Kvikmyndapod: An Icelandic Cinema Podcast

Halló!

With summer in full swing what better time to visit the bitter winter of 1980s Iceland!

Erlingur Thoroddsen's Cold is a psychological horror/thriller set across two timelines. In the present, a detective (played by Johannes Haukur Johanneson) who is haunted by the recent death of his wife investigates a cold case in which two boys died at a detention centre in the 1980s. While in the past, a young girl begins working at a detention centre for young boys and has a number of creepy encounters. Could the two plots be related and will the secrets of the past and present reveal themselves?

An adaptation of Yrsa Sigurðardóttir's novel The Undesired, this is a stylish and chilling film not dissimilar to previous adaptation I Remember You.

Also starring the multi-talented Elín Hall (Let Me Fall, When the Light Breaks), Selma Björnsdóttir (Under the Tree) and Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir (Woman At War, Metalhead). With cinematography by Brecht Goyvaerts and music by Einar Sv. Tryggvason.

Cold is available in the UK to watch on Prime Video.

 

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Artwork designed by Sophie Watts

Music by Branches Bare

('Half-light' from the EP 'In the Origami Folds of the Night You Rip the Seam of Sleep Wide Open)

Halló!

A new Icelandic film reaches UK cinemas in March, and Rob and Ellie travel back to the land of ice and fire to talk all things The Love That Remains.

Set in rural Iceland and shot in a similar way to Godland and A White, White Day, Hlynur Pálmason's latest is very different prospect. Lighter and more playful in tone but perhaps also a little more arty, The Love That Remains follows the lives of a fictional family over the course of a year after a divorce.

Starring Saga Garðarsdóttir (Woman at War) and Sverrir Gudnason (Northern Comfort, Borg McEnroe)as parents Anna and Magnus as well as the director's three children (NEST), The Love That Remains is sweet, funny and occasionally fantastical. Iceland looks as good as ever! And there is a very cute Icelandic sheepdog call Panda 🐶

It is out in the UK now and here is the (inexhaustive) list of UK cinemas showing The Love That Remains:

Bristol Watershed – March 13th to 19th

Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre – 20th March – 26th March

Warwick Arts Centre - 20th March – 26th March

Tyneside Cinema – 18th March

London Garden Cinema - March 13th to 19th

Manchester HOME – From March 13th

London Lexi – March 27th to 31st

Plymouth Arts Cinema – March 27th to April 2nd

Dundee Contemporary Arts - March 27th to April 2nd

Edinburgh Filmhouse - March 13th to 19th

Film Theatre Glasgow – March 13th to 26th

 

And if you'd like to hear the English language version of the trailer we played at the start of the episode you can watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ0fdmesr-w

 

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Artwork designed by Sophie Watts

Music by Branches Bare

('Half-light' from the EP 'In the Origami Folds of the Night You Rip the Seam of Sleep Wide Open)

Halló!

For their final discussion of the series, Rob and Ellie travel across continents and decades for a long-lost love story by Baltasar Kormákur.

Set in 1960s London and contemporary Iceland and Japan, Touch follows Kristófer as he searches for Miko, a Japanese girl who he loved when he spent time in London as a student, and who mysteriously disappeared one day.

With excellent performances from Egill Ólafsson, Yôko Narahashi, Palmi Kormákur and Japanese model Kōki, and beautifully shot and scored, this is a very subdued Kormákur film that sits in a rather different genre to much of his output discussed on the podcast so far.

Touch is available in to rent or buy physically and digitally in the UK now!

 

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Artwork designed by Sophie Watts (justahappyspace)

 

Music by Branches Bare

('Half-light' from the EP 'In the Origami Folds of the Night You Rip the Seam of Sleep Wide Open)

Halló!

This week Rob and Ellie contemplate the existence of draugar as they discuss recent release 'The Damned'.

Director Thordur Palsson's debut feature bears many of the hallmarks of a KVIKMYNDAPOD film with its setting of an isolated village in the Westfjords, gorgeous scenery and a chilling atmosphere, but this one is in the English language.

'The Damned', an ominous and bitter horror/thriller set in 19th century Iceland, follows Eva and her fishing crew as they come across a shipwreck and are faced with the moral dilemma to either help, or prioritise their own survival.

With a haunting score, brilliantly stark cinematography and cast of great British actors, this is a taut, tense and terrifying watch. Keep your eyes peeled for Rory McCann from 'Game of Thrones', Siobhan Finneran from 'Happy Valley', Joe Cole from 'Peaky Blinders' and the incredible Odessa Young from 'Assassination Nation'.

Available in UK cinemas right now!

 

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Artwork designed by Sophie Watts (justahappyspace)

 

Music by Branches Bare

('Half-light' from the EP 'In the Origami Folds of the Night You Rip the Seam of Sleep Wide Open)

Halló!

Rob and Ellie travel to yet another remote Icelandic village and meet a whole host of villagers with stories to tell and dreams to dream in Elfar Aðalsteins' film adaptation of Jón Kalman Stefánsson's popular novel 'Summerlight...And Then Comes The Night'.

With a large ensemble cast of familiar faces including Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson, Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Svandís Dóra Einarsdóttir, Víkingur Kristjánsson, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Jóhann Sigurðarson and Heida Reed, 'Summerlight' explores the villagers' lives during the long summer days and the long winter nights.

A successful businessman gives it all up to teach astronomy in the local town hall, two farmers have an affair, a young man loses his father, and a couple spark up a romance. These are stories both specific and universal, and the film depicts them beautifully with incredible cinematography and gorgeous music.

Available to stream, rent and buy in the UK on Prime.

 

Please subscribe/follow, rate and review on Spotify and Apple

and

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Bluesky @kvikmyndapod.bsky.social

Threads @kvikmyndapod

Join in the conversation on Discord

And if you fancy supporting us, why not sling us the cost of a coffee!

 

Artwork designed by Sophie Watts (justahappyspace)

 

Music by Branches Bare

('Half-light' from the EP 'In the Origami Folds of the Night You Rip the Seam of Sleep Wide Open)