Black's Game

source: Black's Game

So this is based on real life persons and incidents. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Certain things here may still seem like cliches, but that is just because we have become familiar with them and has not that much to do with the movie itself. Dive into a life full of insanity and illegal happenings. You don't have to sympathize for most of the characters, but maybe you will get curious enough to want to know where their journey goes. Very well made and full of tension.

Black's Game is worth watching because there are a couple of twists without which it would be just another crime thriller. Apart from a few landmarks you won't see much of Iceland in the movie. This makes the setting more universal. And since there's a high probability you'll watch it dubbed in another language it might appear to be happening in any Scandinavian country. The classic story of a main protagonist meeting an old friend who leads him to life of crime is more plausible if you remember that they're both in a small community on a remote island with limited competition. Therefore the ascent to the top is swift but it would be a surprise if the authorities won't react accordingly fast...

Taking a look at a fellow IMDbers reviews,I was thrilled to stumble upon a Nordic Noir film that I have never heard of before,with one of the executive producers being auteur film maker Nicolas Winding Refn.With having been in the mood to watch a new movie from the Nordic Noir genre,I felt that it was the perfect time to join in the game. View on the film: Filmed after all the major banks in the country had gone bust,writer/director Óskar Thór Axelsson & cinematographer Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson open ever wound of Iceland to splatter a brittle Nordic Noir atmosphere across the screen,by making every building in the title look covered in charcoal,and the deep snow opening up the cold hearted brutality of the underworld characters.Digging into the minds of Stebbi & Tóti, Axelsson superbly dazzles ultra-stylised, over-lapping images across the screen,which pull the viewer into Stebbi and Tóti peak moments of heightened hedonism. Shooting Stefán Máni's true crime book on to the screen,the screenplay by Axelsson leaves any hint of a "journey/learning the error of their ways" at the blood-soaked door,thanks to Axelsson making the Nordic underworld run on Film Noir loners whose sole reasons for living are cold,hard drugs,cash & blood.Running at a trim 104 minutes, Axelsson slowly sinks Stebbi deeper and deeper into Tóti's merciless black tar,as Steebi's "favour" is revealed to be small fry,as he joins Toti in smashing up the old board of a ruthless game.