Rams (2015)
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Rams Movie Review
Rams is a 2015 Icelandic drama film directed by Grimur Hakonarson and starring Sigurour Sigurjonsson. It is such a good drama that requires patience.
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“If our sheep are unhappy, the night is dark and gloomy.“
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It follows two estranged brothers who band together to save their flocks of sheep from the authorities who want to destroy the animals. The story itself is pretty interesting and mostly well told. What I liked about it is that it follows not only the relationship between the two brothers, but also with their sheep and what they mean to them. The immense importance of sheep is beautifully conveyed in this movie.
The characterization admittedly could have been better as the problem stems in the lack of dialogue as the film uses it pretty sparsely. But they are still solid, realistic and quite relatable. Gummi is very likable and I really liked Kiddi despite his initially annoying behavior. The two are great together and that final moment of theirs is so heartwarming and a perfect conclusion. I also liked the use of sheep again and how they were basically characters themselves in the film.
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Rams features pretty good performances as both Sigurour Sigurjonsson and Theodor Juliusson gave very good performances. The directing from Grimur Hakonarson is terrific and the film’s direction is one of its strongest suits. But the cinematography has to be the standout aspect here as the film is visually arresting. I usually don’t like long takes, but here they really contributed a lot to that feeling of remoteness and harshness of nature. The film is so well shot that it transports you to its setting and you really get to experience Iceland for an hour and a half.
Rams is a difficult movie as it is certainly slow and that choice is done for better and for worse. On the one hand, those long takes of everyday activities and nature lend a lot to the film’s realism and help sell its setting, but on the other hand, some scenes were way too prolonged and the film is definitely too slow at times with the sparse use of dialogue being one of my major gripes with it as I would have liked to have seen more talking.
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The film is definitely a European drama in that slow, long take approach and that I liked as I really like European dramas, but you definitely have to be in the right mood to watch them as they can be too real. But I mostly liked the overly serious tone of this film and I liked its attention to detail as it really helped me understand Icelanders and their culture. The movie isn’t particularly emotional, but that ending alone is so powerful that it compensated for the lack of it previously. The film is also well scored, it looks beautiful and it is not only highly memorable, but also authentic in a sense as rarely do you see movies set in similar locations and center around animals. I loved how the animals are important for pure survival, but how they also mean a lot to them, especially the two protagonists. That was very moving to watch. In the end, as my first Icelandic film, it more than delivered as I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Rams definitely requires patience as it is pretty slow plus the dialogue is sparse, but the film is visually arresting owing to terrific cinematography, the directing and acting are both very good, the story is interesting and pretty authentic in its own right and the film transports you to its location beautifully, it introduces you with their culture really well and the ending is really moving.
My Rating – 4
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