Erlingur Thoroddsen
Cold
Kuldi
IS
2023, 98’, is
Age 16+

 

When the past has no closure, it keeps us awake at night in the present. Óðinn, a life-worn detective, is tasked with investigating two mysterious deaths at a youth home, a cold case from several decades ago. The teenage boys were nearly the same age as his daughter Rún, who has recently moved in with him. However, as he discovers more and more, Óðinn starts drawing parallels: could it be that his daughter's behaviour and his wife's suicide are related to the unsolved case? Might he himself be the missing link? 

Mysteries exposed by a breath of wind, shadows lurking, the thrill of cold, things left half unsaid – these are all classic means of expression in the mystery genre. But in this gem of Nordic noir – the third feature film by Thoroddsen, an Icelandic virtuoso of the genre – they acquire an entirely different substance and layers of meaning. Weaving multi-stranded narratives and dissecting denial inherited from generation to generation, the director boldly plays with the codes of the genre and the destructive detective archetype (played by Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson of Vikings fame). Keeping viewers on the edge of their seats at Glasgow, Gothenburg and other film festivals, this piece intertwines the past with the present, imagination with delirium, but above all – abuse with a way of finding peace.