In a remote Icelandic farming valley, two estranged brothers must come together in order to save what’s dearest to them – their sheep.
The surprise winner of Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes, this desolately beautiful film follows Gummi (Sigurður Sigurjónsson) and Kiddi (Theodór Júlíusson), brothers who live on neighbouring sheep farms but haven’t spoken to each other for forty years. Then disease threatens the health and ancient lineage of their beloved rams – and the brothers are forced to communicate once again.
Written and directed by documentarian Grímur Hákonarson (A Pure Heart), it’s a naturalistic portrait of rural life that, like another recent Icelandic hit Of Horses and Men, utilises both the austere beauty of the country’s landscape and its people’s seemingly native wry, deliciously mordant humour. A real treat.
