Short on plot but long on atmospherics, Pálmason's film reveals itself as a deeply considered and profound statement about the slippery nature of masculinity, loneliness, anger and the human capacity for love.
- Jake Watt
Read Jake's full article...
https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-a-white-white-day-love-loss-and-anger-in-iceland
Peter McGinn
September 2, 2021
6
It seems to me that A White, Whirte Day was trying to be an artsy Indie type film and, if I am right, I think they aimed too low. The way the camera sometimes lingers on a still life scene, the times when it feels like they are using symbolism, such as when we watch a rock rock a great distance down a hill, off a cliff, into the water and down to the ocean floor — all seem to be working too hard at it, screen time which I believe would be better served focusing on the atmospheric use of the landscape and the fog.
The writing is strong in many places, but inconsistent. The child Salka is my favorite character, stealing scenes as often as not. She isn’t one of those stereotypical adults in a child’s body. She behaves as a child many times, but she is also given some good lines and delivers them well.
It would have been easier for me to submerge myself in this movie if I had liked the main character, but alas, I never really rooted for him. His best moments were, again, with his granddaughter; other than those scenes I found myself wishing he were shuttled into the background more and other characters brought forward.
The plot crawls to a crescendo at the end. I won’t give away any details, but I found it to be unrealistic and felt that the main character was allowed to get off way too easy for his actions. Though I will say that, unlike many of the Indie films it may be emulating, it does have an ending of sorts, rather than just stopping trhe plot and action in midair.
This is what happens when Icelandic movie maker, familiar with Kurasawa, has channeled Shakespeare in his dreams - an unbearably long art-house film. Salka (Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir) was great in this.
