Shown as part of BBC4's Icelandic season a couple of months ago, I first learnt of this film in the same channel's documentary 'Nordic Noir' which looked at Scandinavian fiction. Jar City, adapted from a novel, is a none-more-noir tale of murder and genetics. Detective Erlendur (Ingvar E. Sigurðsson) is a world-weary cop tasked with investigating the death of a man who may be linked to a rape many years earlier.
There are shades of Wallander in Jar City, but this film is much, much more bleak. Beautiful Icelandic vistas are breathtaking, as they always are, yet this film looks more at the cityscapes and has a grey, grimy look that is reflective of the dark motives of the characters. None of the characters are particularly likable, nor are they unlikable. Erlendur is calm and methodical - he has to be to deal with his tearaway junkie daughter and the disturbing avenues that his investigation leads him down. The film doesn't shy away from the reality of crime, with grisly images of murder, an exhumed body and the revolting shot of Erlendur eating a sheep's head, eyeball first, that he picked up at a drive through. Not an easy watch, but a gripping one all the same. It is not until some way through the film that I realised some parts were being told in flashback, showing the killer's attempts to find the truth that lead to his fatal deed. It's an effective device, even if it's already obvious why he did what he did before revelations are made.
briefly...
An uber-noir police procedural with real depth and commentary on the state of contemporary Icelandic life. Atmospheric and unflinching, Jar City is not a pleasurable, easy watch, but it is gripping.
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