The Icelandic writer/director Börkur Sigthorsson is hitting the film festival circuit with his new short thriller "Come to Harm" - and he's off to a good start.
The film opened to great response at the Reykjavik International Film Festival where it took home the award for Best Short Film. It also screened at the Nordisk Panorama and has been selected for a number of other festivals, including Bristol's Brief Encounters.
Bast Magazine was lucky enough to snatch the director away from his fiesta whirlwind for a while to discuss his film, what inspired him to make it, and what he's up to next.
Photo: Saga Sig
The thriller tells the story of Stefan, a successful businessman who struggles to maintain his reason as his life goes down the drain. When sensing an intruder in his home, he attempts to take control by arming himself - and awaits the inevitable confrontation. The film is solidly crafted, intelligently written and directed and it's lead actor, Björn Thors, offers a brilliant and touching portrayal of a man's deep feeling of anxiety as he loses his grip on life. It has the audience gnawing it's underlip and delivers a compelling character-study - making it an altogether gripping cinematic experience.
Where did the story idea come from?Well, a lot of things played part but the true starting point was this incredible incident that happened a few years back when a lawyer in Kensington armed himself with a rifle in his 2 million pound penthouse apartment and started randomly firing out his window. He was taken down by snipers and his actions were never properly explained. It kind of got me thinking about what could have possibly been going on his life, in his mind - and from there I started developing the idea further.
The film is mostly set in an unfinished concrete and glass house, a visual reminder of a financial boom gone bad? Sort of, yes. I've been absorbed by the recession and everything around it, the upswings and their aftereffects. Fundamentally this film is about people who forget what's important in life and everything in the movie, every location and the character's lifestyle, is made to portray how the main character lost his head in that game of constant pursuit and is now waking up too late.
You and Björn Thors go way back, how was it directing a close friend? Piece of cake, he's such a brilliant actor. He's been involved from the beginning, he co-produced it and we developed it together. So he's a big part of this film. We've done a bunch of stuff together, he's even had to suffer for my filmmaking career, in my short film "Support" he received an actual electric shock from a defibrillator … and didn't break character for one second. Method acting at it's best.
So, you're not just relying on his good looks? Not solely, no.
Any future projects up your sleeve? I'm working on a feature script that happens in a similar environment, it's not the same story but it's also a thriller. I'm fascinated by the before & after of the recession, that massive group delusion that grabbed us all. Iceland, especially, is such a great example of how far it all went; our small community suddenly became larger than life and then derailed tragically. The effects are so clear-cut, we can be used as the recession's petri dish. And it's something that Icelandic filmmaking hasn't really addressed yet.
Many stories to be told? Absolutely. Without being too preachy or dive into a deep political analysis. The interesting part is how normal people like you and me got totally blindsided and their priorities distorted: the stuff we wanted, the lifestyles we were trying to build and how normal it seemed at the time but then in retrospect, you go - wait a minute? that's absolutely crazy surreal behavior. It's that snowballing madness that I find extremely compelling.
What filmmakers inspire you, who would you invite over for dinner? David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, The Coen brothers, Michael Mann, Scorsese, Michael Haneke, Terrence Malick, Woody Allen, Mike Leigh, Hitchcock, Kar Wai Wong, … mmm what else ...
That's great actually. Thank you. Very welcome.
Check out the trailer for Come To Harm, and the film's website: http://cometoharm.com/
Words: Sola@bast-magazine