Noi the Albino

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Ola G @Ollie1972 10/18/2016 Nói Kristmundsson (Tómas Lemarquis) is a 17-year-old living in a small unnamed remote fishing village in western Iceland with his grandmother Lína (Anna Friðriksdóttir). His father Kiddi (Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson), an alcoholic taxi driver, also lives in town, but Nói has a distant relationship with him. As an alopecia totalis his appearance is strikingly different from others in the village. Much of his time is spent either wandering the desolate town, at the town bookstore, or in a hidden cellar at his grandmother's house, which serves as his private sanctuary. The town is a sort of purgatory for Nói, surrounded by mountains and attainable only by boat during the winter, when the roads through the mountain passes are snowed over. There are signs that Nói is highly intelligent, but he is totally uninterested in school and seems to have an adversarial relationship with the faculty, particularly his math teacher. More often than not he cuts class to go to the local gas station, where he frequently breaks into the slot machine and rigs it for an assured jackpot. The bleak town seem to offer few prospects for the future, and Nói doesn't seem to fit in there. Things begin to change for Nói when he encounters the new gas station attendant, an attractive young woman who is new to the village. He asks about the new girl to Óskar (Hjalti Rögnvaldsson) the bookstore owner, who informs him that she is his daughter Íris (Elín Hansdóttir), up from the south to escape the city, and to stay away from her. Nói instead begins a tentative romance with Íris. One night they break into the local natural history museum, and are almost caught by a night watchman. They hide in a storage closet, where they discover a light-up map of the world. Nói comments that Iceland looks like a spitwad on the map, and Íris suggests that they run away together. Nói asks where, and Íris suggests he press a button on the map and the Hawaiian Islands light up. This is when Nói begins to dream of leaving the village and Iceland altogether. He receives a View-master as a present from his grandmother, which comes with slide disc of tropical island images. He is particularly transfixed with an image of a tropical beach, the total opposite of his immediate surroundings. But his clumsy attempts at escape spiral out of control and end in complete failure. Only a natural disaster will shatter Noi's universe and offer him a window into a better world... "Noi Albinoi" puts the finger on isolation and alienation. The need and want to break free from a desolate life. Dagur Kari has created a slow paced and static film that yet has several layers. Noi is desperate to get away from his crippling environment, but yet bound to the remote and barely uninhabitable place he is from. Tomas Lemarquis gives truly life to the complex Noi, with a subtle performance and of course his very visual appearance. Iceland offers fantastic environments and the atmosphere is divine. I have been there myself and I have never seen anything like it before. "Noi Albinoi" is bleak and depressing, but not without hope. But, at the same time I struggled with the fact that I didn´t really feel any compassion for Noi nor his actions. I felt as well at times the film was trying to be a bit too "indie smart" for the film itself. However, you can´t say that "Noi Albinoi" doesn´t make some sort of impression on you despite flaws. See more 06/29/2015 Noi's life is cold, slow, drab and boring. And like art imitating life, so is this film. See more 08/16/2014 Maybe it needs a sequel like Crocodile Dundee. See more Brian S @Madmartigan 02/15/2014 Terrific. Very interesting movie. Great characters. Original experience. See more 12/05/2012 Thankfully there's enough substance here to keep you interested till the end & you can feel the boredom & dissatisfaction of the main character, I also liked the humorous nihilstic tone of the movie See more walter m @Harlequin68 04/23/2012 Like most teenagers the world over, Noi(Tomas Lemarquis) has trouble getting up in the morning for school. With his father(Prostur Leo Gunnarsson) barely in his life, that leaves it for his grandmother(Anna Fridriksdottir) to fire a warning shot with her shotgun out his window. At school, Noi stays just long enough to fill in his name on a test before leaving for the day. One of his daily stops is at a gas station where he rigs a slot machine to pay for his morning ale. And then one day Iris(Elin Hansdottir) is working there. I suppose one could compare Noi to Ferris Bueller if one were so inclined but it does not really work due to the different circumstances of where they each live.(There are items in "Noi the Albino" like the Rubik's cube from the 1980's but those are actually more like relics from a past age.) If Noi lived in Chicago, there would at least be something to do and pass the time, instead of this small village in Iceland where there is nothing to stimulate his high intellect, thereby limiting his potential.(He's also talented. I could not hit that window in a million years.) And it is remarkable how much a character Iceland is in this engaging tragicomedy. See more Read all reviews

Noi the Albino

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