everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This icelandic movie draws a very authentic image of Iceland's capital Reykjavík. Famous for its bars and clubs and nightlife. Reykjavík can also be a lonely place for someone like Hlynur, played competently by Hilmir Snær Guðnason. Hlynur is a young healthy man still living with his mother, we see him sleep through most of his days and spend the rest of his life watching porn or clubbing at night. His event-less boring life takes a slight disturbance with the introduction of his mother's friend Lola, played by the wonderful Victoria Abril, love affairs start showing up between the triangle of Hlymur, his mother and Lola.Hilmir Snær Guðnason does a very good job in portraying the delusional Hlymur, we feel his emptiness and sense of unfulfillment throughout the movie, we even sympathize with him because he is a very likable character which makes us take interest in what goes on with him and what will happen to him next. His interactions with Lola are the highlights of the movie without a doubt because it's the only time that he finally shows any kind of emotion towards another human being.101 Reykjavík is beautifully shot, the gorgeous landscapes of Iceland and the busy nightlife serve as a wonderful backdrop to the story, by the end of the film you almost feel like you have been to Reykjavík. The movie has also a very good dialogue with many witty moments be it from Hlymur conversations with his friends or his monologues. All in all, this is an entertaining, charming movie that takes us to the life of a young man with so much going on in his head and not much to do.

Sexy Spaniard Victoria Abril heats up the wintry city of Reykjavík in 101 Reykjavík. Icelandic slacker Hlynur (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) lives on welfare with his mother, leading a depressed and aimless existence. His mother invites her flamenco teacher, Lola (Abril), to live with them; while his mother is away for New Year's Eve, Hlynur and Lola have a drunken fling. But upon her return, Hlynur's mother tells him that she and Lola are lesbian lovers--and it soon comes out that she and Lola are going to have a baby together. 101 Reykjavík seems to be the contemporary Icelandic version of American movies of the 1970s like Five Easy Pieces, in which anti heroic characters struggle to make sense of a world that doesn't seem to have any place for them. The movie is a bit unfocused, but its urban malaise feels genuine, if not particularly new. Abril is delightful, as always.

I stumbled upon this film by mistake in the movie theater and I really enjoyed it. Not only does it give an accurate portrayal of life in Iceland, but it explores the human spirit and soul. The music is absolutely sensational, and writer/director/actor Kormákur's photography is absolutely marvelous. The story itself is bizarre yet entertaining, surreal but pleasant and definitely a fresh alternative to the Hollywood blockbusters. The story digs into human nature, the love for ambition, our way of life, and most importantly, the way apathy rules our lives. It is, if you will, a coming of age film, a film of self discovery, and the outcomes are very much deserved and liked. Everyone with a love for European cinema or good quality cinema will enjoy this film.

Iceland isn't exactly known for it's thriving cinema industry and while I hardly consider myself an expert on the films of obscure European countries; I'm not sure that Iceland have had even one major success in film-making. They do, however, have this film; 101 Reykjavik, and it's actually quite good. The first thing you will notice about the film is it's downtrodden, gritty European style; which has already been implemented in a number of smaller European country's films, most notably those of Sweden's Lukas Moodysson, to great effect. As the film predominantly aims for realism, the gritty style bodes well as the story isn't exactly a happy one. It's more weird than anything else, and it follows an under-achieving waste of space called Hlynur. Hlynur is thirty years of age and still lives with his mother, and her friend Lola, who moved in with the two. After a drunken new years eve fling; Lola finds herself pregnant with Hlynur's child, and things get worse still for our protagonist when it turns out that Lola is something more to his mother than just a 'friend'...The character 'Lola' seems to have been christened that way so that the filmmakers could implement a techo-ish rendition of the hit Kinks song 'Lola' into the plot…ah, whatever. The film delights in it's obscure plot line, and most of the humour derives from that. The movie is actually very funny, and many sequences and dialogue exchanges in the film had me in stitches. The human relationship angle of the plot is the main focus of the movie, and the way that the film analyses what happens to it's characters as they are forced into this unusual situation is actually very good. The realistic acting gives the film more credibility for it's plot, and the gritty style gives it almost documentary feel, which puts the audience in the position of the voyeur; which in turn makes the film feel more like a cross section into Icelandic life. Of course, I'm sure that not every house in Iceland is like the one put forward in this movie... Anyway, the film constantly intrigues with it's plot and characters, and although the ending feels somewhat out of place; the rest of the film is good and although this isn't a masterpiece or a must see; it's not bad, and definitely worth watching.