Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Robyn Nesbitt (nesfilmreviews) An intelligent, engaging, multi-layered storyline that blends strained family relations, unsolved murders, and infuses some Icelandic customs keeping the viewer captivated from beginning to end. Despite the lack of shock value, the film maintains a consistent sense of suspense throughout. "Jar City" is chilly and cerebral, but also morbidly and powerfully alive.In 1974, a young Icelandic girl dies at the hands of a murderer, and the crime was never solved. In present day, the aged and exhausted detective Erlendur begins to investigate a link between that notorious unsolved crime, and the unrelated homicide of a local criminal years after the fact. Erlendur has a difficult private life, his wife has passed away, and he has a pregnant daughter Eva Lind (Agusta Eva Erlendsdottir) who is a drug addict and roams the streets.Meanwhile, Örn (Atli Rafn Sigurdarson), an employee at a DNA-mapping lab, struggles with the death of his own daughter, who suffered from a brain tumor. In time, the two men's lives will intersect in a myriad of ways that neither can even begin to foresee -- and the motivation for Holberg's original crime will become resoundingly clear.Director Baltasar Kormákur elegantly churns out a first-rate mystery by dressing it with organic cinematography and a score reminiscent of eerie Gregorian chants. But his best move is a focus on an unlikely secondary character - Iceland itself. He wisely employs this unique, almost otherworldly qualities of its setting--presented as both beautiful and threatening. The cinematography is simply stunning, truly enhancing the ambiance to an ominous storyline and landscape."Jar City" turns out to be intricate, haunting puzzle of motivations. The murder, of an old man named Holberg, opens up a nest of older crimes and brooding secrets. Erlendur finds himself investigating a possible rape from 30 years before and unraveling a tangled history of police corruption and petty brutality. What it all has to do with Holberg is no more clear to the audience than it is to the detective. But Erlendur's combination of bluntness and analytical acumen informs Mr. Kormákur's storytelling technique, making "Jar City" an unusually forceful and thought-provoking thriller. "Jar City" (or Mýrin), is adapted from Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indridason's 2000 best-seller, "Tainted Blood."

freemantle_uk Based on a novel by Arnaldur Indriðason Jar City is a very effective crime thriller to come Iceland. With it's grim direction, complex characters and unflinching realism it was an excellent little film in a 90 minute package.Erlendur (Ingvar E. Sigurðsson) is a senior police officer from Reykjavík, assigned to investigate the murder of an elderly man Horland (Þorsteinn Gunnarsson), leading him onto a trail of rape, organised crime, murder and police corruption in rural Iceland. Erlendur to has to deal with his drug addicted daughter, Eva (Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir), who is knocked-up and in trouble with local gangsters. At the same time a genetic researcher Örn (Atli Rafn Sigurðsson), suffering from grief of the death of his young daughter researches the family trees of people to find the source of the genetic disorder that killed her.Under the direction of Baltasar Kormákur, Jar City is a dark complex film with a multi-layered plot. Throughout the film Kormakur keeps a sombre tone, using natural light whenever possible and used the baron landscape of Iceland to great effect. Kormakur when he needed to slow the film down to allow the actors to show their characters and speed up the investigation when he needs to. He keeps the film feeling natural, looking at tragedy like the death of a child in a sensitive and sad manner. The film was realistic, with neither heroes or villains being typical characters and Kormakur does not cut any corners, like a chase in a swamp. He uses hand-held cameras and an operatic score to add to his emotional power of the film.With Indriðason writing the script Kormakur make a tort film, fitting a complex plot effectively in a short running time. Admittedly some of the subplots seems to be shorten, with Örn's investigation being overlooked but we still get to see the buck of the story.There is also excellent performances in the film, with Ingvar E. Sigurðsson particularly worthy of note in the lead role, playing a skilled investigator with a lot of personal baggage, suffering from moments of kindness and ruthlessness. Atli Rafn Sigurðsson too was very good, and had a touching scene early in the film with his dying daughter. Erlendsdóttir also gave a grounded performance as a woman trying fight a drug addiction and reconnect her father.A very worthy film, great for anyone who loves crimes thrillers.

blujus This is a well made, enjoyable crime thriller that manages to sustain tension and interest throughout its run time and marries this with some well handled comic moments. The main character, Erlunder, is a multi-layered and believable, ageing, seen-it-all-before cop, while the scenes involving discovery of dead bodies are skin-crawlingly well acted and nauseously realistic.However, given the kind of budgets and talent available to producers of TV crime series these days, Jar City suffers from the fact that the plot really could form an episode of CSI:Rejkjavik or, dare I say it Taggart (a old British crime series). There are no huge surprises or twists in the tail - it is, essentially, a standard, old fashioned who/why dunnit.However, what sets Jar City apart from CSI and its ilk is the cinematography. Obviously I've seen images of Iceland before - but I've never seen it captured in such a bleak, but beautiful fashion. Iceland itself is centrally important to the character of this film (and might even be said to be one of the characters) and its strangely picturesque scenery and, in some cases, downright weirdness, make Jar City worth watching just for this alone.

Baris Saydam Balthasar Kormakur's last movie, "Myrin", was made into a bestselling novel in Iceland. In short a time, Myrin was called to mind the best movie of Iceland with effect of the novel. Myrin has no difference than alike movies, despite of being a dark movie which is well-casted and directed. Especially being given messages by the director in the final is very cliché and this banal final chapter doesn't fit with this movie. Finally, Myrin doesn't tell about a new story in genre, which calls "Crime", and there is no need for the same old song: Good cop and bad cop.Myrin begins the story with finding a corpse in an apartment which was built on marsh. Detective Erlandur, who has a daughter is pregnant and a junkie, tries to take up curtain of mist on the case. When Erlandur investigates the case deeply, he finds out roots of the story. Essentially the story grounds on very old. In the movie, there is another story in parallel with this story. In another story, Örn loses his little daughter for an implacable illness. Common points among stories are associated by Erlandur. In conclusion, it comes into the tragic picture.Actually Myrin shows it which is interested in under the iceberg from the beginning. Every minute the story, which has no surprise, comes to a true picture and reminds the viewer of corrosion. When Erlandur resolves problems, marsh remembered by the story like an apartment where was built on a marsh. Basically people go to the bottom each day. Moreover a degeneration and a corrosion are becoming commonplace. We discover these marshes, which were inside people, with Erlandur. If the director just chose to tell a crime story, it would be OK, but he tries to criticize people. At this point, the director loses the control and departs from movie's subject. Maybe critical messages and dramatic structure both are compatible in the book; however, in the movie these two sides are not compatible. An icon of father, who realized a degeneration after committing crimes by co-workers and discovered own estrangement after all of these facts, is an acquaintance and a cliché.Myrin doesn't tell a new story, also it has no different expression way. Nonetheless, the director shows own talent with background of the movie. An excellent background is created by the director. He highlights the dark side of the story with color selection, light using and filter preference. He relates the story in its entirety with Grey and several shades of Grey. He is promoted about visuality, despite of having some problems about storytelling. As a result, Myrin doesn't stick out in the genre, but it can be good choice to kill time.Written by Baris Saydam (BuRnOut_TR)