Wednesday, 21.09.2022.

Film review "Beautiful Beings": On the waves of boyish violence

Film review "Beautiful Beings": On the waves of boyish violence

Meeting the Oscar - film review of the winning film of the 14th Sarajevo Youth Film Festival in the feature film category

By Nisad Selimović/OFF
 
The second feature film of the very talented Icelandic director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, "Beautiful Beings", premiered at the Berlin festival in February this year, where it also won one of the supporting awards. 
 
More important than that recognition is essentially the continuity of appearances at the A category festivals, because even with his previous work, "Heartstone", he was present at some important film screenings on two sides of the world.
 
And that Guðmundsson continues to draw inspiration from his own experiences of growing up in the problematic environment of Icelandic folklore and color, this film clearly shows as well as his debut. Only, while there the focus was purely on the relationship between the two friends, here the director upgraded it with a dramaturgically more complex story that at times also carries elements of a thriller.
 
But, at the end of the day, it's still a story about teenagers and their problems. Here, the focus is on Addi, a boy who grows up without a father and is under the tutelage of his mother. Again, she is specific in herself because she believes that she is a kind of medium and that she is somehow clairvoyant. This makes Addi more uncomfortable than anything else, so he expresses the feeling of pressure outside, among his friends.
 
His paradise is, in the simplest terms, a group of idiots who live off others. That's exactly how he will come across Balli, a guy who has his own problems, much bigger than Addi's, but who will awaken some positive vibes in him...
For most of its duration, the film follows a classic, not very specific coming-of-age story, until the situation escalates when Bally's father comes out of prison and turns everything positive to negative. The boys will decide on something incredible, and for the first time in their lives, for humane reasons.
 
Guðmundsson clearly shows with this film that he is still riding the waves of boyish violence, questionable sexuality and the cruel natural environment that comes with living in a country that seems like another planet. In a way, and if he records another work with the same theme, this could be the Iceland trilogy about growing up - so much "Beautiful Beings" bears similarities to "Hearstone".
 
That's not necessarily a bad thing. All the talent in handling young actors and their direction towards clear expression was transferred here as well, and the director even took one of the actors from his debut work with him to a new challenge. Clearly, it produced positive results, and the rest of the cast is not below par either.
 
What is surprising is actually the situation we are witnessing - we generally consider Iceland a part of Scandinavia, or a Nordic country, which we from the south of Europe see as idyllic places to live. It is therefore fascinating to see such a direct and precise insight into the Icelandic lower class, which is fighting for its place under the sun, sometimes among themselves.
 
Looking at it through the prism of children or youth is even more honest. Those boys, if you believe the director, really know how to hate their peers, be mean and mean to dissenters, while at home they are haunted by the demons of broken families. It's hard to be correct, logical or honest here. A lot happens in the whirlwind of emotions, and all of it is completely justified.
 
It is, let's believe Guðmundsson, an honest picture of a society of which he is also a part, and through "Beautiful Beings" he saw through it so much that it sometimes makes you sick to follow the action on the screen. The more complicated the world is to digest, the more difficult it is to convey it to viewers through the film medium.
 
To be successful in the world of film, as I said, is also proven by a constant presence at proven film screenings, but rest assured, none of this would be possible without the skill of retelling life's drama. Guðmundsson does this almost perfectly, without pathos or covering up. It gives us an Icelandic childhood in the palm of our hands, whether one likes it or not.