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10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Icelandic Slacker MovieJun 11, 2005
By Steve Vander
2000 Icelandic not-rated movie. Also known as "101 ehf. kynnir" Caution: full nudity (including male, and female (and brief nudity of and older woman)), and drug use. Something of a strange love-triangle movie.
DVD Features: Contains the film (oddly, the DVD does not specific what language the film is in, though it offers English subtitles), and special features. There are three special features: 1: filmographies; 2: "Trailers from the Wellspring Libraries" (7 trailers, "Irma Vep," "Un Air De Famille," "Clockwatchers," "A Couch in New York," "Hugo Pool," "Stolen Kisses," and "Venus Beauty Institute"; and 3: "Weblinks" (2 links: 1: a website that contains an interview with the movie's director, and 2: the Wellspring website address).
Credits: The movie stars Hilmir Snær Guðnason (Hlynur Bjorn Hafsteinsson; "The Sea"), Victoria Abril (Lola Milagros, from Spain; "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" (1990), "Robin and Marian" (1976), Hanna María Karlsdóttir (Berglind; "Agnes"), Þrúður Vilhjálmsdóttir (Hófí; "No Trace"), Baltasar Kormákur (Þröstur; "Stormy Weather"), and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Marri; "Fiasco"). The writer and director is Baltasar Kormakur ("A Little Trip to Heaven") based on the novel by Hallgrimur Helgason.
Plot: Hlynur Bjorn Hafsteinsson is a adult slacker that still lives at home and is very disinterested with moving on with his life. Despite this dispirited drifting through life, he is able to have something of a relationship with a woman named Hofi, but even here he is a slacker and doesn't really care about the relationship. Things change when his mother's friend drops by (Lola; a lesbian, actually she is bi).
Review: The movie opens with a close up of the main actor's face while he is having some fun with a blonde (Hofi). Based on an early monologue, the main guy seems to be fatalistic ("dead before I was born . . . life is an interruption"; a lot of talk of death in the movie; NOTE: it is slightly harder to tell when an actor is talking in his head when you only read subtitles). The includes beautiful shots of Icelandic landscape. Odd, once the Spanish woman arrives, they begin speaking English with her (I don't mean that the rest of the movie is in English; Abril has been around since the `70s, and still looks great (even at around 41), even wandering around her friends apartment nude).
An interesting look at Iceland, if this movie had occurred anywhere except Iceland, it might have been a little boring, but the exotic nature of the locale kept it interesting though a rather slow movie. Interesting music, good for the bleak snowbound world of Reykjavik. Good acting, something of a slice of life plot, some attractive women (not all; though some are quite beautiful), some of the men are jerks (probably just the characters in the movie; apparently, the drunk father and welfare society are the main character's excuses for being a slacker). There are some humorous moments in the film. Overall, I would give the movie 3.85 stars, mostly due to the exotic nature of the locale.
15 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Iceland? Who would guess...?Jul 05, 2003
By Peggy Vincent
"author and reader"
I mean, a movie set in Reykjavik, Iceland???
Well, it's terrific, and filled with some of the most hilarious, memorable lines ever to come from the screen. My personal favorite was: But I've never cheated on my mother before!
101 Reykjavik focuses on the life of a chronic welfare recipient who lives his depressed life with his mother in a small apartment where the bathtub is 3 feet from the kitchen table. Enter: another woman, but both mother and son want her. Sit back, laugh, and enjoy this film of urban angst and aimlessness.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 A Funny, Warm-hearted look at a cold, cold place...Oct 18, 2001
The coolest movie of the year. Great soundtrack, hilarious black-comedy storyline. A birds-eye view into that little place on earth called Reykjavik, Iceland... The anti-hero protagonist is the King of Slackers who is about to have his lazy/habitual way of life disrupted, with hilarious results! This film is destined to become a sort of cult classic for disaffected youth, who somewhere inside them have the seed for a great future... and it could grow... even in a cold, cold place... check this movie out, you won't be disappointed.
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
A wryly uplifting glimpse into nihilismFeb 09, 2002
"101 Reykjavik" is easily one of the best movies I have seen in quite a while. Based on a novel, the film deftly weaves formulaic comedic conventions with smart existential exploration. Typically Scandinavian humor and serious philosophical ideas (look a bit beyond the overtly "pop" nihilism and you'll find the tenderly absurd story rather enlightening) really make this film a fun way to think about life.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Quirky, funny, charmingMar 24, 2003
By A. Butterfield
Somehow, even the spaced out layabouts of Iceland are appealing in this film, set in the dark months of Reykjavik's winter. The main character, Hlynur, lives with his mother, provides the hash, does nothing. "What kind of nothing?" Hlynur's mother's girlfriend asks,and he replies, "The nothing kind."
Nothing much happens in the film either, but it's an interesting nothing, with a good soundtrack and curious images of the bleak winter streets and the bohemian cafes and bars of 101 Reykjavik. If you've been there, it's also fun to spot the places you know.
Mostly it's subtitles, but quite a bit of the film is in English. The sound quality seemed particularly good to me.
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