Lalli Johns

A modern Robin Hood and Buffalo Bill; that is how Lalli Johns, born Larus B. Svarvasson, sees himself. A drug addict, alcoholic and habitual criminal is how the man in the street of Reykjavik sees Lalli Johns. Thirty-five convictions, a total of seventeen years behind bars, and every time he leaves prison, he vows to change his life and to stop drinking, taking drugs and stealing. Director Thorfinn Gudnason followed the homeless Johns for two years, on his ever-recurrent trip from the Litla-Hraun jail to social institutions, hospitals, drug rehab centres and favourite pubs full of friends. Against the background of Reykjavik, shrouded in an eternal haze, Johns turns out to be not only an incorrigible criminal, but above-all an unsurpassable optimist and hedonist: ‘One joint a day keeps the blues away.’ (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)