THE SEA A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
THE SEA (HAFIŠ) is a comedic drama about a large dysfunctional family -- what a concept! Although this theme has been tried about a million times before, there's always room for a million and one if the filmmaker has something original to say, which director Baltasar Kormįkur most certainly does not. About as fresh as the film ever gets is when a couple sits down by the pseudo-warmth of a TV playing a bad video of a fake fireplace.
The movie, which plays like a Dogma story without the Dogma techniques, is set in a fishing village in a remote area of Iceland. The wealthy father of the family, Thordur (Gunnar Eyjólfsson), owns the local fish packing plant, which is the town's sole industry. Thordur has summoned his grown children home in order to put his affairs in order. Order is something that doesn't come naturally to his family, who aren't exactly well adjusted. The father, we learn, started having loud sex with his sister-in-law while his wife was dying in the next room. His former sister-in-law is now is his second wife since his first conveniently passed away.
No one in the story is fond of their homeland. Įgśst (Hilmir Snęr Gušnason), one of Thordur's sons, says of his village in general and his sister in particular, "Idiots get raped by idiots -- it's that kind of place." One can think of the film as an anti-travelogue for Iceland. No matter how beautifully bleak and delicately desolate the snow-dusted landscape might look, viewers will probably be thinking that they couldn't stand visiting the country so long as its sour and angry inhabitants remain. The story also makes the smelly food and bitter drinks appear pretty unappealing.
"I started smoking too late in life -- biggest mistake in my life," the crotchety grandmother in the story explains, while loading up on booze at the local liquor store. Don't make a mistake yourself. There are many more rewarding and entertaining movies in current release. Don't waste your time on this mean-spirited little film of no consequence. When the predictable, big emotional meltdown comes in the last act, you won't care in the least what happens to the story's contrived characters.
THE SEA runs 1:41. The film is in Icelandic with English subtitles and in English. It is not rated but would be an R for sex, nudity, violence and language and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, May 30, 2003. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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