Hvítur, hvítur dagur

Um estudo de carácter de um polícia islandês, um pai, um avô e, mais importante ainda, um viúvo recente que descobre os segredos da sua falecida esposa. Não é um filme policial, mas um drama poderosamente íntimo sobre o amor da sua vida que supera a morte, sobre deceção e perdão. O tema aparentemente simples é enriquecido com uma narrativa onde o espetador tem de responder a algumas perguntas por si próprio, e com interlúdios de argumento/edição criativos que o tornam interessante e particular (a tomada de abertura dos aspetos do tempo islandês, os monitores da polícia, a rocha que cai, etc.). Mais o excelente Ingvar Sigurðsson. [Helsinki IFF] (29/09/2019)

A White, White Day is an exceptionally compelling festival slow burner, thanks especially to the raw lyrical involvement of the breathtaking Icelandic countryside, the natural actors and the way Pálmason works with (Scandinavian) crime-film conventions. The film has a detective-movie structure due to the fact that the protagonist applies the modus operandi learned during his police service to address his own suffering. The strive to find and apprehend perpetrators. The problem lies in the fact that no particular person committed the crime that we see in the prologue (at most, Ingimundur himself was an accomplice, if it was a suicide and not an accident). Therefore, the protagonist essentially has to create a perpetrator in order to have something to solve. In the tradition of art cinema, particularly the inner world of the depressed widower is addressed; his disconnection from his own emotions and the world around him is best illustrated by the transformation of his relationship with his eight-year-old granddaughter. He first merely teases her and then scares her with a fictitious story about a stolen liver (which is connected with the key motif of the dead coming back to life, which is “resolved” in the last scene) and finally terrifies her with his own real behaviour. Besides the fine work with motifs (for example, the constant elimination of obstacles, from bloodstains to stones on the path, recalling unaddressed trauma), I also admired the certainty with which Pálmason “builds” long shots of tens of seconds (perhaps even a few minutes) with long segments of dialogue, complex emotions and a lot of action (and possibilities when something could go wrong). A White, White Day is a simple story told in a captivating manner with a tremendous emotional impact. 90% (31/07/2019)

Slow, depressive Icelandic films about sad freaks are already a sub-genre on their own. This one in particular drags a lot, at least at the beginning. On top of that, the main character is an unlikeable grumpy old man with no sympathy for anything or anyone, who repeatedly behaves like idiot to those around him while demanding others should be flawless. And, according to the film, they should understand and sympathise with him. I have the same problem I had with the recent Woman at War, also from Iceland. I like my Icelanders better with their famous black humour. #KVIFF2019 (02/07/2019)

Statistically speaking, Iceland produces probably the most movies for a resident in Europe, which moreover can be seen worldwide at different festivals. On one hand it would be thanks to the locations, on the other thanks to the people who generally tend to like arts. The director Hlynur Palmason used both of those aspects to their fullest potential. Long story-telling and shots often create a great movie experience where you are watching, for example, a stone rolling down the hill or a shot of a building from a particular angle throughout all four seasons. Those shots are just beautiful. You are watching a dry land without a tree or just a single leaf, the mist that consumes those pointed rock-hills. I don’t know about you but for me it creates a totally Zen-like atmosphere. Unlike Ingvar Sigurðsson who makes me feel uneasy. Probably thanks to that fact his performance was excellent. His character didn’t speak much and that’s why he spoke through his body and mainly eyes. I’m almost not afraid to call it a new acting style. A great experience that actually is a standard for Iceland. Nevertheless this movie is more about the landscape than the dialogues, and therefore it is necessary to be prepared for that. (09/10/2020)

O drama islandês original e poeticamente narrado distingue-se pela excelente câmara e pelo desempenho de Ingvar Sigurðsson no papel principal, que combina masculinidade e dureza com delicada sensibilidade. Excelentemente dirigido e subtil, o filme explora a transformação psicológica de um viúvo que, enquanto cuida da sua neta, afasta a sua dor trabalhando na construção da casa da família, e cuja reação ao choque de passar pelos bens da sua mulher, vindo como um substituto inesperado para o luto, é uma rebeldia silenciosa, seguida de uma explosão barulhenta. (30/06/2019)

Slowly, without unnecessary words, peculiarly and at the same time suitably dramatically: it is possibly only Icelanders who can tell stories this way. Much of this is certainly due to the inhospitable environment in which they live. Ingvar Sigurðsson's precise portrayal of the central role, fully concentrating on expressing inner feelings and dilemmas closer, is breathtaking. (70%) (22/04/2023)