Keswick Film Club - Under The Tree

Synopsis

As you sip your sherry under your Christmas tree, wondering whether to put a star or just a light on the top, spare a thought for those with larger problems in the world...like Atli here in Iceland. Forced to move back home with his parents for reasons I'll let him explain when you see the film, he finds himself in a battleground between his parents and their neighbours; is the tree in his parents' garden beautiful as they believe, or just blocking the sun as the neighbours argue? "Can't they just move their chairs over a bit into the sun?"

It being an Icelandic film and a comedy, you can guess the argument doesn't stop there; even their pets are at loggerheads (inevitably, one family has a dog, the other a cat...) and the temperature rises with the heat of the Icelandic summer sun..."snippy comments give way to petty cruelties that eventually escalate to an absolute breakdown of social order...'Has everyone lost their mind?' one character cries at one point" - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post.

She continues - "Sigurðsson clearly has his finger on the pulse, not only of smoothly engrossing filmmaking, but also his own anxious times. ‘Under the Tree’ is a stylish, bluntly effective parable for an increasingly uncivil and irrational age", whilst Bruce DeMara, in the Toronto Star thinks - "Sigurðsson throws in some nice stylistic touches throughout to create an alternating mood of absurdity and foreboding".

So we finish our 20th Autumn Season as we began, with a comedy which we hope will put you in a good mood for your Christmas festivities. We continue our 20th Year celebrations in January with our Spring Season of films, and we have our 20th Film Festival at the end of February. Have a great Christmas everyone; see you in 2019!