Jar City

Jar City (15)

Atmospheric Icelandic detective thriller

Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Starring: Ingvar Sigurdsson, Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson
Iceland, 2006, 1 hour 34 minutes, subtitles

Fri 20 March 7.30pm - Bosbury Parish Hall

Based on a best-selling Icelandic crime novel, this deftly combines a gripping thriller with some telling and atmospheric insights into Icelandic culture. Investigating the 'messy and pointless' murder of a small-time crook, world-weary detective Erlendur slowly starts to link it to a girl's death 30 years earlier. Pictured through the desolate majesty of the wintry landscape and with a fine eye for local detail (most memorably Erlendur hungrily devouring an Icelandic fast food delicacy - a sheep's head) the Iceland of Jar City may be bleak, but a smart, sharp script, shot through with black humour, pierces the gloom.

External Links: Observer Review / Times Review