101 Reykjavik (2000)

one of my absolute favorites!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

What starts off as a typical tale about a slacker morphs deliberately into a coming-of-age exploration of sexuality, romantic relationships, and self-discovery—all wrapped up in a dark comedy. 101 Reykjavik starts off quite slow and almost loses the viewer with its melancholy tone and a main character who is close to impossible to identify with, yet redeems itself through an odd, quirky and amusing storyline.Much of the film focuses on 30 year old Hlynur's struggle to deal with adult concepts; moving out of his mother's house, taking care of himself, finding a job, and establishing mature relationships with those around him. Hlynur spends the majority of his time watching porn, getting drunk at the local bar, living off unemployment checks and allowing his mother to feed, clothe and clean up after him. His relationships with women are a disaster and lack any real meaning because he seems unable (or refuses) to connect with anyone outside of sex.His immaturity is especially revealed once his mother's flamenco instructor—Lola moves in. Hlynur falls for her although he is ignorant of the fact that Lola is actually his mother's lesbian lover, something that he soon discovers upon his mother's return home (along with the discovery that Lola is pregnant with his child). Hlynur has no idea how to handle the situation, and he reacts with jealousy and resentment (that seems to have oedipal tendencies), and outbursts of jeering contempt. Eventually he moves out, although surprisingly this seems to do little to change his enduring slacker attitude in the short term.Hlynur's self-conceptualization throughout the film is characterized by his stubborn refusal to lead a life of any real meaning for the majority of the film, and his frustrating but revealing conversation with Lola where she accuses him of being unable to have human relationships and tells him to get a life, and he responds by asking her what life is. Although his process towards self-discovery is painfully slow and loses the viewer at times through frustration with his stubborn reluctance to be a relational human being, over time, his mother's revealing of her relationship with Lola drives Hlynur to do some deep processing and pondering about his relationship with his mother, his romantic relationships (or lack thereof) with other women, the meaning of sexuality, and his place in the world. As he quotes towards the end of the film, "…the lesbian is a relative newcomer to Icelandic nature. She is thought to have migrated from Denmark and Britain. Her only contact with the male bird is during conception. In recent years we have witnessed cases of male birds... who are unable to fly at all. The offspring of a boozer and a lesbian is the Hlynur... an unusually slow developer that can't fly... and remains with his mother for the first 30 years. The Hlynur is defensive by nature, but harmless." By the end of the film, we see Hlynur giving his daughter/step-sister a bath, having a meaningful relationship with a woman, and performing his duties as a traffic cop. It is uplifting and satisfying to find him successful and relational, but it took entirely too long. 101 Reykjavik is a successful film in its distinct characterization of certain elements of the Norwave movement such as the "mama's boy" theme, its portrayal of Nordic culture in the Welfare state, Hlynur's outsider existence, and the emphasis on the contrast between rural and urban culture in Hlynur's feeling of being trapped in a small rural country. However, I found the plot too slow moving and very hard to relate to. I was distracted by my frustration with Hlynur's personality and his inability to connect with people. Although the plot was amusing enough to keep me from entirely giving up on this film, I was unable to identify with any of the characters and so I found myself uninterested and disconnected. The resolution at the end of the movie and Hlynur's ultimate self-discovery took up less than five minutes of the entire film, which seemed like an enormous build-up for very little pay off. Overall, the movie was not horrible, but I probably would not recommend it to a friend.

The story of 101 Reykjavik follows Hlynur, a young man in his mid-thirties who lives with his mother. Hlynur enjoys spending his days (and unemployment checks) drinking, watching porn, smoking, and web surfing. He occasionally has sex with Hofy, a girl he regularly sees at the club he frequents, but resists having more than a physical relationship with her. He has several friends he goes to the pub with but his closest relationship is with his mother. At the beginning of the film, Hlynur is content to watch life on a television or computer screen and live in close quarters with his mother. When asked what he does Hlynur replies he does nothing, "the nothing kind of nothing". He detests his extended family and finds their company so mundane that he has fantasies of killing them with a shotgun. However, his routine is upended when his mother's dance instructor, Lola, moves in with them for the holidays. Hlynur is attracted to her and invites her out to an evening with friends. Lola enjoys going out and drinking even more than Hlynur does and leaves the bar with another woman. On New Year's Eve Hlynur finds out that Lola is a lesbian but, despite this insight, he sleeps with her. Complications arise when Hlynur discovers that his mother is in a lesbian relationship with Lola and that Lola is pregnant with his baby. 101 Reykjavik employs clever film techniques to tell the story of an isolated young man and his journey to take an active role in life; a story that could be used as a metaphor for larger situations. Watching Hlynur step out of his isolated world and into reality is part of what makes 101 Reykjavik an enjoyable film. As the movie progresses, Hlynur is less and less content to continue his aloof lifestyle and becomes more and more engaged with the world around him. The transition is not smooth. Hlynur enjoys his isolation, commenting with relief at a club that it was too noisy to talk and too busy to dance thus providing a barrier to anything potentially engaging or intimate. Lola becomes a major force in Hlynur's life, pulling him out of his self-imposed isolation. This is represented when she makes him watch the fireworks from the balcony and not on the TV regardless of his protests that "they actually look better on a screen". Despite his blasé attitude towards commitment he is genuinely upset when Lola becomes pregnant but does not reveal he is the father and describes the father as a 'donor'. While Hlynur readily accepts his mother for who she is, he has trouble accepting that she will raise his baby and becomes very emotionally conflicted. He tries to reconcile his newfound feelings with his isolated world but the audience can see he is struggling when he attends a party and ends up watching two people have sex. For Hlynur, an avid porn watcher, this could be seen as progress into the real world because watching real sex does not involve the isolation of watching it on a screen. At the end of the movie we see that Hlynur is an active part of his child's life and has a job checking parking meters, proving that Hlynur has started participating in life and even taking on some responsibility. Several film techniques are employed to include the audience in Hlynur's isolated world and his journey to becoming an active participant in life. Voice overs are a film technique employed to give insight into Hlynur's thoughts and feelings. Hlynur's thoughts track his character change. At the beginning of the film, Hlynur voices his complaint that they don't show porn in the morning. Whereas at the end of the film, Hlynur describes himself as a harmless flightless bird, his inner voice shows that his thoughts have gotten deeper and more self-exploratory. His voice emphasizes his struggle to take more control over his life and become more active. Crane shots of Hlynur trudging through the mountainous Icelandic landscape are also used to convey his isolation as they sweep over the deserted land. These shots give an idea how vastly isolated and, especially at the end of the film, how lonely Hlynur's life is.Despite the films clear comedic undertones, 101 Reykjavik is a good metaphor for change coming to a small nation like Iceland. Iceland is an isolated country and, like Hlynur, may not completely engage the rest of the world. One of the major changes in Hlynur's life is the revelation of his mother's sexual preferences. Hlynur accepts his mother and notes how social views in Iceland are changing by describing how 'the lesbian is new to Iceland' thus describing how his story could be transcended to the national level. 101 Reykjavik is a good model for change in a small isolated country and how people deal with that change and engage with the greater world as a whole. 101 Reykjavik artfully tells the story of an isolated young man becoming more engaged in life as a message that is universally understood. The film employs techniques such as voice overs and crane shots to convey the isolation that Hlynur feels and his struggle to become fully participating in his world. Many understand Hlynur's struggle to take control of his life and will be able to relate to him and enjoy 101 Reykjavik.

101 Reykjavik was undoubtedly the best film I've seen come out of Iceland. The premise of the movie is funny by itself: a lazy, 30-year-old, unemployed guy named Hlynur (as played by Hilmir Snær Guðnason) lives with his mom (as played by Hanna María Karlsdóttir) in Reykjavik, Iceland, and finds himself going from out of luck, no prospects, and not a care in the world, to a potential father for the children of both his semi-girlfriend, Hófí (as played by Þrúður Vilhjálmsdóttir) and his mom's new Spanish girlfriend, Lola (as played by Victoria Abril), with whom he had an affair. Hlynur's reactions when he learned of the pregnancies were priceless. So, all things considered, this movie was pretty good. Not only was it a unique plot that had a twist or two thrown in, but the character development, the tone of the film, and even the soundtrack was good. Quite a few of the characters really grew up in the film, such as Hlynur, with his more responsible lifestyle at the end, his mother, and her finally coming out of the closet (despite the fact that apparently everybody knew, including Hlynur), and Lola, who ended up being a pretty solid mom, herself. The movie's tone was just great in my opinion. It was lighthearted, yet still serious. Hlynur had some serous problems, but he could always make light of them, which is an admirable trait. It shows an inner strength, to be able to make fun of oneself. The song, Lola, by Ray Davies is used in a variety of ways, including a few instrumental versions, which cracked me up, because (a) it's got the pun value, what with one of the main characters being named Lola, and (b) I was one of the only people in my group who got it, since it was the instrumental version that played first. Not only that, but there were a few completely unnecessary scenes that were thrown in that were just great. For example, there was this scene where Hlynur is at a family reunion, and he (quite graphically) imagines himself taking the shotgun off of the wall, and shooting his entire family. Now, while the plot would have been unaffected by the absence of this scene, it adds relatability, to the film, since everyone imagines doing that at some point or another. Plus, the scene itself is downright hysterical. Also, the film is pretty educational, on the whole. You get a pretty good handle on how boring Iceland is for its residents. 61% of the population lives in Reykjavik, and that's around 200,000 people, which is around the population of Des Moines, Iowa, which is the home to the world's largest truck stop. Not exactly a high-excitement zone. Which is what the character, Hlynur tells you. They live for the weekend, and all there is to do then is to drink and to be promiscuous. This is undoubtedly why he gets into the trouble he gets into. The ending of the movie was, in my opinion, truly phenomenal. I won't spoil it for you, the reader, though.But the movie isn't without faults. There are a few moments in the movie where you question the sanity of the characters. There's one scene where Hófí and Hlynur talk over an intercom at Hófí's apartment complex, and she casually tells him about how (spoiler alert) not only did she get an abortion, but it wasn't even his baby to begin with, after he had spent the last few months agonizing over it. The viewer and Hlynur both have the same reaction: "WTF?" I thought to myself, "Well, what was the point of that? What did she really stand to gain by messing with his head like that? That was below the belt (pun intended)." Despite the few shortcomings it had in the character department though, the good aspects of the film really shine through, while the inadequacies almost fall away, and I was left with a good feeling coming away from the film. It was one of those rare films where I left saying to myself, "I'm glad I watched that." It was, all in all, a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The movie had a good moral, too. "Everything will turn out fine." Hlynur stressed over his seemingly insurmountable problems, but, in the end, it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought. This is, I feel, life in a nutshell. It seems worse than it is, and when you finally realize that, all of your cares tend to melt away.

I stumbled upon this film by mistake in the movie theater and I really enjoyed it. Not only does it give an accurate portrayal of life in Iceland, but it explores the human spirit and soul. The music is absolutely sensational, and writer/director/actor Kormákur's photography is absolutely marvelous. The story itself is bizarre yet entertaining, surreal but pleasant and definitely a fresh alternative to the Hollywood blockbusters. The story digs into human nature, the love for ambition, our way of life, and most importantly, the way apathy rules our lives. It is, if you will, a coming of age film, a film of self discovery, and the outcomes are very much deserved and liked. Everyone with a love for European cinema or good quality cinema will enjoy this film.