Beautiful Beings

A heartwarming story of teenage self-destruction and graphic violence. No, really.

I can't stop thinking about this film. On the face of it, it's about four teenage boys from variously broken homes who smoke, fight and swagger around 1990s Reykjavik causing trouble and doing fairly horrendous things.

But they are friends, and that's what this really is. It's a film about friendship, enduring friendship through the extremes. Sticking up for your mates (even when you should know better). Having your mates stick up for you.

These boys only have each other. Balli has no one to start with - bullied at school, ignored at home, he lives a filthy, pathetic life until Addi takes him into the gang (with the animalistic Konni and weirdo Siggi) after taking pity on him.

We follow the boys on a series of misadventures of teenage impetuousness which build - or sink - in horrifying ways towards the film's conclusion. Konni fights. Addi grows. Balli lives. Siggi pulls bogies out of his nose and chases people with them, but that's not the point.

There's a mildly supernatural aspect to it all as Addi experiences premonitions about what may unfold - they may be real but equally may just be him maturing and seeing the consequences (while doing too many mushrooms).

It's rare to see such fully formed, three-dimensional characters, but by the end of the film you know these kids, you're rooting for them (in spite of yourself). You're one of the gang.

Sturla Brandth Grøvlen's camerawork is divine, director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson's story is moving and believable, the performances are perfect (especially Birgir Dagur Bjarkason, Áskell Einar Pálmason, Viktor Benóný Benediktsson and Snorri Rafn Frímannsson as the kids), the soundtrack is addictive. It's the whole package.

(In Game of Thrones, they spent a fortune working on making the dragon fire realistic, on the basis that if you believe the fire, you'll believe the dragon. Fake VFX would have ruined it. Here, it's the fight scenes. Believe the violence and you'll believe the teenagers, and I don't know if there's an Oscar for best fight choreography but Jón Viðar Arnþórsson and Imma Helga Arnþórsdóttir who did these scenes should win it. As the last reviewer said, this really does look like kids beating each other up - and RIP the extra who gets a door smashed full in her face, I assume she just died in real life.)

I can't stop thinking about this film. And I can't recommend it highly enough.

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Rewatch: Such fantastic details that are too easily missed... The boy Konni trips up in the playground at the start is the same boy who hits Balli in the tunnel. It's just cyclic violence passed on and Konni/Addi are never aware they triggered it all. Such attention to detail, it's magnificent, there's not a wasted second in the film.

A captivating, often brutal dip into the lives of four 14-year-old boys in roughly 2000-era Iceland. Addi, the one with a conscience, takes badly bullied Balli into his group of friends after feeling a twinge of compassion at seeing him being mistreated. The acting from the four first-time protagonists is exceptional. Award-worthy. I can easily see them being named joint best actors at festivals (I saw it twice in Berlin).

Áskell Einar Pálmason as Balli delivers an understated masterclass in nervous glances, twitches and despair. It's all the more impressive to see how, as the character eases into life with his first friends, his body language changes, almost imperceptibly.

Birgir Dagur Bjarkason may well take the plaudits with his turn as Addi, he carries the film on his young shoulders and doesn't put a foot wrong, whether joining in the violence or experiencing the dreamlike (often nightmarish) visions that give the film its Icelandic name.

Snorri Rafn Frímannsson has less to do as Siggi than the others but has charisma and backs the others up as his character does on screen.

But for me it is Viktor Benóný Benediktsson, as Konni, who delivers the star turn. A thug known as The Animal, his Konni is able to deliver the aggression needed to make his character believable, punching and swinging wildly through the film in an often terrifying manner. But one by one the layers are stripped away to reveal - not that he would admit it - the scared boy trapped in the young man's body. Such a broad performance would test actors twice his age but he aces it. They all do.

A note on the fight scenes, which through a combination of beautiful camera work and expert, almost balletic choreography come across as some of the most realistic I can remember. This isn't filmic violence, these are kids kicking lumps out of each other. Harsh, cold, real, shocking.

One criticism comes in the pacing at the end and an inclusion of possibly too many story strands that don't really have chance to justify their place in the final film. It feels a bit like a 2h30 film that a producer has demanded becomes 2hrs. If that's the case I hope a director's cut will follow - I would gladly spend all day in the company of the fascinating characters that director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson has so expertly and lovingly brought to the screen.

What a hidden gem. Such an amazing film. I really enjoyed it . Very nice story , script , acting , directing , the whole 9 yards, the whole shabang . Whatever you are looking for in a film , this film has it. The characters are hundred percent mesmerizing. They are so successful . Looks like the weather sucks in iceland but thats what you get if you live that further up north. One party scene looked like daytime but in fact it was night time party. I am so glad i found this movie on KANOPY , a library streaming service . I read the reviews and decided to give it a shot. Definitely , did not disappoint . If you dont mind the subtitles , you will love this film... enjoy...

What a movie. Heartwarming, beautiful, tragic and mystical. I am blown away by all the actors, especially the two main leads Balli and Addi. The range of emotions the were able to play were incredible and heart wrenching.

As a viewer I was transported into these boys life. The film is slow but gripping, as you get sucked in the tragic life of these boys, who stick by each other no matter what. When tragedy strikes you are not surprised, but you still hold out hope that all will work itself out.

Beautiful cinematography. There are lots of shots of The Ocean and smashes up building giving The viewer a good understanding of The enviroment these Boys life in. This movie Will stay with me for a Long time.

The young cast was incredible in this. There were a lot of nuance to their acting, and they brought a lot of depth to their characters. This isn't an easy topic to tackle, and to be able to potray something so raw and real at such a young age really shows how talanted the actors are in this. The story is both beautiful and heartbreaking. I understand the ending, but damn, if I didn't wish for it not to end like that. I guess that's where my disappointment comes in. I understand and respect the ending, but it was also predictable and I just wanted more for the characters, but life doesn't always unfold the way we want. I absolutley loved the first half, the second half became a bit to repetitive, and too brutal for my liking which combined with ending made me wishing for more. I don't know, it felt like there was more to the story than where, and how, it ended.