Paris of the North (París norðursins)

A calm and composed assault of comedy & drama with a pinch of reality check on fractured human relationships & an eventual dash of courage to come to terms with one, Icelandic Director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson does wonders at this sad yet emotionally satisfying feature film.

Australian Premier: Scandinavian Film Festival 2015

Director: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson.

Cast: Bjorn Thors, Helgi Bjornsson, Nanna Magnusdottir.

Genre: Dramedy (Comedy- Drama: Icelandic, English s/t)

Runtime: 95 min.

Rate: 7/10.

Set up in a awe-inspiring and majestic backdrop of Snowclad Mountains in a tiny fishing village of northwest coast of Iceland, the venture revolves around the protagonist Hugi (Bjorn Thors)- a thirty seven year old  divorced school teacher who fumbles & retrospects his existence when he fails to answer the question that his favorite student Albert (Haki Lorenzen) asks him about his plans for summer, on the last day of the school.

Hugi has eloped from his city life to dwell in a rather secluded village(total population of around 150) where he occupies himself by diurnal & large scale jogging, teaching, going to Alcoholics Anonymous(AA) meetings (with a maximum attendance of 3 people – Svanur, Richard & himself) and learning Portuguese online. He motivates Albert to follow his heart of being a successful soccer goalkeeper some day, teaches him morals of life and guides him to be a good human being. His connection with Albert extends as he use to date his mother Erna (Nanna Magnusdottir) and they now have no strings attached, only thanks to Hugi’s decision to not be favorably responsive to Erna’s attempts to ascertain their affair a solid one.

Perhaps, the repetitive jogs signify that Hugi is actually running away from his reality of being in a broken relationship with his ex-flame Helena who resides in Portugal evincing his love to learn Portuguese; his struggle to whether to move on in life or not by not giving a definitive response to Erna on their relationship status and he stops seeing her altogether as a reaction; his pseudo-father relationship with his favorite student Albert signifying that he is ready to lovingly accept such a responsibility but alas the world hasn’t offered him yet, and lastly his resistance from alcohol & smoking to be a role model for Albert.

While he is happily consumed by his empty nest syndrome, he gets a rather inopportune call from his nomadic, estranged & beer-loving father Veigar (Helgi Bjornsson) who owns beer bars in Thailand and now out of the blue wishes to visit the godforsaken village & live with his son. While Hugi is not happy about his father’s extended company & casanova demeanor, he is unable to gather valor to tender him a goodbye and accepts his companionship. They often have détentes where Veigar continues to persuade his son to start dating again & have an active sex life as ‘You only live once’, however only to fail as Hugi doesn’t want to fall prey to his father’s footsteps of being a womanizer and then eventually coming back home for good after being dejected of the decisions made in life. His house gets filled with beer can mountains against the back drop of scenic snowy hills.

Source: kviff

Bonjour drama! Hugi’s rather solace driven jogs hit a standstill when he realizes that Veigar is having a sexually active affair with his now ex-paramour Erna (only because he let Erna go initially!), the fact stated by Albert of chances of them now being brothers and his subsequent phone call to his ex Helena only to realize that she already has a boyfriend and is enjoying her time at a warm, bright sunny beach unlike him in this dreary gray atmosphere filled with despair.

His outbursts involve tearing apart a terrace he was building with the material gifted by his father and resorting back to smoking pot and alcohol and going childlike while playing sport in the school premises unlike his professional teacher behavior .

The filmmaker has done a fantastic job of showing relationships, predominantly the male psyche through the prism of their alter egos- one where they know what the right thing to do is & to be is but don’t build up the courage to do so, however are dwarfed in their not so happy state.

While Hugi is thumped by an avalanche of feelings that his subconscious gets sleeved with, one morning Veigar gets hospitalized and Hugi offer’s his home to rest and recover until Veigar wishes as Hugi now is turning a page in his life by leaving this claustrophobic village and going on a self realization trip to absorb the ‘You only live once’ mantra that his father kept preaching to him.

All in all, a must point out is the astounding cinematography that redeems the bleak, emotionally inexpressive and virile lacking personalities of the male characters. The sporadic comic relief offered by the dialogues and the assortment of harshly alluring, desolated yet mystic beauty of the perennial & panoramic Icelandic mountains is a sheer treat to your eyes. The director has an excellent command on camera-manship and maneuvers these to keep the movie & its flavour upbeat. And lastly it infectious humming, fun & danceable bass line background score & the cheerful OST by Prins Póló brings in a summer feeling to this not so bright snowy setup.  While it is 95 mins, it could have been truncated to keep the audience engrossed but the music makes you feel as if you are reading a book & thoroughly excited about knowing its ending.

Well done Hafsteinn, loved the craftsmanship and the music to bring out the innate feelings of a ‘half glass empty’ state of human beings to the best precision indeed.

A must watch for nature and dramedy lovers.