Serving up an admirably quirky series of interrelated vignettes, filmmaker Benedikt Erlingsson's Icelandic comedy-drama centers on mythic connections existing between horses and humans. Set in a tiny community in a breathtaking part of the country, the film begins with proud horseman Kolbeinn (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson) riding a wary mare at a fast trot for all of his admiring neighbors to see. He stops for coffee at the estate of Solveig (Charlotte Bøving), with whom he shares a simmering courtship. All is civilized until the departing Kolbeinn finds himself trapped and humiliated because one of Solveig's stallions is mounting his mare—while Kolbeinn is sitting on her, a very public mortification. Erlingsson creates several similarly startling moments, including a man riding a horse all the way from a shore to a distant fish trawler, and a determined young woman retrieving a half-dozen escaped horses and leading them all back to where they belong. The various parts of the episodic narrative slowly connect, culminating in a grand finale featuring a staggering number of beautiful horses flowing together like ocean currents. A strikingly offbeat foreign film (and definitely not family entertainment), this is recommended. (T. Keogh)
Of Horses and Men
Music Box, 81 min., in Icelandic w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.99, Dec. 5 Volume 33, Issue 1
Of Horses and Men
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