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Noi Albinoi (Noi the Albino) directed by Dagur Kari
A small Icelandic fishing village in the Western fjords is home to teenager Noi who lives with his otherworldly grandma. His life is confined and bound up in this isolated place. His father is a taxi driver partial to a few drinks who lives apart from Noi, his grandma's mind is starting to fade, he seems to have no friends of his own age and school is offering him no challenge. His only friend is a cantankerous bookseller whose chaotic shop Noi can slope off to when he's had enough of moping around town.
Noi's not much of a school attender and when he gets one of the other pupils to take a dictaphone into school instead of attending himself, the teacher announces that either Noi is expelled or he's leaving. Given this ultimatum the Head teacher has no choice.
When the bookseller's daughter comes to live with her father to get away from the 'influences of the big city', she seems to offer a peek into a big wide world that Noi's life so far has denied.
There is no story as such here, it's a series of scenes from Noi's existence in this freezing environment. The feeling of claustrophobia is very well portrayed for in spite of being set in such a remote place, the village is in the shadow of an enormous mountain that looms over all the outside shots. This theme is carried on inside the wooden houses with their densely patterned 60s wallpaper. Kari has filmed the inside shots with a green/yellow filter which makes the outside snowy scenes contrast with huge brightness.
Noi's unusual looks and obvious intelligence mark him out amongst his classmates and can only further contribute to his alienation from his peers. He has the classic insoucient attitude to authority that comes from being intellectually superior which in turn aggravates his teachers and creates more friction. A couple of deadpan classroom scenes illustrate nicely why Noi's lost interest in school.
When a disaster strikes that affects Noi's whole world, instead of casting him into depression the director shares with us the suspicion that Noi has now been allowed the freedom to shake off everything that constrained him and make his own way in the world.
By making Noi such an unusual figure, Kari has succeeded in making this more than a teenage angst film. The feeling of otherworldliness is not only in chilly landscape but in the curious characters that inhabit the village, who are played by either non actors or part time actors.
If you like offbeat films that make you happy that we're not all the same then have a try of this
4/5
A small Icelandic fishing village in the Western fjords is home to teenager Noi who lives with his otherworldly grandma. His life is confined and bound up in this isolated place. His father is a taxi driver partial to a few drinks who lives apart from Noi, his grandma's mind is starting to fade, he seems to have no friends of his own age and school is offering him no challenge. His only friend is a cantankerous bookseller whose chaotic shop Noi can slope off to when he's had enough of moping around town.
Noi's not much of a school attender and when he gets one of the other pupils to take a dictaphone into school instead of attending himself, the teacher announces that either Noi is expelled or he's leaving. Given this ultimatum the Head teacher has no choice.
When the bookseller's daughter comes to live with her father to get away from the 'influences of the big city', she seems to offer a peek into a big wide world that Noi's life so far has denied.
There is no story as such here, it's a series of scenes from Noi's existence in this freezing environment. The feeling of claustrophobia is very well portrayed for in spite of being set in such a remote place, the village is in the shadow of an enormous mountain that looms over all the outside shots. This theme is carried on inside the wooden houses with their densely patterned 60s wallpaper. Kari has filmed the inside shots with a green/yellow filter which makes the outside snowy scenes contrast with huge brightness.
Noi's unusual looks and obvious intelligence mark him out amongst his classmates and can only further contribute to his alienation from his peers. He has the classic insoucient attitude to authority that comes from being intellectually superior which in turn aggravates his teachers and creates more friction. A couple of deadpan classroom scenes illustrate nicely why Noi's lost interest in school.
When a disaster strikes that affects Noi's whole world, instead of casting him into depression the director shares with us the suspicion that Noi has now been allowed the freedom to shake off everything that constrained him and make his own way in the world.
By making Noi such an unusual figure, Kari has succeeded in making this more than a teenage angst film. The feeling of otherworldliness is not only in chilly landscape but in the curious characters that inhabit the village, who are played by either non actors or part time actors.
If you like offbeat films that make you happy that we're not all the same then have a try of this
4/5