I haven't seen any other films from Iceland (in their entirety), but I somehow doubt there are many more like this around. The story of Sigga, the naive farmgirl in the city, and Didi, the streetwise lass with a penchant for wild behaviour, is told in a one-camera cinema verite style, without overloading on the trademark Bochco (sp?) wobble. The comedy is mainly made up from a playfully dark sense of humour - witness the potential torture scene messed up because the electric knife cable comes out of the wall unexpectedly, the American drug dealer who tries his hardest to keep his composure throughout the film despite suffering food poisoning and intermittently running off chundering, and many other little touches which aren't specifically highlighted by the camera, so you have to keep a close eye on what's going on.
It has its stiller, more contemplative moments, usually dedicated to character building the two sisters, and effectively explaining the personality gap between them, but the camera is rarely still, and some shots seem to go on forever without cuts, giving the film a far more organic and unproduced feel than it otherwise would have had.
This all said, I had a couple of problems with it; despite only being 75 minutes long, there are a couple of gratuitous scenes in it which only seem to serve as padding, specifically the scene where the Anglophone drug dealers stop to knock off an Icelandic cop, and also when the drug dealers go after the two sisters and beat up a couple of people who might know who they are. Unnecessary and tedious, really.
So, it's not perfect, but if you can find it, it's worth having a look at. A rather unique experience all up. 8/10
It has its stiller, more contemplative moments, usually dedicated to character building the two sisters, and effectively explaining the personality gap between them, but the camera is rarely still, and some shots seem to go on forever without cuts, giving the film a far more organic and unproduced feel than it otherwise would have had.
This all said, I had a couple of problems with it; despite only being 75 minutes long, there are a couple of gratuitous scenes in it which only seem to serve as padding, specifically the scene where the Anglophone drug dealers stop to knock off an Icelandic cop, and also when the drug dealers go after the two sisters and beat up a couple of people who might know who they are. Unnecessary and tedious, really.
So, it's not perfect, but if you can find it, it's worth having a look at. A rather unique experience all up. 8/10
