The Sea (2002, dir. Baltasar Kormákur)

The Sea (2002, dir. Baltasar Kormákur)

What Is It?: It's a superb, standard-issue family melodrama of the sort that's told over the course of a single weekend where everything blows up.

What About It?: Set in Iceland, at a remote fishing village controlled by a benevolent patriarch, he calls his children home for reasons unknown. The film subverts expectations of the characters and their situations and makes the audience care about the narrative even as we're driven away by most of the repellent protagonists. In the prologue, we're given some sort of idea of where the film is going, but it gets there in its own sweet time, engaging and entertaining.

Why Should I See It?: Primarily if you're fond of family dramas, this is a high watermark for that genre. Kormákur, who made the acclaimed 101 Reykjavík two years previous to this, has a deft, blackly humorous touch with bleak subject matter, and it does get pretty bleak. Strong performances and impressive direction make this easily recommendable.

What Else Is It Like?: Mifune, Home for the Holidays, The Celebration.

When Is It Playing Until ON DEMAND?: 2/20/07

Watch It ON DEMAND On Comcast Cable.

-- ddt/pdx

What's New This Week (That's Worth Watching to One Degree or Another)?: 3:10 to Yuma, Alice, "Amazing Stories", Legend of Custer, Night and the City, Nói Albínói, Notorious, Tom Dowd & The Language of Music, Young Bess, Zardoz.