Solitude

Solitude was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Sunday, May 12th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film!

Gunnar (Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson) is an old man, who lives off on his own large land, with his horses and other animals. He likes it like that. He is self efficient. It is reliable. And he has turned down many offers to sell his land, because he just wants to stay there until he dies. Well, the government won’t wait for him, and because he didn’t negotiate, they bought his land from him anyways due to government legalese stuff. And his land was such a good place and need, he is getting $150 million, which is a lot for a dude that old, to do anything he wants in his life.

So he moves to the city, even though he never wanted to, in Reykjavík, and gets a quick apartment to exist in. Has its own furniture. Now what?

Well, the first person he meets is Ari (Hermann Samúelsson), a 10 year old kid and neighbor, who wants to sell him a newspaper. Literally this is his only human contact, and its frequent enough, so that when he is locked out of his house, he asks Gunnar if he can wait in his for his mom (Anna Gunndís Guðmundsdóttir) to return. Hell, he even becomes a babysitter, and a very nice friend to the family.

But Gunnar is just not used to people so much, he is not used to common social norms, and doesn’t know what actions are inappropriate. He just wants to help people. And when people think he is a nefarious old guy, then that is the only thing he can be to them.

Also starring Jóhann Jónsson and Jóel Sæmundsson.

He’s about to drop the hottest new track of 2024. I think the actor who played Gunner here was a pretty solid dude. He carried pain in his eyes, and felt like he was truly going through these experiences. I think the story is a good idea for one, a nice clashing of generations, and a desire for more innocence in the world. A desire for people to just be good to each other.

But the film didn’t do enough to get that ending. We had a small bit a conflict, and almost no closure, because that is life or whatever. I think there was a lot more drama that could have been explored, and this movie left too much on the table. And that should be a compliment. I wanted more of Gunner and his story about acclimating into city life at his old age, and we just get so little. The snippets we get are good. But why leave it at the simple story? Why leave it so incomplete.

I am not sure what else I can say here. It is overall just disappointment, compared to anything else. Because there is a lot of shit movies out there, and I just want those with potential to really deliver, and not waddle around. For example, the refugee plot line was great! It showed so much character, and had the potential for a lot more. But it was brushed aside so fast that we could barely even have a moment to focus on it with Gunner.

Oh well. If I am alone in this rating, maybe I will be the real solitude.

2 out of 4.