Agust Gudmundsson's Mavahlatur (The Seagull's Laughter) is a comedy/drama about a woman who comes to an Icelandic town. Freja (Margret Vilhjalmsdottir) arrives in the town claiming that her husband has passed away. She moves in with some extended family members, including her eleven year-old cousin Agga (Ugla Egilsdottir). Freyja rekindles a romance with the financially secure Bjorm (Heino Ferch), and manipulates him into a relationship. Bjorn's mother turns out to be more than Freyja could
handle. The Seagull's Laughter competed at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
Seagull often is on the verge of melodrama, but in the best sense of the genre, where real life is exaggerated but never to the point of being unrecognizable.
Part character study, part thriller and part coming-of-age drama, it doesn't quite pull these disparate elements completely together but is nonetheless entertaining and darkly funny.
The film captures the quaintness of provincial life with humor and drama, deftly mixing in feminism, too, in a way that is subtly funny and even a little disturbing.
Vilhjálmsdóttir is a superb femme fatale ... Freya eventually becomes a symbol of empowerment and impending change, a symbol that transcends good and evil.
The most interesting thing about the film -- apart from two smashing performances from Vilhjálmsdottir and Egilsdóttir -- is the glimpse it provides into 1950s Iceland.
An uncommonly engaging tale of tradition, change and growth in a strangely haunting locale...its stylishness carries the film over most of the rough spots.
An awkwardly told story steeped in attitudes toward stereotypes with an annoying portrayal of a little girl's obsessed dedication to betray trust and affection.
A fantastic dark comedy from Iceland. Beautiful Freyja, recently widowed, returns from America to compete with the local ladies for the attention and affection of the island's most eligible bachelors. She'll stop at nothing to obtain what she wants: arson, battering delinquent little boys, flinging live cats at her
mother-in-law, maybe even murder(?).
June 26, 2009
Randy Tippy
Super Reviewer
My first though after watching this was "O....K". A pretty random movie, but I must say I really enjoyed it. Murder and intrigue mixed with women's sisterhood and empowerment mixed with dark comedy and stark drama mixed with Icelandic folklore and history. A pretty obscure film overall, but the scenery is beautiful,
the language is beautiful, and the story's interesting if not totally comprehensible.
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