The Icelandic Dream
The Icelandic Dream
| 19 October 2001 (USA)
The Icelandic Dream Trailers

A business man and weekend dad is getting worn down by family trouble, business failure and the continuous loss of his favorite football team. He decides to start importing Bulgarian energy cigarettes in a last ditch attempt at success ... his best friend soon advises that suicide might be his best option.

Reviews
Diagonaldi Very well executed
Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
TeenzTen An action-packed slog
Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
kayee Debutant Robert Douglas has with his 'The Icelandic Dream' proven that an interesting plot is not needed for a film to be (positively) well remembered.Robert Douglas' filmic language has developed through making several short films and his style is clearly distinct from many other contemporary debutans, who often - in my opinion - use an interesting plot together with a more conventional way of telling the story. Thus, sadly enough, making the story not as dazzling as it should be.In 'The Icelandic Dream', telling techniques more commonly seen in documentaries are used, which is not only quite daring of a debutant but also very refreshing to experience outside the cinemathèques. And what a debutant! Directing and editing skills beating both Sundance film festival winners and film makers who've already made a couple of feature films!But please note, the Douglas style should not be mixed with the Dogma style; the constant shakiness of Dogma is not present in 'The Icelandic Dream'. (A blessing some would say.)I hope though, that Robert Douglas' next films will have more thrilling plots that match my personal - quite fastidious- taste. Thus matching his high directing and editing skills.Now, if the plot interests you, this will have to be a make-you-feel-good-masterpiece in every way. Instead of the worn-out stories taken or inspired from the Icelandic Sagas, 'The Icelandic Dream' is one of the few films that, in a more extremely well-done way, show how contemporary Iceland is. And there sure is a lot more than cliché volcanos, Björk and the Sagas.
fellinigellini This film is absolutely the best film ever made in Iceland. It's like Icelanders have finally started to make movies that you can actually compare to foreign movies in originality, character depth, style, story and so much more. Icelandic movies have been good looking yes, very well made production wise and so on, but not much else. This one might be a bit raw (it suits the story quite well) but what it lacks in production value it more than makes up for it in originality, story, acting and humor. It's also about the only Icelandic film that does not include the landscape as one of it's main characters. Instead it's the Icelandic people in all their ignorant and stupid glory.