Black's Game

After having watched the entire movie from beginning to end, I still don't have a clue why it's called "Black's Game" as no one in it was nicknamed "Black". Nevertheless, it did show a gritty side of Reykjavik that no travelogue would ever reveal. Yes, for this kind of film, there is an excess of sex, drugs and rock & roll, but that's to be expected. And lest the gore hounds are disappointed, a lot of brutal violence, too. The ending was grossly abrupt, something I'm sure most viewers would complain about. I know I did. Not a bad film, all and all.

The drug dealing underworld is the focus here, set in Iceland, with a group of very unseemly individuals, fueled by cocaine and large quantities of alcohol and loud music in one too many night club scenes. We get bad cops and criminals and mediocre acting with an apparently bad English dub in the version I watched. A guy nicknamed Psycho is lured into the drug trade by the big money to be made and he hooks up with a childhood friend in many law breaking activities, including a funny bank robbery. Along the way there is a homosexual rape, and some bloody violence. The pace is rapid, but by the time it finally ended, I really did not care what happened to anyone involved, because no one portrayed had any redeeming qualities. A very average entry into the crime genre.

I saw this film as part of the Rotterdam Film Festival 2012. Main features are the high quality acting and script. The story has an unmistakable drive, keeping your attention for the whole duration. What we see unroll is a typical growth path for a young criminal. He starts with something relatively innocent, moves on to something less benign, and just has to continue from then on while becoming more and more unable to leave the "circle".

As a bonus we get a nice hint from the mentor-in-crime of our main character. When something unexpected happens, do the first thing that comes to mind, however strange it may be, and do it without any hesitation. He indeed acts on that rule a few times with success, especially in the final scene. How that last scene ends exactly, is deliberately left open by the film makers. I don't consider that to be a real problem, this being the only logical wrap-up for the story.

The final Q&A revealed that the footage was shot last May, but that the editing only finished the Monday before the festival screening. Having a fixed deadline in the form of this festival, was definitely needed to arrive at the finished product we saw.

So this is based on real life persons and incidents. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Certain things here may still seem like cliches, but that is just because we have become familiar with them and has not that much to do with the movie itself.

Dive into a life full of insanity and illegal happenings. You don't have to sympathize for most of the characters, but maybe you will get curious enough to want to know where their journey goes. Very well made and full of tension.

Black's Game is worth watching because there are a couple of twists without which it would be just another crime thriller.

Apart from a few landmarks you won't see much of Iceland in the movie. This makes the setting more universal. And since there's a high probability you'll watch it dubbed in another language it might appear to be happening in any Scandinavian country.

The classic story of a main protagonist meeting an old friend who leads him to life of crime is more plausible if you remember that they're both in a small community on a remote island with limited competition. Therefore the ascent to the top is swift but it would be a surprise if the authorities won't react accordingly fast...