Beautiful Beings
Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s second feature confirms his acute insight in portraying the lives of young male teenagers.
In 2016 the Icelandic filmmaker Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson gave us Heartstone, a first feature that impressed for several reasons. First and foremost, it proved that, although Gudmundsson was born as long ago as 1982, he had a remarkable ability as a writer to enter into the world of contemporary youngsters with acute insight. It also revealed that he was capable of obtaining first-rate performances from young players and furthermore Heartstone, which was photographed by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, made splendid use of the rural area in which it was set. With his second future, Beautiful Beings, Gudmundsson switches to an urban location, but in other respects this new film echoes the qualities of its predecessor even to the extent of using the same photographer.
Anyone who saw Heartstone will know that Gudmundsson has empathy with teenagers while being fully aware of how present-day society offers all too many opportunities to allow human nature to indulge its worst instincts. Beautiful Beings does start with a boy named Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason) describing a dream that he has had. But it then switches to the other leading figure, 14-year-old Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason) and we first see him being bullied in school after which he is viciously attacked in the street. This latter incident is violent enough for it to become a news story and it leads to Addi approaching Balli and discovering that he feels suicidal. Addi hangs out with Konni (Viktor Benóný Benediktsson), a youth prone to violent outbursts and tough enough to be known as ‘The Animal’, and also with a sidekick named Siggi (Snorri Rafn Frímannsson) and he invites Balli to join the gang.
It soon becomes clear that all of these boys come from troubled homes. Addi himself lives with his mother (Anita Briem). She is a clairvoyant but, despite prophetic dreams that the boy has, he is dubious about her psychic claims. As for his divorced father (Davíd Gudbrandsson), he merely looks in from time to time claiming unconvincingly that he no longer drinks. It is worse for Balli who lost his father when he drowned after taking LSD and whose mother (Ísgerdur Elfa Gunnarsdóttir) is on drugs too. Worst of all in this household, Balli’s stepfather Svenni (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) returns from a spell in jail and sexually abuses Balli’s sister (Kristen Ísold Jóhannesdóttir). Siggi has a stepfather too and has a difficult relationship with him while even the tough guy Konni goes in fear of his father. The lack of good parenting is patently a major factor in the lives of all the young males who take centre stage in Beautiful Beings.
Gudmundsson’s approach is one that never flinches in depicting the behaviour of these boys (it would seem that the British censor was troubled by some moments in the film as submitted and has made minor cuts). But, in showing the way in which they live, he never loses sympathy for them: the film doesn’t in any way condone their behaviour but Gudmundsson understands how things are. Speaking true is of the essence here and the film shows us with complete conviction how these youths are continually seeking to prove themselves. They are eager to be seen as manly and in their eyes adulthood involves toughness of behaviour, playing up other kids, drug-taking and being sexually knowing (be that a matter of talk or of actual experience). It is as a social portrait with these boys at its centre that Beautiful Beings most impresses. As a story, it takes its time to develop but does build up to show what happens when, following less serious conflicts, the boys plan to confront the abusive Svenni and find themselves in a situation that gets out of control. For both Addi and Balli there are signs that this is an experience that amounts to a step in growing up whereas the outlook of Konni and Siggi remains unchanged. This is persuasive enough, but the strength of this film is not in the plotting of its narrative but in its ability to depict so acutely what it means to be a young male teenager in today's world.
Original title: Berdreymi.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Birgir Dagur Bjarkason,Áskell Einar Pálmason,Viktor Benóný Benediktsson, Snorri Rafn Frímannsson, Anita Briem, Ísgerdur Elfa Gunnarsdóttir, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Kristin Ísold Jóhannesdóttir, Blær Hinriksson, Theodór Pálsson, Kamilla Gudrún Lowen, Davíd Gudbrandsson, Stéfan Franz Gudnason.
Dir Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson, Pro Anton Máni Svansson, Screenplay Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson, Ph Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, Pro Des Hulda Helgadóttir, Ed Andri Steinn Gudjónsson and Anders Skov, Music Kristian Eidnes Andersen, Costumes Helga Rós Hannam.
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122 mins. Iceland/Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands/Czech Republic. 2022. UK Rel: 30 January 2023. Available on digital platforms. Cert. 18.
