Black's Game

Black's Game is a film produced by the director of Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn. I most likely don't need to tell you this, as most of you will have probably come to this after devouring his cinematography, looking for more of the same stylish cinema. What I do need to tell you is that this, isn't really like his works, well at least not his more modern attempts. It does have aspects of Refn, most notably with the Soundtrack and the style, but this is not Refn. Óskar Thór Axelsson establishes himself here as someone to watch.

It starts slowly, and as the events unfurl and become chaotic, so does the pace of the film really hyping up towards the finale. Every character is well played, and despite the language barrier, I could actually feel the characters. Everything about this film, was stylish and well played out, really mimicking its subject and the lifestyle without seeming forced.

At a relatively short time of an hour and forty minutes, this doesn't outstay its welcome, unlike a lot of films released today. And is well worth a watch, especially if you like crime drama's. Overall, a stylish look at the start of the Millennium, and a fascinating character driven crime drama.

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.

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...

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.

It was entertaining to see gangs and crime and how they act, this subject is interesting. Maybe too much hanky panky that don't add to the plot. However, that scene with the villain and Stebbi made me hope that Stebbi could get rid of him... he didn't and that scene is so heartbreaking. I wanted to hug him and I hoped for justice, that didn't happen either. He didn't tell anyone, he at least followed his friend's advice to fight in the craziest moment. But it isn't even clear what happened - at least for me because I didn't pay attention to the details.

So the movie manages to be entertaining and emotionally touching but has its flaws.