It Hatched

source: It Hatched

At first I thought: what the hell is this? The acting was wooden, the scenes needlessly drawn out in order to convey simple things, the budget minimal. It felt like a student film. Funny enough, I thought it was a film about a T-Rex hatching, that's another film entirely, and I was waiting for the moment the baby is going to turn into a dinosaur. Needless to say, it did not, however it gave me the time to get into the story and the acting, with the lilting Icelandic accents, so I started to get it. To me, it felt like a metaphor for having a child. It drops out of nowhere, demanding all kinds of changes in behavior and acceptance of things that are just not normal. And everybody is trying really hard to pretend things are normal, but they're not, because there is an extra a-hole in the house. Towards the end, the story veers to the woman, who after birthing and taking care of a child, now has to contend with the increasingly erratic behavior of the man, leading to a sort of ridiculous version of The Shining. The ending was, frankly, totally superfluous. Now, was it a good movie? It was weird, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I guess a lot of the details got lost in translation for me. In the end it felt like a bunch of ideas that were never polished and somehow got thrown together in the same film. Curious to know what those runes meant. Probably something related to baby formulas.

Mira (Vivian Ólafsdóttir) and Pétur (Gunnar Kristinsson) have left Nashville and are about to open an air bnb way out in the wilds of Iceland. Should be a peaceful escape, right? But something dark is there, something that won't just stalk them in the daylight, something that makes Mira lay an egg and Pétur face madness, a hole in the house and warnings that his child will be evil. The first full-length movie from director and writer Elvar Gunnarsson - and co-writers Ingimar Sveinsson and Magnus Omarsson - It Hatched plays with time and space throughout, as colors intrude to create monochromatic images of terror and dream logic takes over the normal way that reality should work. There's something in here about how Mira loves her child no matter what, while her husband goes from unsure to utter paranoia. It's also a movie completely unconcerned with being normal, feeling like some type of alien comment on humanity and I mean that with the absolute highest of compliments. It's weird and wonderful and singularly interested in being very much its own thing.

Epic movie experience in the cinema. This movie is living and a must see in cinema. Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, the goat of acting in Iceland, steals every scene she's in and delivers an absolute masterclass performance that hits the overall tone of the film like Celine Dion hits the high notes of "Ne partez pas sans moi". Don't get me wrong, the other actors are great too, just had to give Halldóra her flowers first. The two leads, Vivian Didriksen and Gunnar Kristinsson have an immaculate bond between them and the most believable relationship I have ever seen on screen. Surrounded by greatness in the supporting roles of Halldór Gylfason, Thor Tulinius, Darren Foreman and Björn Jörundur who all brought tremendous weight to the movie. They personafide the iconic quote by Konstantin Stanislavski "There are no small roles, only small actors" by bringing charachters with big and obvious backstoris, wearing them on their sleave and leave you thinking *I feel like I know these people irl*. The plot is not complicated per se, but the storytelling style of the film as a whole makes you think about what is going on, information is not delivered on a silver platter or explained and I caught myself looking for clues in the magisterial soundtrack for how I was supposed to feel about this and that and what it all meant for Mira and Petur. Elvar Gunnarsson really took the notion "The audience is NOT stupid" to heart and makes you work for it in this perfectly planned rollercoaster of emotions. It definately added extra stock in me caring for the fate of these two people and my want to know the end.

One of the weirdest films you will see for a long time. Excellent choice of actors. Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir takes the cake even though she is not a lead role. Þór Túliníus is incredible as the country-side-dwelling doctor. And the brief performances of Halldór Gylfason, Björn Jörundur and Darren Foreman really convey the humor of the film which for many actors can be counterintuitive. The casting choice for the whole film was immaculate and not many actors can pull off this over-the-top kind of acting. The two main actors Gunnar Kristinsson and Vivian Ólafsdóttir did an amazing job of following the directors orders and had amazing chemistry between them and the way their characters evolve over the course of the film is a treat to watch. What also sticks out is the incredible camerawork and unique use of perspectives and the way the movie is framed is unlike anything you will ever see. Elvar Gunnarsson does an amazing job in framing the shots and everything seems to fit perfectly together. Some of the frames are like a painting or a frame in a comicbook. The practical effects are insane looking and obvious that a lot of effort was put into making the props f.ex the egg and other scary things that appear in the film. This is truly a horror comedy at it's finest. The acting is purposefully over the top and funny which based on some reviews is probably not something everyone can appreciate. There are some serious undertones about relatable real life problems which I would rather not get into as I want this to be a spoiler free review.

This is a must watch movie if youre a fan of Reanimator, From Beyond, etc. It explores a fine line between horror, hyper drama and comedy. Visually very well executed with stylish super wide shots, a taste of Icelandic landscape plus warm tones, good sound work, regarding music it gives you a mix of Hitchcock's film score vibe with a constant sense of unrest which did in a way made me tired at some scenes, I guess that was the main focus there. I believe the actors work was highly intentional therefore I enjoyed every piece of dialogue, It's so unexpected compared to current cinematic experiences, I loved it.

source: It Hatched

At first I thought: what the hell is this? The acting was wooden, the scenes needlessly drawn out in order to convey simple things, the budget minimal. It felt like a student film. Funny enough, I thought it was a film about a T-Rex hatching, that's another film entirely, and I was waiting for the moment the baby is going to turn into a dinosaur. Needless to say, it did not, however it gave me the time to get into the story and the acting, with the lilting Icelandic accents, so I started to get it. To me, it felt like a metaphor for having a child. It drops out of nowhere, demanding all kinds of changes in behavior and acceptance of things that are just not normal. And everybody is trying really hard to pretend things are normal, but they're not, because there is an extra a-hole in the house. Towards the end, the story veers to the woman, who after birthing and taking care of a child, now has to contend with the increasingly erratic behavior of the man, leading to a sort of ridiculous version of The Shining. The ending was, frankly, totally superfluous. Now, was it a good movie? It was weird, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I guess a lot of the details got lost in translation for me. In the end it felt like a bunch of ideas that were never polished and somehow got thrown together in the same film. Curious to know what those runes meant. Probably something related to baby formulas.

Mira (Vivian Ólafsdóttir) and Pétur (Gunnar Kristinsson) have left Nashville and are about to open an air bnb way out in the wilds of Iceland. Should be a peaceful escape, right? But something dark is there, something that won't just stalk them in the daylight, something that makes Mira lay an egg and Pétur face madness, a hole in the house and warnings that his child will be evil. The first full-length movie from director and writer Elvar Gunnarsson - and co-writers Ingimar Sveinsson and Magnus Omarsson - It Hatched plays with time and space throughout, as colors intrude to create monochromatic images of terror and dream logic takes over the normal way that reality should work. There's something in here about how Mira loves her child no matter what, while her husband goes from unsure to utter paranoia. It's also a movie completely unconcerned with being normal, feeling like some type of alien comment on humanity and I mean that with the absolute highest of compliments. It's weird and wonderful and singularly interested in being very much its own thing.

Epic movie experience in the cinema. This movie is living and a must see in cinema. Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, the goat of acting in Iceland, steals every scene she's in and delivers an absolute masterclass performance that hits the overall tone of the film like Celine Dion hits the high notes of "Ne partez pas sans moi". Don't get me wrong, the other actors are great too, just had to give Halldóra her flowers first. The two leads, Vivian Didriksen and Gunnar Kristinsson have an immaculate bond between them and the most believable relationship I have ever seen on screen. Surrounded by greatness in the supporting roles of Halldór Gylfason, Thor Tulinius, Darren Foreman and Björn Jörundur who all brought tremendous weight to the movie. They personafide the iconic quote by Konstantin Stanislavski "There are no small roles, only small actors" by bringing charachters with big and obvious backstoris, wearing them on their sleave and leave you thinking *I feel like I know these people irl*. The plot is not complicated per se, but the storytelling style of the film as a whole makes you think about what is going on, information is not delivered on a silver platter or explained and I caught myself looking for clues in the magisterial soundtrack for how I was supposed to feel about this and that and what it all meant for Mira and Petur. Elvar Gunnarsson really took the notion "The audience is NOT stupid" to heart and makes you work for it in this perfectly planned rollercoaster of emotions. It definately added extra stock in me caring for the fate of these two people and my want to know the end.