Jar City (DVD)

Icelandic cinema is an unfamiliar expedition for most filmgoers - they don't make a lot of films per year, and even less make it to our Western shores. Jar City, however, is one of these, and it's a solid thriller that's got some beautiful cinematography to boot. Above all else, it might make you want to visit Iceland. Jar City is a fairly complex film that deals with the moral quandary of what to do when a genetic disease abounds in a family. This is seemingly connected to a recent murder and a rape that occured three decades previously. Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson plays Elurndur, a cop charged with investigating these strange happenings. He delivers a fierce ...  Read the complete review

Whenever you watch a Scandinavian movie they are usually somewhat familiar in setting, the panoramas as bleak as the lonely and aloof central characters, the narrative somewhat gothic and foreboding, Jar City no exception. If you think of the original Insomnia, and films like Breaking the Waves and Smillas Sense of Snow, then it's that kind of vibe. The North Europeans do this stuff well and these films are always atmospheric and interesting, the title alone enough to have you scratching your chin with intrigue. Those who rented it thinking it was a Rastafarian movie set in Jamaica will be sadly disappointed. Jar City is not your mainstream movie in ...  Read the complete review