Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

It is a performances centric movie

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

White Night Wedding follows the life of Jón during the day leading up to his second marriage. Jón is an ex-professor living on the small island of Flatey, Iceland. The opening scene sets up the film's light attitude, but also tells us of Jón's controversial past. In the beginning of the film, we learn that his ex-wife, stricken with manic-depression, convinced him to leave his job as a professor in Reykjavik and move to Flatey, where she is from. We later learn that once they moved to Flatey, Jón became close to a girl that was his student at university. As Anna, Jón's first wife, realizes that she is losing her husband, her mental state becomes worse and worse. The director, Baltasar Kormákur, uses Jón's flashbacks to his previous marriage to explain to the viewers what happened in Jón's first marriage and what led him to marry Þóra. These flashbacks, tinted with different lighting to differentiate them from the present, only tell the viewer a small part of the story at a time, so they are unaware of many important details until the end. This leaves some excitement and keeps the viewer watching. While I liked the excitement, sometimes the flashbacks were not clearly a flashback and confused me. Kormákur sometimes used a specific cut style to signify that the upcoming scene was a flashback, but other times the film would jump cut to the scene without telling the viewer if it was in the present or in the past. This was especially confusing at the beginning of the movie, but once I was used to the style of the film, I became more prepared for scenes to be set in the past.One of the main themes we can see in the film is money. Iceland's economic state is not very strong, so money is a common theme in Icelandic films. When Jón and Anna move to Flatey, Jón meets Börkur, who dreams of building a golf course on the island. Börkur convinces Jón to invest in this golf course, including cutting a deal with the family of his future bride, Þóra. Jón rents land from Þóra's family, but does not pay for it. This deal is central to the plot, as Þóra's mother continuously nags Jón and Þóra throughout the film, threatening to call off the wedding if he does not pay her. Þóra's father is frustrated by his wife's obsession with the money and secretly gives money to Jón to be used to pay for the land. However, Jón passes out outside and the money blows away to be found by the island's priest. The economy of Iceland clearly impacts the lives of those on the island and leads Þóra's mother to worry more about money than her own daughter's wedding.While dealing with his fiancé's mother and her obsession with his debt, Jón is also feeling more and more guilty about the events leading up to his second marriage. We learn from a few flashbacks that Jón cheated on Anna with Þóra and when Anna caught them, she rowed a leaky boat into the sea and drowned herself. As we get closer to the wedding, Jón becomes increasingly quiet and distant from Þóra. At the wedding, Jón asks Þóra to step outside with him and calls off the wedding, telling her that he does not want to drive her to madness and death as he believes he did to Anna. She begs him to stop thinking that way, saying that she will make him happy and help him until the day she dies. During this argument, the entire wedding party comes out to watch the unfolding drama. Jón runs to the sea and gets in the same leaky boat that Anna used to drown herself. He prepares to kill himself the same way until Þóra and the rest of the wedding party make it to the sea. Þóra swims to him and they decide to get married in the sea. The priest is carried out and they take their vows, seemingly ending the movie on a positive note. Although Jón has had a hard time with his marriages and is unsure about marrying again, Þóra seems to have saved him and made him happy. However, the final scene tells us that that is not how the marriage works out. Ironically, Jón becomes the satisfied married man, while Þóra seems to become the one sneaking off and looking for something better, as Jón did with Anna. As cheating was a central theme in the plot of the film, this seems to be a sort of poetic justice for what Jón did to Anna and tells the viewers that cheating is usually not the best way to start out a relationship.

Welcome to the Island of Flatey, inhabited by less than what appears to be a dozen people, where tensions are high and there is no escaping one's past. White Night Wedding, by Baltasar Kormákur, is comprised of two stories that become seemingly more parallel throughout the entirety of the film. We begin our journey with Jón (Hilmir Snær Guðnason), a middle-aged professor who leaves his post as a professor of literature at the University of Reykjavik to move to the desolate island where his fragile wife hails from. Anna (Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir), his wife, is presented with mental health issues. We experience their unhappy marriage through a series of flashbacks that eventually link Jón and Anna to Thora (Laufey Elíasdóttir), a former student of Jón, who despite being half his age, has become his new love interest. Jón and Thora are to be married but disadvantageous circumstances threaten the wedding and the couple's happiness, due to Jón's past as well as a fiscal dispute between the family of the bride and the family of the bridegroom. Jón faces immense disapproval by the local pastor and his future in-laws, from whom he borrowed large sums of money to fund an entrepreneurial venture that fails miserably leaving him with little hope of paying back his loan. Jón's past involves a mentally ill wife who he was never willing to listen to or help. He agreed to move back to her hometown, but resents her for this and pays little attention to her. Eventually, Jón begins to kindle a relationship with Thora, who coincidentally happens to be from the same small town as Anna, culminating in a sexual affair. Kormákur's film presents several themes that all seem to lead to one question; What is the meaning of life and happiness? Each of the characters feel a strong sense of longing for something or someone that is unattainable to them in their current situation. For example, Thora's father aspired to be an opera singer but is woefully stuck married to a bitter woman obsessed with the financial bottom line of every situation. Anna longs for the companionship of a faithful partner, while peripheral characters such as the priest and Thora's sister aspire to be accepted and respected despite their quirky and often awkward nature. Jón runs from his problems with Anna, and the foundation of his new relationship with Thora can be described as shaky at best. Viewers can sympathize with Anna who is trying in every way possible to connect with her husband, including literally throwing herself at him in a playful manner, but he never indulges her in attention. It is harder if not impossible to connect man who is so narcissistic and unwilling to engage in conversation with his wife and pay attention to what is really happening in his life. The over dramatized ceremony at the end of the film and events that follow may lead one to believe that humans are forever stuck in a never-ending cycle of disappointment devoid of quality interpersonal communication. White Night Wedding features sweeping landscapes of the picturesque island during late summer or early fall. A stark contrast from the few city shots that are presented in the beginning, the setting of the island creates the premise for the city vs. rural life that appears in the film. The story spans only over the course of a day, but the sense of time is elongated by the numerous flashbacks that create the storyline between Jón and Anna, as well as setting the stage for Jón's wedding to Thora. While it was sometimes hard at first to distinguish between the past and the present, the use of flashbacks was particularly effective in conveying the events that lead to the dysfunctional and chaotic wedding that is to come. The dialogue, while sometimes cringe-worthy, is also witty in nature. Background noises such as chirping birds, rolling waves, and moving vehicles created a natural and realistic environment. This is especially true when paired with the wide landscape shots. The music in the film is mainly soothing, and somewhat experimental, instrumental music. There are also a few folk and jazz influenced pieces that add a lighthearted touch to the film. Close-up shots that allow viewers to get a good impression of the character's reactions to what is happening around them. The film is often compared to the Russian play Ivanov by Anton Chekhov. With an almost identical plot line, except for a few details as well as change in geographical location, the two bodies of work seem quite similar. White Night Wedding is also comparable to many of Kormákur's other films as it features characters struggling internally with feelings such as guilt, and a loss of purpose in life. According to an Icelandic cinema publication, the film was by far the most popular Icelandic movie screened in 2008, judged by overall viewing numbers in theaters. White Night Wedding is a successful film in its distinct characterization of certain elements of modern Icelandic film. The sweeping landscapes of the nearly uninhabited island exaggerates the theme of city life vs. rural existence, and we are entertained by the actions of atypical and quirky characters. I recommend this film because of its humorous confrontation of issues regarding happiness, companionship, and the will to live. These are deep issues that take on a dark tone, but are also paired with several comical characters and an outlandish series of unfortunate events in such a way that viewers are able to grapple with these existential questions without the gloom and doom that often accompany such topics.

I liked the first half of the movie because of the beautiful scenery of Iceland. The island is beautiful, the small community on it is interesting and one can easily start to dream how it might be to live in there. Some characters are really funny and definitely likable (the huge Viking-looking friend of the lead character is definitely someone who would be very cool to party with). And the "development project" for the island is funny and crazy as well.On the other hand the story was somewhat hard to understand for me. It took me half of the movie to actually understand that the movie is basically a big pile of mess assembled from scenes from "the past" and scenes from "the present". These scenes are blended so homogeneously that they actually seem to be single linear yet surreal story. Actually I was not sure if there is one lead character who has one wife and tries to marry another one or if there are identical twins or what the hell happens. I was confused. The cuts basically do not give any clues about temporal relations of individual scenes.So I have started to untangle the storyline mess only at the end - and the resulting story was not something I would like. Especially the lead character is very ugly in the resulting picture - cold, weak and immoral. His first wife was much more interesting and true character. Maybe it would be better for me if I spent the rest of the movie in false idea that it is just visually beautiful, surreal, experimental movie.

As the film opens we watch a bride and a groom exchanging wedding vows. At a crucial moment, a cellular phone rings. It belongs to Jon, the groom, who excuses himself to answer. The call is from his parents, who seem to be lost and want directions. We suddenly realize it is not the real thing, but a rehearsal for the event.The action takes place in a small island off the coast of Iceland. Jon, a former college professor, has escaped to this isolated spot after being fed up with his life. He came with Anna, an artist, with whom he has been living. Anna shows signs of depression, or perhaps another affliction that keeps her emotionally apart from Jon.One of Jon's students, Thora, arrive with a group of friends in Flatey. She has ties to the island. Her parents own the main store. It appears she was always attracted to her teacher, who is about twenty years her senior. Their affair plays heavily into Anna, who becomes even more despondent, leading ultimately to her own demise.Director Baltasar Kormakur, whose "The Sea" made an impression, is at it again. The film is not exactly easy to sit through. The narrative may confuse his audience, but we realize there are two situations taking place at different times. The film was co-written by the director and Ogaful Egilsson. The creators tried to give the film a lighter pace, what with the idea of the golf course running through one small island into Flatey and different holes running among the residential area. The result is a film that needs to be viewed with an open mind because Mr. Kormakur has proved worthy of our attention. The Icelandic cast does justice to the director's intentions.