of them and it was dubbed in Russian, and by that I mean in a man's voice even if it was a woman speaking. So, I had to pass. =)
The really obscure ones are always a real challenge, but it's kind of enjoying to search, it's like fishing.

I do want to say that today I read where you said that all of the background scenes in the Icelandic movies were in your backyard... I liked that, To me that is almost surreal to talk to someone that lives in a place like that, it's like I talking to someone in another dimension. I mean that as a compliment... heh
I watched a video on YouTube that showed the landscapes there and it was in very high resolution, I really enjoyed watching that, it's stuff that you may have seen, or see everyday, I don't know. I can surely see the draw for movie makers using that, just as long as they leave it alone, I'd hate for them to spoil an almost perfect place. I say, "almost" because I see plenty of rocks that I would trip over if I were there. =)
Everywhere I look here I just see houses, so it's quite different, I am envious. Winter is my favorite time, probably if I were there I'd know the real meaning of Winter, and I'd turn blue and die within minutes. Texas is not that cold, as you probably know.

Anyway, I really appreciate that you took the time to add to the list, if I can find them I will add them to my list, although I am having a time trying to track down some. I'll find some, I always do, but first I need to know what I am looking for, all of you here that helped makes that much easier.

Thanks again for your help, this has been interesting, to say the least.

originally posted by: zosimov

Thanks again for this thread, Recrisp!
Also thanks to everyone who has added to the list- looking forward to a new hobby (icelandic film)!

Thank YOU, you helped start it! =)
Yes, thanks for everyone that has replied, this will really be a good place to refer to if we need some serious (good) entertainment, I am now a foreign film snob! (Wannabe, anyway)

Swedish, but excellent is Stieg Larsson's "The Millennium Trilogy", starring Naomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist.

It's all three of his books wrapped into one long and complex film. Runs about 9 hours.

Norwegian - "O'Horten" - about a retired train engineer and his feelings and reflections on his life.