Winter Brothers

A remote limestone quarry in the frigid wilds of Denmark is the setting of Hlynur Pálmason’s visually arresting but emotionally pallid film, a character study that proves as chilly as the locale. The central figure is Emil (Elliott Crosset Hove), who works at the mine with his brother Johan (Simon Sears). The two could hardly be more different: although they engage in friendly competition—at one point having a literal pissing contest—Johan is a regular fellow, while Emil is an oddball whose only contact with most of the other men comes from supplying them with an alcohol stand-in he brews from chemicals filched from the company storeroom. That sideline gets him into trouble with the bosses when one of the workers falls seriously ill from drinking the concoction, and his mental equilibrium deteriorates further when he fights with Johan over Anna (Victoria Carmen Sonne), the only woman on the scene. Emil acquires a rifle from a neighbor and watches old military instructional tapes, sometimes in the nude, to learn how to use it. Winter Brothers is very atmospheric—from its lengthy light-deprived sequences in underground shafts, to repeated shots of huge clanking machines towering over the workmen—but despite Hove’s frenzied performance, the human dimension feels lacking and the film ultimately comes across as an enigmatic stylistic exercise. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)