Whitech
It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.
FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Frances Chung
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
invisibleunicornninja
Though there was only scene in this movie that I found funny, I still very much enjoyed it. This movie is beautifully shot, the characters are believable, and the story is well-written. Though it starts off slow, its worth watching all the way through. I'd recommend this movie to pretty much everyone.
Ian
(Flash Review)Can slaughtering herds of sheep mend a brother's relationship? This film asks that question. Another film that hooked me in with a novel title and a bold image of nothing less than a Ram's head on the cover. (ha) This story revolves around two brothers who haven't spoken for 40 years. They live in an isolated Icelandic valley amongst other sheep herders. Both brothers produce award winning rams as the bloodline of their flocks is ancient and strong. When a terminal disease infects the animals, the village votes to slaughter them all. During this turmoil, events occur and make the brothers interact…for better or worse? This film also has a methodical pace that helps accentuate the vast and emptiness of their land and lives. A good and quiet little drama with dashes of dry humor sprinkled in.
Ulf Kjell Gür
"After all, you two have not talked to each other for forty years. Why start now?" "Hrútar" is an Icelandic saga about two brothers - sheep-raiders - weathery and persistent. To a certain extent biblical, similar to Cain and Abel, or Esau and Jacob's fates. "Brothers don't necessarily have to say anything to each other – they can sit in a room and be together and just be completely comfortable with each other." That's pretty much it. "Hrútar" is also a very fine and accurate composition of image, setting and atmosphere. And sounds from Atli Örvarsson.
CineMuseFilms
The family drama is an elastic genre label that is used when nothing else fits. It is an odd label for RAMS (2015), an endearing tale of an unconventional family consisting of two estranged brothers and their rams who live on adjacent farms in Iceland. They have not spoken for 40 years, are fiercely competitive with their prize-winning rams, and sometimes communicate via dog-carried notes or bullets through a window. They love their rams like kinfolk, pet them, kiss them and clearly are devoted shepherds. While the outside world buzzes with social and digital media innovation, life goes on for brothers Gummi and Kiddi as it has for generations amidst the harsh natural beauty of rural Iceland. Their fractious but largely peaceful co-existence is shattered when a highly contagious disease is discovered in the flock and local authorities decree that all must be destroyed.The story itself is not the point of RAMS. Rather it is an immersive insight into life on an Icelandic farm told through sensitive cinematography and understated storytelling. The vast space across rugged wind-swept landscapes have a brutal beauty and enter our viewing space with a chill you can feel. Long camera takes and even longer silences are expressions about the brothers lives in an environment untouched by modernity, with quirky Icelandic wit to brighten a muted colour palette of white and grey. The musical score erupts expressively to accentuate moments of humour, sadness and hope, often with just a few single dramatic piano chords. The scenes where beloved stock must be destroyed brought audible sniffles across my cinema. Through adversity, the brothers are forced to rely on each other and in the process renew something that should not have been lost so long ago.As an independent film RAMS is free to roam wherever its directorial and storytelling intentions choose and this results in a refreshingly different movie experience. Many will wonder why it has been so highly lauded because the pace is glacially slow, the actors are more like cameo characters, and some will find the concept of loving animals like family a bit weird. But others will see the primal relationship of shepherd to land and flock, be touched by the love that surfaces from under decades of sibling discord, and enjoy an old fashioned story about farm life in a hostile place. The ending is poignant, ambivalent, and a metaphor for the triumph of love and family.
