Four by Thor
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Rough Beauty: Fridrik Thor Fridriksson So Far A close-up of lichen-encrusted rock gives way to a simple, rugged coast line- automobiles break down constantly, forcing a hapless tourist to brave the brac-ing, eye-catching elements to which he seems oblivious; drunken hymn-singing at a wedding reception is drowned out by rock'n'roll on a nearby record player. These random scenes speak simply and directly to the sly cinematic power of Fridrik Thor Fridriksson. A self-taught filmmaker in a land with no film industry to speak of at the time, Fridriksson made 16mm short films in his youth, programmed the Icelandic University film club from 1974 to 1978, founded Iceland's first film magazine, Kvikmyndabladid (limiting his reviewing to movies he liked), and was instrumental in the founding of the Reykjavik Film Festival in 1978. In the 1980s he began making documentaries that focus on individual eccentricities and the clash of cul-tures and sensibilities, themes that infuse his later dra-matic work. The Blacksmith (I 981) profiles an eccentric inventor in rural Iceland, while Rock in Reykjavik (I 982) features nineteen up-and-coming bands, including the teenage Bjork with her first group. Icelandic Cowboys (1984) follows the land's king of country music as he prepares Iceland's first cowboy festival (he can be seen briefly during Cold Fever).
In 1984, Fridriksson joined with cinematographer Ari Kristinsson in the
Icelandic Film Corporation, which has become a major player in the film
industry his suc-cess helped create. His first dramatic feature, White
Whales (1987), provided a pithy entree to the festival circuit with its
story of two anti-heroes and their inevitable end. It was the sublime
Children of Nature (1991), winner of 23 international prizes and a Best Foreign Film Academy
Award nomination which crystallized his unique vision to world audiences.
The beauty of Fridriksson's films comes not only from the rugged landscape,
but the durability of his characters, individuals who, through planning or
an inarticulated drive, travel towards-and ultimately reach-an often
barely-understood destination. The joy of these films is in the journey.
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