REMOTE CONTROL (1993)
SODOMA REYJKJAVIK (1993)

A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2003

All those who had read Winston Churchill's literary masterpiece
about World War 2 would remember an interesting detail - British
government in its official papers had to put letter "C" behind
"Iceland" in order to prevent pilots and captains from going to
Ireland. These days such measures are unnecessary - Iceland is well-
known not only for its volcanoes and important strategic position,
but also for its pop musicians and talented soccer players. Icelanders
also can pride themselves with plucky little movie industry, which is
able, at least at certain occasions, to withstand the charge of
American blockbuster. REMOTE CONTROL, 1993 comedy written
and directed by Oskar Jonasson, managed to do that by beating
JURASSIC PARK on domestic market.

The plot of the film partially deals with local legislation which might
look somewhat strange to non-Icelanders. Iceland, like many Nordic
countries, has introduced strict limits on sale and distribution of
liquor, in many ways similar to Prohibition in 1920s USA. However,
that measure, apart from annoying Icelandic youth, haven't created
many of those nasty side effects experienced by Americans. Young
car mechanic Axel (played by Bjorn Jorundur Fri?bjornsson) seems to
have much biggest problem at his hands - TV remote control is
missing and his mother (played by Thora Fridriksdottir) can't watch
her favourite shows. Axel discovers that the remote control was
accidentally taken by his punk sister Maja (played by Margaret
Gustavsdottir) so he goes to house of Maja's best friend Unnur
(played by Soley Eliasdottir). There he meets Unnur's brother Moli
(played by Helgi Bjornsson), who earns his living by smuggling
liquor. Axel gets involved in escalating war between Moli and Aggi
Flinki (played by Eggert ?orleifsson), night club owner who dreams
of becoming Iceland's first crime lord.

For a movie that deals with specifically Icelandic situations and way
of life, REMOTE CONTROL is surprisingly universal comedy.
Humour is effective, although the dialogues suffer from poor English
dubbing. Some scenes at the end leave much to be desired, but
REMOTE CONTROL leaves generally good impression. Opportunity
to listen to Bjork singing in her native tongue isn't the only reason
why non-Icelandic viewers should watch this film.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

Review written on December 18th 2003


Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Films Critics Society