Children of Nature
Born Natturunnar

Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Iceland, 1991, 85 mins.

Producer: Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Screenwriters: Fridrik Thor Fridrikkson, Einar Gudmundsson
Director of Photography: Ari Kristinsson
Art director: Kjartan Kjartansson
Original music: Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson
Principal cast: Gisli Haildorsson, Sigridur Hagalin, Baldvin Haildorsson, Bjorn Karisson, Bruno Ganz.

In Fridriksson's fragile, luminous drama-tinged with a benevolent surrealism - senior citizens Thorgeir and Stella learn to embrace their fates through an impulsive and unauthorized car trip from their Reykjavik retirement home to the wilds of the rugged northern coast. Fridriksson has called the film a classic road movie with maturity instead of youth. The somber yet entrancing tone of the film is enhanced greatly by the precise acting of the two leads, the magical approach to the material - watch for Bruno Ganz in a reprise of his role in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire - and the magnificent, ethereal score by Orn Hilmarsson, which complements perfectly the brooding beauty of this enchanting work.- Eddie Cockrell