Known for Acting
A postal worker falls in love with the Chinese waitress at a Chinese restaurant. They start dating and quickly fall in and out of love, the waitress returning to China. The young man looks for comfort in his father but he's too preoccupied with winning the Eurovision song contest. After listening to loser friends talk about what Sylvester Stallone would do in his situation, the postal worker decides to buy a ticket to China and follow his love to her home.
Post-war provincial Iceland: around 1950, Freyja, who'd been a plump teen, returns from America, a widow with a 20-inch waist, seven suitcases of dresses, and a list of who ever wronged or slighted her. She moves in with an aunt and socialist uncle: finding a new husband is high on her agenda, and she's mistrusted by Agga, a pre-teen who's our eyes and ears. The social order and Freyja are more complicated than they seem at first, and so may be her prospects. Class divisions, families ties, pride, the onset of puberty, and the power of Eros sliver the ice.
Five stories interwine into one. A blind man hovers above the city. Everything looks set for a perfectly normal evening in Reykjavík, until the the power goes off?
Victor is the story of a conscientious if somewhat withdrawn traffic warden who through a series of mishaps finally finds his place in life. While the setting is unusual the film addresses a wide range of emotions and morality; Love, deceit, frustrated longings and human dignity. Victor, the eponymous hero of the film, is torn between his desire for the supermodel Kate le Font and the genuine affection of his co-worker Herdis. Victor's story comes to a head when a crooked traffic warden accuses him to hide his own crimes. With Herdis' help our hero narrowly avoids disaster. In a surprisingly complex plot, the film illustrates the dangers of repressed emotions, the liberating power of love and the ultimate triumph of good. All this takes place within the microcosmic context of the traffic warden's world which becomes a reflection of all human drama.
Águst Guðmundsson directed this Icelandic period drama, adapted from the short story We Must Dance by William Heinesen, and set on an island in 1913. Pétur (Gunnar Helgason) narrates, recalling the days when mainlanders arrived for a wedding. Flirtatious Sirsa (Pálína Jónsdottir) marries Harald (Dofri Hermannsson), son of a wealthy landowner on the island. Offshore, a ship is sinking, so the men form a rescue party, returning with the captain, the engineer, and several sailors. With a storm gathering, the engineer dies. The clergyman requests an end to the festivities as a mark of respect. Sirsa protests, but her new husband brings the celebration to a halt. The group then fragments into different activities, drunken or otherwise, and the sensual Sirsa directs her attention toward the handsome Ívar (Baldur Trausti Hreinsson). The film's score features traditional folk music.
