101 Reykjavík
| 101 Reykjavík | |
|---|---|
DVD cover
|
|
| Directed by | Baltasar Kormákur |
| Produced by |
Ingvar Þórðarson Baltasar Kormákur |
| Written by |
Hallgrímur Helgason (novel) Baltasar Kormákur |
| Starring |
Victoria Abril Hilmir Snær Guðnason Hanna María Karlsdóttir |
| Music by |
Damon Albarn Einar Örn Benediktsson |
| Cinematography | Peter Steuger |
| Edited by |
Skule Eriksen Sigvaldi J. Kárason |
| Distributed by | 101 Limited |
|
Release date
|
June 1, 2000 |
|
Running time
|
88 minutes |
| Country |
Iceland Denmark Norway France |
| Language |
Icelandic English |
| Box office | $126,404 |
101 Reykjavík (
pronunciation ) is 2000 film based on the 1996 novel by Hallgrímur Helgason. Both are set in Reykjavík, Iceland. The film was directed by Baltasar Kormákur and stars Victoria Abril and Hilmir Snær Guðnason. The title is taken from the postal code for down-town Reykjavík, "the old city". The film won nine B-class film awards and received ten nominations most notably winning the Discovery Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Geek Hlynur is approaching 30 years old, still lives with his mother who is divorced from his alcoholic father, downloads porn and wanders around Reykjavík half-heartedly searching for a job while spending lots of time in Kaffibarinn, the central Reykjavík bar (the bar is owned in real life by writer/director Baltasar Kormákur and his soundtrack composer Damon Albarn, a long-standing Icelandophile). The cramped, dark and oddly furnished house in which Hlynur and his mother live features a bath which transfigures into a sofa as Hlynur steps naked out of it, in the middle of the lounge with his mother watching.
Hlynur's isolated world — no small metaphor for his home country — is going along rather blissfully ignorant of the greater joys involved with engaging in life until his mother's friend Lola Milagros arrives to stay at the house for a while. Lola is a Spanish flamenco instructor with a seductive smile, a sultry voice and a carpe-diem attitude. Unknown to Hlynur, she is also in love with his mother, Berglind. An enigmatic character, Lola quickly becomes the center of the household dynamic when, after a night of heavy drinking while mom is away, she and Hlynur sleep together. The fling remains a secret between Hlynur and Lola. (Throughout the film, the song Lola often plays as background music.) As Hlynur gradually learns of their lesbian relationship, he becomes jealous of it, realizing that he was simply a momentary fling for Lola, but he is also the dutiful son who wants to accept his mother's newfound lesbianism and be happy for her. He also has occasional oedipal / incestuous dreams about his mother.
...
Wikipedia