David Rooney hjá The Hollywood Reporter skrifar frá Feneyjahátíðinni um Hjartastein Guðmundar Arnars Guðmundssonar. Rooney segir myndina of langa en hrífandi, en þrátt fyrir gallana sé þetta vel leikin og afar sjónræn frumraun sem lofi góðu.
Ronney segir m.a. í umsögn sinni:
The craggy coast of volcanic Iceland is no place to navigate early adolescence in Heartstone, an absorbing if far too unhurried drama from first-time writer-director Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson. Sensitive performances from the young cast ensure that the story ultimately acquires poignancy, and the arresting physical setting helps disguise the familiarity of some of its coming-of-age signposts. But at two hours plus, the film spends too much time idling; it could use a more ruthless edit to illuminate the confused feelings of its dueling leads.
Og ennfremur:
Gudmundsson’s character definition could be stronger, but he conveys a sharp sense of the ways in which the harshness of the landscape is echoed in the behavior of its flinty inhabitants, even toward the people they love. There are insightful observations of the irrationality and selfishness of early adolescence and the consuming nature of desire at that age.
In one of the more memorable scenes, Kristjan’s unpredictable father takes the two boys to gather gull eggs on a cliff face, and a near-tragedy makes it impossible for Thor to stay in denial about his friend’s feelings. The story gains much-needed weight thereafter, and the concluding scene between the protagonists is moving while remaining admirably understated. But there’s a nagging lack of economy to the storytelling throughout, as well as a mild sense of imbalance — while Kristjan negotiates by far the trickier and more painful emotional journey of the two, the writer-director’s focus favors Thor by a wide margin.
Still, despite its flaws, this is a well-acted, visually atmospheric debut that shows promise, casting a soulful gaze on awkward-age upheavals, gay and straight.
Sjá nánar hér: ‘Heartstone’: Venice Review | Hollywood Reporter
