Did anyone else feel misled?
I just finished watching the film and I have to say that after seeing the trailers for this, I felt that the movie didn't quite deliver on it's promise. The trailers were cut in such a way that we're led to believe that the film would be largely about the Gabriel character's struggles, as he grapples with his feelings for his friend, Markus. In fact, the first fourteen minutes of the film are dedicated to setting up their relationship, as the two characters meet and get to know each other while these two Icelandic kids are away at a school in England.
Unfortunately, once our supposed lead character returns home, the film turns its focus on Gabriel's friends and their lives. I thought that too much time was devoted to the other characters, Greta and especially Stella. Greta is dealing with an insensitive mother, Stella is having issues with a controlling grandmother, and all the while, Gabriel is having his own family drama. It's just too many storylines going on in one film, in my opinion. So much time is spent on the other characters that there is precious little for Gabriel and Markus and these are the two characters that I cared mostly about. That's the way the film is set up from the beginning--to make you care about Gabriel. But for a great deal of the movie, he is a supporting character in the lives of his troubled friends, when he should be front and center. I really didn't care about Greta or Stella, frankly. We aren't given a reason to care. So, I found myself frustrated while watching this, wanting desperately for the story to get back to Gabriel and Markus. When it finally does, the movie is over.
If this film was supposed to be a comment on teen life or on a group of teenage friends in Iceland, then the marketing should've made that clear. The cover of the dvd box shouldn't have only featured the face of our leading man. It should've shown the faces of all the characters. I'm an American watching this film, so maybe it was marketed differently in its home country. I did think though that the direction was sound and the performances were compelling. I just think that the flaws in the film rest solely on the writing. The story could've benefitted from a re-write. The focus could've been narrowed to an A-Story (Gabriel and Markus) and a B-Story (Stella) instead of multiple stories going on simultaneously.
Sister, when I've raised hell, you'll know it!