An Interesting Film

Last night, my wife and I watched a video that I have been wanting to see for months and months (but someone had checked out Blockbuster's only copy and kept it for, literally, months). It was finally returned, and we snatched it up when we saw it in the store. The movie is an Icelandic production, entitled Nói (pronounced 'noy') [I think the full title is Nói Albínói.] It's about a 17-year-old kid named Nói who is very bright, but who doesn't have any interest in school. He gets into trouble, mostly not serious, at school on a regular basis, usually because of excessive absences. His n'er-do-well father is a bit of a drunk, but a nice-enough guy; he does not live with his father, though, he lives with his grandmother, an odd old duck who shoots a shotgun out of his bedroom window in an early scene in the movie to awaken him in time to go to school.

Nói dreams of escaping the remoteness of Iceland and he wishes he could find his way, along with a young lady who the viewer is led to believe is his first and only girlfriend. But he fails at every attempt to improve his lot in life, and the people who could intervene in a meaningful way fail him, as well. They seem to think he's a bit 'off,' but not sufficiently so to warrant doing anything of consequence to help or restrain him.

I won't give anything more away. It's a very slow-moving film, but I believe it's worth dealing with the slow pace to watch it; the slow pace is, in part, what makes it really very interesting. I've found a few bits and pieces about the film online, in case you have an interest in learning more:

Summary & review
Another one
Another, from Rotten Tomatoes

Incidentally, the movie is in Icelandic, with English subtitles.