Hjartasteinn AKA Heartstone (2016) FotW #377

[joachimt]

Film of the Week #377: Hjartasteinn AKA Heartstone (2016)



Summary:
In a fishing village in Iceland, a boy develops feelings for his best friend as his best friend pursues his affections for a girl.

#333 on 500<400, with 197 checks.
Nominated by 72aicm, Lakigigar and joachimt.
On IMDb
On iCM

From the 500<400 results

#333(NEW) Hjartasteinn (2016)
[Heartstone]

Directed by: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
(358.91 Pts, 8 Votes) , Top 1–10–50: 0–1–3
History: 333←717←5312←NA←NA←NA←NA←NA

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ICheckMovies: 190 Checks , 17 Favourites , 0 Official lists

List of Voters:

Lakigigar (5)
Fergenaprido (14)
dirty_score (27)
72aicm (61)
lineuphere (117)
dinah (NA)
Lilarcor (134)
Gorro (140)

Here is a schedule of all the FotWs.
Here is an iCM list of all FotWs.

[Lakigigar]

I love this movie. It's also quite high on my list of all-time favourites, currently 36th.

[Fergenaprido]

I adore this film. Saw it two years ago and it's definitely one I'll rewatch again.

8.4/10

My non-spoilery mini-review from the Challenge thread:

Didn't go where I thought it would go, and I love it all the more because of that.

And my mildly spoilery review from Letterboxd:

I loved this more than I thought it would. I thought I was settling down for a sweet teen coming of age romantic drama, and got something unexpected.

Spoiler

Knowing the basic premise, I thought the smaller kid would be the gay one, and the film kind of sets it up that way before revealing that it's the taller one. You rarely (ever?) see the gay one being the protector of the straight one; we're usually the ones that need saving and protecting over and over again, building up the egos of our straight friends and allies.

It's raw and honest and heartbreaking and heartwarming. The only drawback for me is the animal cruelty in the film. It looks really realistic, and it's hard to believe it isn't real. The stomping on the stonefish, the other fish sitting there rotting outside the front porch, shooting the seagull, shooting the sheep... it all seems so unnecessary, but then I think that maybe it was stuff happening in the small village anyway, and the filmmakers simply decided to record it.

Life ain't always kind and pretty.