Nói Albinói

Highly controlled and even more derivative, this debut feature by a member of the Icelandic band snowblow plays like a Nordic footnote to the early filmography of Jim Jarmusch. Seventeen-year-old Nói (Lemarquis, shaven-headed and - pace the title - in no obvious way an albino) dreams of escaping from his village home on a remote fjord with the girl who works in the local petrol station. But his various attempts at rebellion (such as leaving a tape recorder on his classroom desk to get out of attending school) lead everyone in the community to assume that he's in need of psychiatric counselling, and it takes a random 'act of god' to rescue him from a life of conformity. Like most Icelandic movies this is anchored in absurdist humour, but the studied tone and earnest pacing mitigate laughter. It's been sold all over the world, but seems unlikely to charm ticket buyers as much as it does distributors.