Customer Reviews

Remote Control [VHS]

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

 

 

Oskar Jonasson certainly has a flair for the trivial and absurd. His comic genius shines in this wonderful romp filled to the brim with exaggerated characters in situations simultaneously commonplace and incredible.

Fans of the scandinavian "quest comedy" style will love this. For those not familiar with the genre, "Remote Control" (or "Sodoma, Reykjavik" in the original Icelandic) provides an excellent introduction. It's all here: The story plays like "The Wizard of Oz", with the characters literally travelling through a strange land (and Reykjavik, Iceland provides a very strange story-stage indeed) meeting all manner of oddball characters on the way; the inane philosophical dialog; the stoic acceptance of the most absurd situations; etc.

This style of comedy is often emulated (but never duplicated) by Hollywood. Films such as "Dude, Where's My Car?", "Office Space", "Road Trip" and others come to mind. British films like "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" do as well.

Well worth seeing. And if you like this kind of comedy, worth owning as well. Now, if they'd only make a DVD version...

Well, that's what my friend said, anyway. And he was pretty much on the mark...as far as the basic plot goes.

Axel, the main character is the perfect slacker from 1992. There are a lot of nice shots of Reykjavík, many funny scenes with mobsters and metalheads...and lots of leggy girls in tights.

Björk (Guðmundsdóttir) performs two songs on the soundtrack of this film that was originally titled Sódóma Reykjavík: a 50s rockabilly cover with a group called KK Band ("O Borg Min Borg") and "Takk"--which she wrote--and performs with DJ Þór (Þórhallur Skúlason). In 1992, director Óskar Jónasson was dating Björk--he had directed many Sugarcubes videos.

Óskar Jónasson has created a comical masterpiece. Remote control gets funnier every time I watch it and is already a cult item in Iceland. I dare and double dare everyone to see it, at least three times!

When I was living in Iceland, I watched this movie all the time! It is the best Icelandic movie I have ever seen!

This movie is very funny, it is one of the best comedys I have seen in a long time.