Nói Albinói 2003

Striding through the snow the eponymous teenage troublemaker of Dagur Kári’s enigmatic début cuts a striking figure and provides a stunning introduction for newcomer Tómas Lemarquis. Nói, lanky, pallid and bald rather than truly albino, lives in a frigid and remote fjord in Northern Iceland with his grandmother. His father is a downtrodden alcoholic; his mother is simply absent. Feeling like the only intelligent life in town, he sends a tape recorder to take his place in class, and spends his days reading in his basement lair. A new city girl working at the gas station diner arouses his interest and images of the winterless South Pacific stoke his utopian vision, but such freedom could come at a cost… 

“Icelandic cinema digs out a major new talent with Nói Albinói, the feature début of award-winning short filmmaker Dagur Kári. [This] portrait of a gifted teen rebelling against life’s limits in a frozen coastal village communicates directly through an inspired mix of realism, humor and metaphor.” — Deborah Young, Variety