Falcons (Iceland, 2002, Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, director): Mawkish and heavy-handed, this film was (almost) saved by two things: the cinematography capturing the incredible beauty of Iceland, and the luminous Margrít Vilhjélmsdóttir. Keith Carradine plays an ex-con who travels to Iceland “to forget.” Instead he meets a woman who might be his daughter. I saw Fridriksson’s excellent Angels of the Universe two years ago, which was adapted from a book. This time, for his first English-language film, he chose to write the screenplay himself. I wanted to like this more, but the story was just too trite. 6.5/10
Spun (USA, 2002, Jonas Akerlund, director): Boasting a raft of young talent (Jason Schwartzman, Patrick Fugit, Mena Suvari, Brittany Murphy), this is a frantic tale about a group of methamphetamine addicts. Raunchy, disturbing, and often very very funny. The pace does tend to wear out the viewer, though. Since we saw the “unrated” cut, expect the final “R” version to be more manageable in length. Brittany Murphy and John Leguizamo do amazing work here. 8/10