''Of Horses and Men'' () is a 2013 Icelandic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Benedikt Erlingsson and produced by fellow director

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson Friðrik Þór Friðriksson (born 12 May 1954; pronounced ), sometimes credited as Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, is an Icelandic film director and producer. Biography Fridriksson started his film making career with experimental films and documentar ...

. The film was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the

86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2013 in film, films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5: ...

, but it was not nominated. The film won the 2014

Nordic Council Film Prize The Nordic Council Film Prize is an annual film prize administered by the Nordic Council. The Nordisk Film & TV Fond is the funding body that administers the prize. History The first award was handed out in 2002 to celebrate the Nordic Council's ...

. In 2014, it won the audience award at the

Tromsø International Film Festival The Tromsø International Film Festival (TIFF) is an annual film festival held during the third week of January in Tromsø, Norway. The inaugural Tromsø International Film Festival was held in 1991. TIFF has 6 screening venues, including Ver ...

in Norway.

Plot

In a remote Icelandic valley, there is not much to do other than observe the horses, the neighbors, and the neighbors' horses with

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

. Undisturbed, the stallions and mares do what nobody else in the valley dares to even talk about: love. However, there is still a feeling of love among some of the valley dwellers. Kolbeinn and Solveig's attempts at love are the subject of much interest for the valley dwellers. Meanwhile, Vernhardur, who has a weakness for liquor, makes a name for himself on a Russian fishing vessel with the sailor Gengis. There is often disagreement about the riding routes between Grimur and Egill; Grimur generally prefers the classic routes on horseback, whereas Egill prefers riding through rough terrain on his tractor. Jóhanna, on the other hand, has nothing to say concerning her mare Raudka. One day, she encounters an injured old man. The religious Juan Camillo is seeking God on a high spiritual level. Above all, all the people in the valley share a love of their horses, and eventually come to understand one another.

Cast

Helgi Björnsson Helgi Björnsson (born 10 July 1958), often referred to as Helgi Björns, is an Icelandic actor and pop/rock musician. He has released several albums with his own band Helgi Björns Og Reiðmenn Vindanna. He was also a lead vocalist for the Icela ...

* Charlotte Bøving * Sigríður María Egilsdóttir * Maria Ellingsen * Juan Camillo Roman Estrada * Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir * Erlingur Gíslason *

Kristbjörg Kjeld Kristbjörg Kjeld (born 18 June 1935) is an Icelandic actress. She has appeared in more than thirty films since 1962. She won the 2010 Edda Award for Best Leading Actress for her performance as the title character in ''Mamma Gógó ''Mamma G ...

* Steinn Ármann Magnússon *

Kjartan Ragnarsson Kjartan ( Icelandic: ; Faroese: ; Norwegian: ) is a masculine given name found in the Nordic countries, most prominently in Iceland and Norway. The Old Norse name ' was a shortening of ', from , the name of an Irish king whose daughter Melkorka ...

* Atli Rafn Sigurðsson *

Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson (; born 22 November 1963) is an Icelandic actor who has worked extensively in Icelandic cinema, television and stage productions. He became internationally known for his role as police officer Ásgeir in the Icelandic ...

Reception

The film holds an approval rating of 100% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60 out of 10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Well-crafted and resoundingly original, ''Of Horses and Men'' is as intelligent, inscrutable, and breathtakingly lovely as its titular equines."

Robbie Collin Robbie Collin is a British film critic. Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''. Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The ...

described ''Of Horses and Men'' as a "collection of six-or-so interlocking fables about a group of rural Icelanders’ relationships with their horses and each other, and which run the gamut from stony-black comedies of sex and death to chilly meditations on the blind cruelty of fate." He gave it four stars out of five and called it "something truly and seductively strange" and "tenderly attuned to the weather and landscape, both of which are captured in you-could-almost-be-there vividness, and underscored by a heady swirl of choral works and primal drumming."

References

External links

* (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Of Horses And Men 2013 films 2013 romantic comedy-drama films Icelandic romantic comedy-drama films Films about horses 2010s Icelandic-language films Films directed by Benedikt Erlingsson

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links