Answers the question: what if Paddington was full of Scandinavian doom and gloom?

The fog, the moodiness of horses, rams, cats, and dogs. This elusive Icelandic movie confirms two things outside of its own existence. 1) Robert Eggers’ future use of this landscape in The Northman will be epic (from the same screenwriter). 2) I really need to watch Gunda because the shots of animals are remarkable here. The human story is so withholding that it doesn’t matter much. But Lamb Girl is sweet. I mean, wait until you see her walk in her outfits, you’ll come around. Also, the vfx are better than movies with 10x the budget and therefore show too much and show the seams as well. I would’ve gladly watched the animal society carry on without the rote human drama, though. One is beautifully shot, creepy, and foreboding; the other is an exercise of holding back details but also making sure we’re rooted in something familiar: a marriage with a dead child and an affair. If it just went for it full stop, animal focused, it could’ve astounding. 

Humans make all of this more simple than it should be; there’s larger and exciting folklore here that’s only teased.

More on day 8.