Film Archive

Rams

Horizons 2015 / Hrútar / Iceland, Denmark 2015

They haven’t spoken for 40 years but when the law compels them to slaughter a herd of beloved sheep they simply have to face up to one another. Grímur Hákonarson’s second movie Rams, a comedy about two brothers living in the wilds of Iceland, was victorious at this year’s Cannes festival in the progressive Un Certain Regard section.

Synopsis

Kiddi drinks and likes his shooting. Gummi doesn’t drink and doesn’t shoot. Both have wild hair and great beards. Gummi and Kiddi are single brothers who inhabit an inhospitable Icelandic valley, their houses are a stone’s throw apart and they both tend sheep. And they are also proud to compete in the contest to find the best ram. Yet they haven’t spoken to one another for the best part of their lives. This year Kiddi wins the ram contest by a whisker and disgruntled Gummi then decides to inspect the prize ram in its enclosure. He becomes suspicious that it might be infected with a lethal disease – if that is the case, it would have to be destroyed, along with all the other herds in the valley. In spite of this, Gummi still sends the vet to see Kiddi. “Both my parents were raised in the countryside and I was sent there to live and work most summers,” says Grímur Hákonarson who, in Rams, deals a typically Icelandic hand – grumpy beardies, hostile weather and sparing shots. The tragicomic plight of the brothers, who under pressure of circumstances have to rethink their relationship, nevertheless has global ramifications as well.

Šimon Šafránek

About the film

93 min / Color, DCP

Director Grímur Hákonarson / Screenplay Grímur Hákonarson / Dir. of Photography Sturla Brandth Grøvlen / Music Atli Örvarsson / Editor Kristján Loðmfjörð / Art Director Bjarni þór Sigurbjörnsson / Producer Grímar Jónsson / Production Netop Films / Coproduction Profile Pictures / Cast Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Theodór Júlíusson / Sales New Europe Film Sales / Distributor Aerofilms

About the director

Grímur Hákonarson (b. 1977, Iceland) took a one-year course at Prague’s FAMU in 2004, where he shot the short comedy Slávek the Shit (2005) about a public convenience attendant. It was entered on the programme at Cannes in the Cinéfondation section for college film screenings and won twelve festival awards around the world. His next short film Wrestling (Bræðrabylta, 2007) was premiered in Locarno and also screened at Karlovy Vary. Hákonarson made his feature film debut with the comedy Summerland (Sumarlandið, 2010). His latest offering Rams came top in this year’s Un Certain Regard at Cannes.