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Noi Albinoi

EMAILPRINTPalm Pictures

Noi Albinoi reviews
68
8.3 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Foreign

Written by: Dagur Kári

Directed by: Dagur Kári

Release Date:
Theatrical: March 17, 2004
DVD: October 12, 2004

Running Time: 93 minutes, Color

Origin: Iceland / Germany / UK / Denmark

Language(s): Icelandic (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Tómas Lemarquis, Throstur Leo Gunnarsson, Elin Hansdóttir, Anna Fridriksdóttir, Pétur Einarsson, Sveinn Geirsson, Gérard Lemarquis, Guðmundur Ólafsson, and Hjalti Rögnvaldsson

An intelligent 17-year-old boy dreams of escaping from his hometown in the remote fjord regions of Northern Iceland.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

Chicago Reader Gerald Peary

Kari combines Kaurismaki's deadpan minimalism and Truffaut's sensitivity toward adolescent yearning with a hefty dose of gallows humor, and tops it all off with an apocalyptic ending.

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80

Film Threat Rich Cline

Performances are spot-on from the entire cast; each memorable character is finely detailed and full of eccentricities that are beautifully underplayed.

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80

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Given the white-on-white color scheme, I didn't expect so many shades of feeling.

80

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

An impeccably made bleak comedy with an exactly calibrated, almost musical sense of timing, Nói is singular enough to have swept the Eddas, the Icelandic Academy Awards.

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78

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Lemarquis, as Noi, has a stoic and silent tenderness to him, and Hansdottir's Iris is the picture of pensive sluggishness. But then all that cold, cold snow slows you down, both inside and out, until the only thing moving is your heart.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

Like a young director with serious aims, there is an earnest tone here that makes Noi Albinoi a success.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Kari's film, witty and sad, is a spare, small thing, but Noi has a poetry about it, and a poignancy.

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75

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The film's comic observations are rich, droll, and more than a little sad: Everyone in this isolated community seems beaten down by life.

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75

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Paced a bit too glacially for my taste, yet it's worth sitting through for its trick ending, a twist of events as ominous as the landscape.

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75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Quirky, heartfelt acting makes this a superior entry in the perennial teenage-misfit genre.

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75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Kari successfully meshes comedy, ennui and tragedy, much in the manner of Jim Jarmusch and Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki.

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70

Variety Deborah Young

An inspired mix of realism, humor and metaphor.

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70

Village Voice Dennis Lim

A lightly comic slacker drama that takes the desperation of teenage tedium seriously.

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70

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

A playfully quirky and, ultimately, unexpectedly affecting portrait of a 17-year-old slacker.

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63

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The laconic Lemarquis does a solid job carrying off Kári's dryly mordant wit, making this eccentric story well worth watching.

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60

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Only in the final minutes, when Kári overreaches for ironic effect, does the film plumb too far into the darkness.

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60

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Nói makes a stab at tragic romance.

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50

The New York Times Dana Stevens

After a while the movie spins its wheels, unable to find much emotional traction in the icy bleakness.

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30

Washington Post Mark Jenkins

Kari may eventually go far, but for now he's one of the less interesting inhabitants of international art cinema's disaffected-youth ghetto.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

M. Daye gave it a10:
At once saddening and amusing, Nói Albinói is a stunning study into life on the outside.

Garrett R. gave it a9:
An exceptionally unque story about adolescence into a maturing adult that is both unexpected and strangely remarkable however dark or bleek. It's a real foreign treat and the best movie to come out of Iceland, well, ever!

Sam gave it a9:
Funny, different, great.

Kass K gave it a 2:
Rather dull and pointless, even for an art film. some funny parts, and its not terribly long, but it leaves you asking why this kid's story deserved being told.

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