Cinema Libre announced this past week that
writer/director Snævar Sölvason’s Icelandic suspense thriller, From
Iceland to Eden, will be making its domestic DVD
debut on Apr. 7.
When you think of Reykjavik, you think in terms of
it being quiet, peaceful, a place for tourists, beautiful … boring. But even in this Nordic paradise one can find
trouble and Icelandic filmmaker Snævar Sölvason (Albatross,
Slay Masters) serves that up at breakneck
speed.
Sölvason begins with the introduction of one of the
main characters, Oliver (Hansel Eagle — Echo,
Albatross), a small-time dealer (but with
a specialty) who gets raided by the police while naked. He makes his getaway on a bicycle with
nothing more than a towel for cover — pedal baby, pedal! — so Oliver is not exactly
what you would call a super dealer with a “Go Bag” ready for any sudden
emergencies.
He takes refuge in a rundown apartment complex and
just happens to pick the one unit where a drug overdose is in progress. Not exactly a “meet-cute” moment as Oliver
drags a skinhead of a young woman, Loa (Telma Huld Jóhannesdóttir — Echo,
Webcam), from the depths of her bathtub and gets
her breathing again.
She joins his hasty escape out of necessity …
someone else in the apartment wasn’t so lucky and is now dead, dead, dead. To make matters worse, “bill collectors” are
trying to break down the door. Away
both of them run.
In any case, the two end up being quite the
drug-dealing team. Of course it is only
a means to an end … make some quick cash and get out, preferably to some place
that is sunny and warm, a place like “Eden.”
Their “success,” and we use that word with
reservations, in dealing drugs naturally runs them afoul of some really nasty
people and they soon find themselves in the big leagues. Guns and violence and survival … getting to
paradise is going to be very tricky!
From Iceland to Eden is
presented in Icelandic with English subtitles.
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