The film captures the quaintness of provincial life with humor and drama, deftly mixing in feminism, too, in a way that is subtly funny and even a little disturbing.
Comment
11/27/04
The Seagull's Laughter (2001)
84 %
Reviews Counted: 32 Fresh: 27 Rotten:5 Average Rating: 6.7/10
Consensus:
Though uneven in spots, this delightful comedy will, nevertheless, put a smile on your face.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Synopsis: In 1954, following the death of her American serviceman husband, beautiful Freya (Margaret Vilhjalmsdottir) returns to her native Icelandic fishing village. With several trunks of fashionable clothing and astounding tales of life in postwar New York, she turns the town on its ear with her... [More]
Reviews
[The movie] boasts an engaging assortment of female characters and an arch sense of humor as biting as the Icelandic winds.
10/15/04
The performances are solid, and the film is just different enough to please open-minded audiences.
10/15/04
Seagull often is on the verge of melodrama, but in the best sense of the genre, where real life is exaggerated but never to the point of being unrecognizable.
07/09/04
Vilhjálmsdóttir is a superb femme fatale … Freya eventually becomes a symbol of empowerment and impending change, a symbol that transcends good and evil.
06/04/04
As long as Egilsdóttir is on screen, the film is a small but satisfying delight.
05/27/04
Top Critic
Writer-director Agust Gudmundsson skillfully balances romantic comedy and melodrama with a coming-of-age story and morality play.
05/06/04
The most interesting thing about the film -- apart from two smashing performances from Vilhjálmsdottir and Egilsdóttir -- is the glimpse it provides into 1950s Iceland.
05/02/04
An uncommonly engaging tale of tradition, change and growth in a strangely haunting locale...its stylishness carries the film over most of the rough spots.
03/20/04
The cast is a sparkling ensemble, with Vilhjálmsdóttir adept at keeping us guessing about the mercurial and complex Freya's true nature.
03/18/04
Top Critic
An awkwardly told story steeped in attitudes toward stereotypes with an annoying portrayal of a little girl's obsessed dedication to betray trust and affection.
03/18/04
Iceland may be cold, but the people are sure friendly enough (most of the time). This group certainly made me smile.
03/12/04
Part character study, part thriller and part coming-of-age drama, it doesn't quite pull these disparate elements completely together but is nonetheless entertaining and darkly funny.
03/11/04
Gudmundsson is ultimately unsuccessful in tying the various plot elements and stylistic devices together, but The Seagull's Laughter manages to be quite entertaining anyway.
02/26/04
Top Critic
Agga emerges as an endearing ingenue with enough personality to carry the film through its set-pieces.
02/17/04
IGN RSS Feeds