Thursday 1 December 2011

Travels With My Film-Life: Iceland: Cold Fever

As I watch Mrs Doonuthin devourin her latest thriller (see previous post) then upendin herself over her box of cds trying to find the Bjork one....

I am reminded of an Icelandic film I have great affection for. It's Fridrik Thor Fridricksson's "Cold Fever" - a 1995 road movie set in Iceland following a young Japanese businessman who reluctantly travels to Iceland in order to perform a ritual ceremony for his parents who had died in an avalanche some years earlier. (Take the time to follow this Cold Fever link and watch the trailer on the International Movie Database...)

I just adore that film. Great photography. And as usual with me... off the wall characters. Add the naturally off the wall landscape of Iceland and it's just my cup of tea. I particularly loved the scene where the Japanese guy is desperate to get back to Reykjavik, hires a taxi and ... in the middle of nowhere there is an isolated building. The taxi driver asks him if he could just wait a moment and hops out of the taxi and into the building... After quite some time the Japanese guy gives up and staggers up to the building... inside he sees a full-scale nativity play going on with the taxi driver in pride of place...... I just love it.

If you get a chance, try to catch the film. And be prepared - there are an awful lot of deep-fried sheep's heads. And geysers. And elves. And black sand..........

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