"Noi Albinoi"
Noi (Tomas Lemraquis) is an extremely smart albino
teenager living in a remote village in the wilds of
northern Iceland. With the small town isolated during
the harsh winters, Noi just wants to get away with
Iris (Elin Hansdottir), a "city" girl who works at a
local gas station and is the daughter of Noi's friend,
Oskar (Hjalti Rognvaldsson), the local bookseller.
When the teen tries to take matters into his own hands
to affect their escape from the town, Bolungavrik,
things go drastically wrong and it takes a natural
disaster to make things change for the lad in "Noi
Albinoi."
We're told, during the course of the film, that Noi is
an exceptionally bright young man but his sullen,
closed up demeanor keeps us at arm's length. The
teenager is failing in high school but we soon learn
that this is of his own making as he is little
challenged by the school work or his teachers. He
lives with his grandmother (Anna Fridriksdottir), lost
his mother years ago and has a drunkard for a father.
When he is expelled from school for his lack of effort
his father, Kiddi (Throstur Leo Gunnarsson), gets him
a job - as a gravedigger.
One day, Noi goes down to the local cafe/garage to buy
his daily bottle of malt beverage and sees pretty
newcomer Iris. She resists the odd looking boy, at
first, but they soon become friends, then
boyfriend/girlfriend, and share their dreams of
getting away from the isolated village. Noi decides to
expedite matters and attempts a bank robbery which he
botches badly. He steals a car and tries to get Iris
to go on the lam with him but she will have nothing to
do with his crimes. He gets arrested and is sprung by
his father. Humiliated, Noi hides out in his safe
place beneath his grandmother's house - until disaster
strikes the town. Noi wanted changes in his life and
Mother Nature obliges him irrevocably.
Lemarquis, as Noi, is a bit of a blank cipher as he
keeps to himself and disdains the educational system
in his tiny town. His attitude angers his teacher
(Gu?mundur Olafsson) who wants to be rid of the boy he
considers a troublemaker. When Noi is thrown out of
school, he grudgingly takes the gravedigger job his
father arranged, using his brains to figure out how to
make his job easier under the harsh, frozen conditions
of Iceland in winter. As we get inside the head of the
title character we are also introduced to the people
around him who, to varying degrees, have shaped Noi.
As the story builds, Noi becomes increasingly
restless, especially when Iris enters the picture, and
he takes to a path of crime that looks like it will be
his end. Then, nature takes a hand and, for Noi and
those around him, disaster strikes. For the albino
teen, though, the disaster has positive connotations
for his future.
"Noi Albinoi" is a quirky pastiche of characters, with
Noi at the center. This central character keeps you at
arms length as we watch him rebel against the school
authorities but acquiesces when demands are made by
his father.
This is a low key coming of age film where things
happen without much fanfare. When Noi, armed with a
shotgun, attempts to rob the local bank, he is greeted
with bored disdain by the manager and thrown out on
his ear. It takes his car theft to spice things up
with the local authorities but even this event is less
than earthshaking. It's only when nature gets her
fingers in the equation do things come alive, even in
tragedy.
The remote Iceland locales make for some striking shot
composition from lenser Rasmus Videbaek's camera.
Newcomer director Dagur Kari does a competent job
first time out of the gate. The helmer also wrote the
screenplay and, in one particular amusing moment, has
Oskar quoting Kierkegaard's Ecstatic Discourse from
Diapsalmata, which is, basically, "you're damned if
you do and damned if you don't."
"Noi" is an unusual coming of age story in a culture
that is foreign (no pun intended) to American viewers.
It should appeal to those with more quirky tastes. I
give it a B-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
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laura@reelingreviews.com
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