“101 Reykjavik” is a useless but fun movie that purports to be about a man whose mother begins a lesbian love affair with one of the man’s former partners, but is really about life in a dull, sleepy town.
The implication, witting or not, is that if people get bored enough, really strange things can happen.
Hlynur (Hilmir Snaer Gunason) is a sexually charged, slightly Oedpial man who stumbles his way into a relationship with Lola (Victoria Abril), a Spanish friend of his mother’s (Hanna Maria Karlsdottir), while Mom is away for a few days. Mom comes back and soon she and Lola have taken up together, much to the confusion and consternation of Hlynur.
The Kinks’ “Lola” plays often, as do various remakes of it, to great effect. The tone of the film is wry and bemused, whimsical, even. Life in Iceland never looked so bland and swingin’ at the same time.
B (1 hr., 32 min.; Icelandic with subtitles; )
