Nicole C This film is pretty complex and has a rather confusing storyline. It engages the past with the present, and there are two parallel narratives. At first the timing of both narratives is unclear, but the flashbacks are noticeably of the past. That was the main issue I had with the film. But the end ties everything together and only in the second half will you begin to understand what is really going on. It is also complex in that it deals with some of the more complicating aspects of human nature - family, love, lust, and death. However the film does do a good job of creating a mystery, which makes it a pretty good crime film. It seems like the clues they find don't really lead anywhere, but bit by bit the pieces start to fit together and each clue leads to the next. The film feels slow and stagnant at times but is pretty enjoyable.The acting is also pretty good, though of course there is the cultural difference to consider with regards to the characters. Though they can be related to come characters from the normal western detective film, the characters do have a sense of locality. The film introduces quite a lot of characters, but we do not get to know them in depth. For the sake of this show however it works, as the story is rather complex and needs to establish relations between many characters.The overall mood of the film is pretty heavy, and it seems like something bad might happen any second. It gives an eerie feel at times, and the vast landscape shots hint at isolation and despair.Read more movie reviews at: championangels.wordpress.com

Robyn Nesbitt (nesfilmreviews) An intelligent, engaging, multi-layered storyline that blends strained family relations, unsolved murders, and infuses some Icelandic customs keeping the viewer captivated from beginning to end. Despite the lack of shock value, the film maintains a consistent sense of suspense throughout. "Jar City" is chilly and cerebral, but also morbidly and powerfully alive.In 1974, a young Icelandic girl dies at the hands of a murderer, and the crime was never solved. In present day, the aged and exhausted detective Erlendur begins to investigate a link between that notorious unsolved crime, and the unrelated homicide of a local criminal years after the fact. Erlendur has a difficult private life, his wife has passed away, and he has a pregnant daughter Eva Lind (Agusta Eva Erlendsdottir) who is a drug addict and roams the streets.Meanwhile, Örn (Atli Rafn Sigurdarson), an employee at a DNA-mapping lab, struggles with the death of his own daughter, who suffered from a brain tumor. In time, the two men's lives will intersect in a myriad of ways that neither can even begin to foresee -- and the motivation for Holberg's original crime will become resoundingly clear.Director Baltasar Kormákur elegantly churns out a first-rate mystery by dressing it with organic cinematography and a score reminiscent of eerie Gregorian chants. But his best move is a focus on an unlikely secondary character - Iceland itself. He wisely employs this unique, almost otherworldly qualities of its setting--presented as both beautiful and threatening. The cinematography is simply stunning, truly enhancing the ambiance to an ominous storyline and landscape."Jar City" turns out to be intricate, haunting puzzle of motivations. The murder, of an old man named Holberg, opens up a nest of older crimes and brooding secrets. Erlendur finds himself investigating a possible rape from 30 years before and unraveling a tangled history of police corruption and petty brutality. What it all has to do with Holberg is no more clear to the audience than it is to the detective. But Erlendur's combination of bluntness and analytical acumen informs Mr. Kormákur's storytelling technique, making "Jar City" an unusually forceful and thought-provoking thriller. "Jar City" (or Mýrin), is adapted from Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indridason's 2000 best-seller, "Tainted Blood."

evening1 The best part of this movie is the chance to see a little of Iceland, particularly a scene in which steam billowing from the volcanic earth dominates a stark landscape.The story here is convoluted and unlikely. (When was the last time you saw family-tree diagrams figuring into a plot?) And did anyone else wonder why it was that the cops had to go door to door asking old ladies whether they had been raped decades before? However, the acting in this film is generally powerful. Ingvar Sigurdsson as a dogged detective and highly ambivalent father turns in a powerful performance, as does Agusta Eriendsdottir as his self-destructive daughter. Bjorn Haraldsson is convincing as a parent driven mad by the loss of his young child and Theodor Juliusson fascinates as a profane inmate. In a surprising twist, food plays an odd role in this movie. The detective's favorite take-out may surprise and disgust you. Am I left nauseated because I am from another culture? Or did the filmmakers intend to shock? I'd be curious what other reviewers have to say...

aardvark-6 Baltasar Kormákur was there to answer questions at the first screening of this excellent film at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007. He did a terrific job, both of directing the film and of untangling some of the details for us after the screening.This was a film that we picked up at the last minute, to see on the first day of the festival. We went in with absolutely no expectations and were thrilled to find one of the best films of the festival laid out before us.Everything about this film was outstanding: casting, sets and locations, acting, directing, and the subtitling was unobtrusive but effective. It has a wonderful black humour to it in spots, too. No wonder Iceland has chosen this film as its Oscar contender.I know I'll see this film again! Not only that, but I've ordered all of the books in the series by Arnaldur Idridason that I could find in translation, because I found his story so compelling and want to read the further adventures of Detective Erlendur. I sincerely hope Kormákur directs more of them.