Reviews

"The Sound of Music" meets "Shallow Grave" would be the Hollywood pitch for this film. A Japanese family opens a guesthouse on a remote mountain and when the guests arrive they have an unfortunate habit of dying. As corpses are bad for business the family has to hide the bodies, while singing. Overwrought rock opera/karaoke parodies are mixed with flying conmen pretending to be Queen Elizabeth's nephew, random shifts from live action to claymation and a happy moral about families staying together and about the death of old people being good (or something). Genuinely funny lines mixed up in the general bizarreness make the whole thing hard not to like.

Pretty well guaranteed to be the only Inuit film you will ever see. This is the story of two brothers and the trouble caused to them by a neighbouring family/tribe and some kind of evil spirit. The mystical elements are fairly low key and the story revolves around the always popular themes of jealousy, betrayal, rivalry and love.

If the plot is nothing new, the people it portrays are. As the story progresses almost documentary like details of hunting, igloo-building, celebrations and other aspects of life in the frozen north of Canada are provided. Much of the movies' strength comes the sheer originality of the culture. When is the last time you saw an Inuit man running naked across the ice being pursued by murderers in seal skins?

The cinematography is particularly striking, with the powerful light of the Arctic giving the film its own character. Vast landscapes of snow and ice are contrasted with the confines of the igloo and tent. Very impressive for a first time director.

The film would probably have been improved by some judicious editing. As you enter the third hour your desire to see another set of feet trudging through the snow is a little limited.

Well crafted, full of fascinating details and certainly one of a kind.