Customer Reviews

Jar City

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't remember how I stumbled across this movie, but I definitely give it two thumbs-up. The story isn't exactly ground-breaking, but the casting, acting, and cinematography are all top shelf. It's also refreshing to watch a movie where most of the actors look like actual people, as opposed to the plastic, air-brushed, bottle-dyed, perfect toothed crew we have shoved down our throats in this country.

The lead character is no model of perfection and his family problems segue nicely into the main plot of the movie. If you like films like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Smilla's Sense of Snow, or the original Insomnia, you will like this movie.

As a murder mystery, this film is a little muddled. Even now, after having viewed most of the movie through twice, I'm still not sure that I completely understand the murderer's motive, or that I grasp the relationships of all the characters. Some of this confusion is compounded by an artsy time displacement probably inserted because someone just wanted to distinguish "Jar City" by making it less conventionally linear.

I still recommend this movie though for its striking photography and for the rare chance it gives to see Icelandic settings and to get inside Icelandic society. This is probably a country most of us won't get to visit personally. So this might be the only time we'll hear the Icelandic language spoken - not quite modern German or any Scandinavian language. There are very readable subtitles though, which really aren't distracting.

Then there's Iceland's landscape. There are the gleaming bare stretches of highway threading their way through the country's surprising watery tundra and wetlands. The aerial shots of these reminded me of U2's plaintive lyric, "You said you'd give me a highway with no one on it." There are the blocks of new apartment buildings, lit like prison tiers. There's a compelling juxtaposition of modern metallic with seascape wind-weathered.

There are the insights into Iceland's different customs. We see the lead detective routinely ordering "goat's head" at the drive-through fast-food window. Everyone seems to enjoy grappling with big, sinewy chunks of meat in various contexts. Also, the characters' affect towards each other is a little different than our usual way of interacting.

Finally, there's the eerie setting that gives the movie its title - the room containing the body parts of the deceased in jars - specimens kept row on row. It's reminiscent of the frightening behind-the-scenes collections kept at Chicago's Field Museum, as shown in movies such as "Mimic."

All this really puts the "foreign" in foreign movie. There are no extras on this DVD - no commentary or deleted scenes. The disc is as spare as the Iceland moors. But the movie is enough. It will keep you watching, absorbed.

This is about as clever a murder, mystery/thriller as I've ever seen.

Here's the scoop. A young girl dies from a genetically contracted neuro-brain disease (I forget the name) and somehow her death is related to the murder of a man. The police in general, and one detective in particular, need to find the connection.

This is a very complex story involving a wide cast of characters. The chief detective on the case is a rather surly individual. He's divorced and doesn't have the best relationship with his daughter who's a bit of a floozy and druggie. He's always dumping on his younger, hipper partner but doesn't really seem to mean it. It's like all he wants to do is bust his partner's onions. But those two and a third, female detective follow the clues and build the case. It takes them all over the place and puts them up against all manner of individuals from slimy ex-cops to prison inmates. But little by little things come together.

I believe this is the first Icelandic movie I've ever seen and it's a doozy. It's set during the winter so I shivered pretty much throughout the entire flick. It looks and feels rather bleak. There are a lot of aerial shots showing various land and shore-scapes. A lot of flying over the cities and towns as well. All the characters, even the secondary ones, are well written and acted. But the real gem here is the script. It's just so well laid out. The way each item adds to the pile is clever. Things set up early on, that seem to have no relation to the case, start to fit in in a very satisfying way.

I don't know if this is worth the five stars I gave it but I'd be hard pressed to see how it could have been done any better. If you're into mystery/thrillers this should do you good.

A sheep's head,Einstein's brain,and dug-up skeletons,tainted blood.A lovely feast and spectacle for the Icelandic tourist board to contend with let alone this detective procedural.There's a certain shock value to all these items, an esoteric,forensic quality,as well as a maguffin or two.Jar City by Arnaldar Indridson has been filmed by Kormakur to bring out the terrors and dangers of the wilderness of Iceland in sepulchral blue tones.There are spectacular,sweeping shots of the landscape as Erlendur,the dour detective drives across it,searching for connections to the murder of a lonely,old rapist,together with an effective choral soundtrack.A major theme is the unlocking of a government DNA database and organ centre,Jar City,by the genetic researcher,Orn,who is bereaving his young daughter's death,and has gained unlawful access,leading to tragedy.Isolated in the Atlantic, wind-swept, wet with winter gloom,seams of humour run through the darkness like the returning sun to pagans. Erlendur is the depressed father of a junkie daughter who is pregnant and needs his help.The Icelanders'diminished populationseeks survival through the DNA database and the fact that the raped women have not aborted their children.The murdered Holberg has,through rape, given birth to children with his own genetic brain disease.

There is hatred and fear of the surveillance society.The idea of the keeping of these old family secrets-tragedies,sorrows and death-classified in computers,waiting to be called up.Dark secrets,black landscapes,grim weather and long winter nights.There are sleazy retired cops and brooding psychopathic criminals waiting to escape prison and murder.The awkward,unglamorous,beardy Erlendur(Sigurdsson) keeps the tone basic and real,with his tender regard for his daughter amid the chaos,in a film whose well-trodden themes of how the past infects the present through genetic and emotional inheritances,lays seige through a repulsion that haunts him like an evil spirit.This nordic noir,full of unsettling atmospherics, feels genuinely fresh.

I've read four of Arnaldur Indridason's books and they're all good, though all are very emotional draining. The movie cuts out some of the heaviness while leaving the plot intact. A man is found dead and investigations lead to crimes committed 30 years in the past and reveal the consequences those crimes have lead to in the present. I found the main character interesting although they cut out background about his family. I think that might be a problem with the movie. It seems to presuppose a knowledge of the book. There are also flashbacks that are not clearly defined that can leave you feeling confused. And the sheep's head is gross. But despite that, the landscapes are beautiful, the music is lovely, and the ending is dramatic. It has a gritty, pared down feeling and I truly enjoyed that.