Summerlight . . . And Then Comes the Darkness Review - Captivating, Excellent Heartfelt Performances

Details: Category: Haute This Issue; Published on Wednesday, 18 September 2024 10:53; Written by Janet Walker

Summerlight . . . And Then Comes the Darkness, from Juno Films, presents a story of the lives in an idyllic Icelandic village where tradition seems to govern, however even here, life's unpredictability deals cruel twists and turns.

The film begins, through voiceover by Vigdis Grimsdottir, and takes the audience around the small village introducing the commonalities of everyday life. The narrator explains the quaintness of life in this village that has neither church nor graveyard, and throughout the film summarizes moments in each of the stories.

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Here, through the buildings, houses, and a single factory we find the town's people, as the narrator explains. We see a woman, whom we later find out is Solrun, played by Anna Maria Pitt, the wife of the town's Magistrate, Guomunder, played by Porsteinn Bachmann, swimming in the Icelandic Ocean.

And the day begins. Along the way we meet a successful CEO, played by Sveinn Olafur Gunnarsson, of the village's sweater factory, who is happy and dedicated to his career, and the position it holds for him. He is content and for him, the road appears smooth. However, as life's road is full of volatility, his life is about to be upended.

We see him waking repeating words, and he realizes he was dreaming in Latin. And suddenly nothing has any value. Some would call it a mid-life crisis, as everything he accomplished to this point was pushed aside for this new passion of understanding the stars, and the heavens. As the narrator sums up the story, he got the house, and his wife took the money, and moved away with his daughters. His son David, played by Atil Oskar Fjalarsson, stayed to look after his dad.

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As his wife has left him, and he has left his old life as a CEO, he now needs someone to help around the house, and we meet the former seamstress Elisabet, played by Heida Reed, who has the heart of an artist, with the natural skills of a culinary genius. Each dish to her is the making of a masterpiece, and her transformation, brought on by the CEO's mid-life crisis, has made her resolve to change tradition in this small village even more determined.

We meet Hannes, played by Jóhann Sigurðarson, the local constable, who we understand has lost his wife. Each morning as he leaves for work, he pauses at his wife picture, kisses her, and each night, the overwhelming sorrow envelopes him, a darkness, aided by alcohol, a ache in his soul, that cannot be quenched. His son Jonas, played by Siggi Ingvarsson, is a slight, lanky, young man, who channels his sorrow into painting birds. The two have lost their guiding light. On this night, we see Hannes alone in the darkness, and we understand what the morning will bring. As Jonas wakes, a raven flies by his window. A note taped to his father's door.

For the town's farmers Kjartan, played by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and his wife, Asdis, played by Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir, life on the outskirts of the village is just fine for them. As Kjartan is a big guy, there is plenty of space, the house is big, the farm is big. Life is good. One day Kjartan is out fixing the fence when Kristin, played by Marie Dogg Nelson, is jogging. She stops and the two begin to chat. She bends forward, and he is enchanted by her cleavage. In an instant, as we see his own reaction, as he takes off his work glove after she leaves, and smacks his own face, attempting to rid his mind of the thoughts that instantly populated. Unfortunately, the seed was planted, and the next day Kristin is again jogging, this time in even more revealing clothing, and for Kjartan, his entire life disappeared.

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His affair went on for some time, until Asdis catches them. She takes the one thing he loves, an old car that he had been rebuilding part by part and waits until he arrives home. As he begs her to be calm, she tosses the lighter into the gasoline-soaked car, and in seconds it is in flames. As a woman scorned her vengeance isn't over, as she takes out a sheep's pistol, and shoots him in the shoulder. As the narrator explains, to amend he agrees to say goodbye to the life they built and move into the smallness of the village.

Our last story, we meet a young doctor in training, Puridur, played by Svandis Dora Einarsdottir, who is single, and as she explains to her patient, Helga, played by Kristbjorg Kjeld, Mr. Right is not going to fall out of the sky, and at that moment, we meet Benedikt, played by Vikingur Kristjansson, who rises in a lift bucket coming into view, outside the window.

The timing wasn't lost on the women, who each laugh at the moment. Fate again draws them together as Benedikt stumbles and hits his head and needs stitches, and Puridur, is the attending. Suddenly, the clouds cleared, and they each seemed to have a moment of realization. Of course, believing that life's road, as they are both young and healthy, is endless, they dance around the possibility. He finally decides to make a move, and the timing for them is right. However, life deals them a cruel and punishing twist.

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As sorrow upon sorrow seems to follow the souls of this village, we see the once weak, now stronger, the damaged and unfulfilled finding new passions, the lonely with new direction, and a community, once alone now melded together by fate and the realities of life.

Captivating and heartfelt, Summerlight . . . And Then Comes the Darkness, presents humanity, in and all its imperfections, in a place so removed that one would think the encroachments and complexities of life couldn't reach, and yet in the middle of the darkness we see mercy, compassion, benevolence.

Charming, enchanting, genuine and warm, Summerlight . . . And Then Comes the Darkness, is a must see.

Country: Iceland.

Language: Icelandic with English subtitles.

Runtime: 111 minutes.

Director: Elfar Adalsteins.

Producer: Elfar Adalsteins, Lilja Osk Snorradottir, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Heather Millard.

Co-Producer: Elisa Heene, Jonas Kellagher, Fredrik Lange, Xavier Rombaut.

Executive Producer: Sigurjon Sighvatsson.

Writer: Elfar Adalsteins. Adapted from a celebrated novel by Icelandic author Jon Kalman Stefansson.

Cast: Svandis Dora Einarsdottir, Siggi Ingvarsson, Jóhann Sigurðarson, Atli Óskar Fjalarsson,
Þorsteinn Bachmann, Anna Maria Pitt, Vikingur Kristjansson, Sveinn Olafur Gunnarsson, Heida Reed, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir, Marie Dogg Nelson, Kristbjorg Kjeld Vigdis Grimsdottir.