THEMOVIES

Artist Anna (Saga Gardarsdóttir) and fisherman Magnús (Sverrir Gudmason) have separated. The cause of the separation is suggested at most. Against the backdrop of the wild Icelandic nature, the viewer is taken into the vulnerable togetherness of a couple with their children. What is it like to be a family? To share for better and for worse? To notice or not notice the beauty around you? Anna increasingly distances herself as the seasons pass. On a hiking trip where the family picks mushrooms and berries, it looks more like a close togetherness. With a role for the endearing dog Panda. Pálmason: “...the different seasons enable me to capture the highs and lows of a family. I need cold and warmth, dark and light, winter and summer.” The director lets us share in fantasy and reality in this enchanted family portrait with some absurdly realistic scenes; a monstrous rooster, a sword falls from the sky, and horses trample Anna's artworks. Pálmason: “We as viewers become desensitized when we're constantly fed the same thing. I like to work with striking strange contrasts.”