This article contains spoilers for the "True Detective: Night Country" finale.
When "True Detective" aired back in 2014, one of the things that made it so darkly alluring was the folk and cosmic horror element. One of the most salient examples of this was the spiral symbol, which was first seen tattooed on the back of murder victim Dora Lange in the pilot episode. Alas, as the season went on, all we learned about this mysterious motif was that it was somehow tied to the cult responsible for Lange's murder and an ongoing child trafficking operation in Southern Louisiana. That and it seemed to symbolize Rust Cohle's (Matthew McConaughey) famous "Time is a flat circle" line.
After this, show creator Nic Pizzolatto largely ignored the spiral, aside from a brief mention in season 3 of the show. But then, Mexican filmmaker Issa López took over as showrunner, and in 2023, the trailer...
When "True Detective" aired back in 2014, one of the things that made it so darkly alluring was the folk and cosmic horror element. One of the most salient examples of this was the spiral symbol, which was first seen tattooed on the back of murder victim Dora Lange in the pilot episode. Alas, as the season went on, all we learned about this mysterious motif was that it was somehow tied to the cult responsible for Lange's murder and an ongoing child trafficking operation in Southern Louisiana. That and it seemed to symbolize Rust Cohle's (Matthew McConaughey) famous "Time is a flat circle" line.
After this, show creator Nic Pizzolatto largely ignored the spiral, aside from a brief mention in season 3 of the show. But then, Mexican filmmaker Issa López took over as showrunner, and in 2023, the trailer...
- 2/19/2024
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
Sunday marks the final episode of “True Detective: Night Country,” Issa Lopez’s triumphant revival of the HBO series originally created by Nic Pizzolatto. A six-year old murder, five-body “corpsicle,” and chilling hints of the supernatural intertwine throughout the season, all of it made exponentially more chilling and suspenseful by the long night looming over Ennis, Alaska.
So, as Police Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) would say: Ask the question (cue Kali Reis’ Navarro rolling her eyes). Who’s the killer? Too simple. What’s the motive? Now we’re cooking. What were the men of Tsalal hiding? There’s something there…
With such a rich, engrossing, and open-ended mystery, the final hour has to wrap everything up neatly — but could also choose to languish in a few loose ends, like so many stories do. Either way, we’re asking the right questions going into Episode 6, the ones that could...
So, as Police Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) would say: Ask the question (cue Kali Reis’ Navarro rolling her eyes). Who’s the killer? Too simple. What’s the motive? Now we’re cooking. What were the men of Tsalal hiding? There’s something there…
With such a rich, engrossing, and open-ended mystery, the final hour has to wrap everything up neatly — but could also choose to languish in a few loose ends, like so many stories do. Either way, we’re asking the right questions going into Episode 6, the ones that could...
- 2/16/2024
- by Proma Khosla
- Indiewire
[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “True Detective” Season 4, Episode 3, “Part 3” — the third hour of “Night Country.” Read our previous review here.]
“Be prepared,” the nurse says, as she brings Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Navarro (Kali Reis) in to see the last surviving member of the Tsalal research team. “He’s hard to look at.” And she’s right. Anders Lund (Þorsteinn Bachmann), the founder and director of the base, is a ghastly sight. His amputation stitches are still fresh. The one hand he has remaining is black and blue. Burn marks cover his face, which makes his frosted blue eyes all the more unsettling.
And if you thought the convulsions were difficult to witness, just wait until he’s completely still, sitting up, passing along messages from the great beyond.
It’s hard to say “True Detective” earns this scene as much as it needs it. Episode 3 sees the investigation hitting snag after snag: Their latest lead,...
“Be prepared,” the nurse says, as she brings Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Navarro (Kali Reis) in to see the last surviving member of the Tsalal research team. “He’s hard to look at.” And she’s right. Anders Lund (Þorsteinn Bachmann), the founder and director of the base, is a ghastly sight. His amputation stitches are still fresh. The one hand he has remaining is black and blue. Burn marks cover his face, which makes his frosted blue eyes all the more unsettling.
And if you thought the convulsions were difficult to witness, just wait until he’s completely still, sitting up, passing along messages from the great beyond.
It’s hard to say “True Detective” earns this scene as much as it needs it. Episode 3 sees the investigation hitting snag after snag: Their latest lead,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Jack Bannon (Pennyworth) and Douglas Henshall (Shetland, Who is Erin Carter?) are among a group of actors who have joined the drama series The Darkness, starring Oscar nominee Lena Olin (Enemies, A Love Story, Hunters, Chocolat, The Artist’s Wife, Hilma) and directed by Oscar nominee Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Hilma).
Also joining the cast of the six-episode English-language series, which is a co-production from CBS Studios and Icelandic production firm Truenorth with Stampede Ventures, are Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (A Gentleman in Moscow), Thorsteinn Bachmann (Katla), Þorvaldur Davíð Kristjánsson (The Minister), Tora Hallström (Hilma), Ahd Tamimi (River City) and Árni Þór Lárusson.
Principal photography is underway in Reykjavík, Iceland, with Paramount Global Content Distribution selling the series outside Iceland.
The series reunites Olin with director Hallström in his first foray into television. The project was first unveiled at Rome’s Mia Market in the fall.
Suzanne Crowley...
Also joining the cast of the six-episode English-language series, which is a co-production from CBS Studios and Icelandic production firm Truenorth with Stampede Ventures, are Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (A Gentleman in Moscow), Thorsteinn Bachmann (Katla), Þorvaldur Davíð Kristjánsson (The Minister), Tora Hallström (Hilma), Ahd Tamimi (River City) and Árni Þór Lárusson.
Principal photography is underway in Reykjavík, Iceland, with Paramount Global Content Distribution selling the series outside Iceland.
The series reunites Olin with director Hallström in his first foray into television. The project was first unveiled at Rome’s Mia Market in the fall.
Suzanne Crowley...
- 1/3/2024
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Darkness is descending in Iceland.
Principal photography on the CBS Studios and Stampede Ventures’ six-part, English-language drama co-production for Icelandic telecoms and streaming company Síminn is underway in the country’s capital Reykjavík, and the cast has now rounded out.
Jack Bannon (Pennyworth), Douglas Henshall, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (A Gentleman in Moscow), Thorsteinn Bachmann (Katla), Þorvaldur Davíð Kristjánsson (The Minister), Tora Hallström (Hilma), Ahd Tamimi (River City) and Árni Þór Lárusson have joined the cast, which Lena Olin is leading.
Suzanne Crowley and Gilly Poole are UK casting directors, with Tinna Aðalbjörndottir and Andrea Brabin in Reykavík covering casting for Iceland.
Based on the best-selling thriller series by Ragnar Jónasson, The Darkness follows Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir as she investigates a shocking murder case whilst coming to terms with her own personal traumas. Facing early retirement and forced to take on a new partner,...
Principal photography on the CBS Studios and Stampede Ventures’ six-part, English-language drama co-production for Icelandic telecoms and streaming company Síminn is underway in the country’s capital Reykjavík, and the cast has now rounded out.
Jack Bannon (Pennyworth), Douglas Henshall, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (A Gentleman in Moscow), Thorsteinn Bachmann (Katla), Þorvaldur Davíð Kristjánsson (The Minister), Tora Hallström (Hilma), Ahd Tamimi (River City) and Árni Þór Lárusson have joined the cast, which Lena Olin is leading.
Suzanne Crowley and Gilly Poole are UK casting directors, with Tinna Aðalbjörndottir and Andrea Brabin in Reykavík covering casting for Iceland.
Based on the best-selling thriller series by Ragnar Jónasson, The Darkness follows Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir as she investigates a shocking murder case whilst coming to terms with her own personal traumas. Facing early retirement and forced to take on a new partner,...
- 1/3/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
"The sun comes up. The sun goes down. We're born, we die... Who am I to question the nature of things?" Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for an intriguing sci-fi series from Iceland titled Katla, co-created by Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur. One year after the violent eruption of the subglacial volcano Katla, the peace and tranquility in the small town of Vik is dramatically disturbed. Out of nowhere, people that disappeared a year ago are now re-appearing covered in ash, seemingly unharmed. How is this possible? Are they really the same people? Only the volcano knows... The cast includes Guðrún Ýr Eyfjörð , Íris Tanja Flygenring, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Aliette Opheim, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Sólveig Arnarsdóttir, and Birgitta Birgisdóttir. It looks like a very peculiar and fascinating series filled with awe-inspiring shots of Iceland, taking us deeper into the epic grandeur of volcanoes than ever before. And I like the sci-fi angle...
- 5/31/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Donna Cruz, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Þorsteinn Bachmann and Katla M Þorgeirsdóttir in Agnes Joy
It’s a small town story now elevated to a very big stage. Silja Hauksdóttir’s second film, Agnes Joy, follows a slowly disintegrating family in the town of Akranes, just across the bay from Reykjavik – a place from which the light of the big city can be seen by night but where nothing ever seems to happen. The titular Agnes (Donna Cruz) is a frustrated teenager waiting for life to begin. Her mother Rannveig (Katla M Þorgeirsdóttir) is bored with her marriage, unhappy at work and increasingly wondering where she went wrong. When handsome TV actor Hreinn ((Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) moves in next door, both women find themselves distracted by him, and it’s clear that trouble is on the way.
This family drama, which we caught earlier this year at the Glasgow Film Festival,...
It’s a small town story now elevated to a very big stage. Silja Hauksdóttir’s second film, Agnes Joy, follows a slowly disintegrating family in the town of Akranes, just across the bay from Reykjavik – a place from which the light of the big city can be seen by night but where nothing ever seems to happen. The titular Agnes (Donna Cruz) is a frustrated teenager waiting for life to begin. Her mother Rannveig (Katla M Þorgeirsdóttir) is bored with her marriage, unhappy at work and increasingly wondering where she went wrong. When handsome TV actor Hreinn ((Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) moves in next door, both women find themselves distracted by him, and it’s clear that trouble is on the way.
This family drama, which we caught earlier this year at the Glasgow Film Festival,...
- 12/20/2020
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
"You must remember to nourish yourself." Vintage Pictures has released an official trailer for the Icelandic film Agnes Joy, which originally premiered last year and also opened in Iceland last year. After playing at a few other film festivals this year, Iceland has submitted Silja Hauksdóttir's Agnes Joy as their selection for the Best International Film category at the 2020 Academy Awards. The contemporary relationship drama focuses on an Icelandic family, and a disintegrating marriage, starring Katla M. Þorgeirsdóttir. She is worried her daughter, Agnes, will grow up and leave her behind, until a new man moves in next door. Also starring Donna Cruz as the titular Agnes, with Þorsteinn Bachmann, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Kristinn Óli Haraldsson, & Anna Kristín Arngrímsdóttir. It's always hard to get a sense of Icelandic films from their trailers, but I am certainly curious about this and the complex family dynamics it explores. Here's the official...
- 12/11/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
’Agnes Joy’ is Silja Hauksdóttir’s second film.
Silja Hauksdóttir’s mother-daughter drama Agnes Joy (working title), produced by Birgitta Björnsdóttir at Vintage Pictures, has started shooting in Iceland. Screen exclusively reveals the first photo here.
Hauksdóttir wrote the script with Rannveig Jónsdóttir, who also produces, and Jóhanna Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir.
The film is being co-produced by Mikael Torfason and Guðbjörg Sigurðardóttir and is backed byThe Icelandic Film Centre, distributor Sena, broadcaster Ruv and a private equity investor.
The cast features Katla Margrét Þorgeirsdottir, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Donna Cruz, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Kristinn Óli Haraldsson.
The comedy drama is about a...
Silja Hauksdóttir’s mother-daughter drama Agnes Joy (working title), produced by Birgitta Björnsdóttir at Vintage Pictures, has started shooting in Iceland. Screen exclusively reveals the first photo here.
Hauksdóttir wrote the script with Rannveig Jónsdóttir, who also produces, and Jóhanna Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir.
The film is being co-produced by Mikael Torfason and Guðbjörg Sigurðardóttir and is backed byThe Icelandic Film Centre, distributor Sena, broadcaster Ruv and a private equity investor.
The cast features Katla Margrét Þorgeirsdottir, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Donna Cruz, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Kristinn Óli Haraldsson.
The comedy drama is about a...
- 11/8/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
’Agnes Joy’ is Silja Hauksdóttir’s second film.
Silja Hauksdóttir’s mother-daughter drama Agnes Joy (working title), produced by Birgitta Björnsdóttir at Vintage Pictures, has started shooting in Iceland. Screen exclusively reveals the first photo here.
Hauksdóttir wrote the script with Rannveig Jónsdóttir, who also produces, and Jóhanna Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir.
The film is being co-produced by Mikael Torfason and Guðbjörg Sigurðardóttir and is backed byThe Icelandic Film Centre, distributor Sena, broadcaster Ruv and a private equity investor.
The cast features Katla Margrét Þorgeirsdottir, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Donna Cruz, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Kristinn Óli Haraldsson.
The comedy drama is about a...
Silja Hauksdóttir’s mother-daughter drama Agnes Joy (working title), produced by Birgitta Björnsdóttir at Vintage Pictures, has started shooting in Iceland. Screen exclusively reveals the first photo here.
Hauksdóttir wrote the script with Rannveig Jónsdóttir, who also produces, and Jóhanna Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir.
The film is being co-produced by Mikael Torfason and Guðbjörg Sigurðardóttir and is backed byThe Icelandic Film Centre, distributor Sena, broadcaster Ruv and a private equity investor.
The cast features Katla Margrét Þorgeirsdottir, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Donna Cruz, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Kristinn Óli Haraldsson.
The comedy drama is about a...
- 11/8/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Films about addiction can be tough to endure depending on how authentically harrowing the experience is drawn. They can only end in one of two ways: death or sobriety. The former can be literal or figurative depending on how deep the drug of choice has its claws fastened and the latter can often be shown as a victory rather than a small step in a series of steps that will go on forever. A character’s journey is therefore always repetitive since reaching bottom before the climax only tips his/her hand too soon. But we should get to know these people and learn to care about their plight instead. We need to conjure sympathy for them or else the impending danger is little more than means to an end.
Suffice it to say, seeing that Baldvin Zophoníasson’s two-plus hour Let Me Fall was just such a film had me worried.
Suffice it to say, seeing that Baldvin Zophoníasson’s two-plus hour Let Me Fall was just such a film had me worried.
- 9/7/2018
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
If humans weren’t always the pettiest creatures on Earth, we’ve definitely earned the title this past century. Just think about how often you find yourself asking the question, “Let’s see what they’ll do about this?” I don’t mean hypothetically either. I’m talking about truly contemplating your next smugly biting (until an inevitable escalation leads you towards unforgivably heinous) act of vengeance to counter whatever your latest opponent in life has delivered. Eventually we forget how our duel began because our desperation to achieve a win proves too powerful to accept anything else. I’m sure this mindset has been exacerbated by newfound convenience through technology because things that used to occupy our time have been streamlined or replaced. The resulting boredom ignites an unquenchable desire for triumphant satisfaction.
What’s worse is that our opponents very often become people we cannot avoid. Our own...
What’s worse is that our opponents very often become people we cannot avoid. Our own...
- 7/5/2018
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
"Who does a thing like this?" Magnolia Pictures has debuted an official Us trailer for the indie dark comedy Under the Tree, one of the few films from Iceland made every year. The film premiered at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals last year, and played at a number of other fests. It will be released in Us theaters this July. When Baldwin and Inga's next door neighbours complain that a tree in their backyard casts a shadow over their sundeck, what starts off as a typical spat between neighbours in the suburbs unexpectedly and violently spirals out of control. The film stars Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson, Edda Björgvinsdóttir, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Þorsteinn Bachmann, and Selma Björnsdóttir. I watched this and it's such a depressing film, despite good intentions. It's very well made but just too sad by the end. Take a look below. Here's the official Us trailer (+ poster) for Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson...
- 5/30/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Under the Tree Review Under the Tree (2017) Film Review from the 74th Annual Venice International Film Festival, a movie directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, starring Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson, Edda Björgvinsdóttir, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir, Þorsteinn Bachmann, and Selma Björnsdóttir was a hyperbolic look at a dispute between neighbors that shifted from darkly comedic to sadistic in [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Under The Tree: Neighbors Get Creatively Cruel [Venice 2017]...
Continue reading: Film Review: Under The Tree: Neighbors Get Creatively Cruel [Venice 2017]...
- 8/31/2017
- by PopcornMovieMaiden
- Film-Book
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