Friday Five: Nordic Film Festival 2026

Home -  With shades of Back to Life meets Fleabag, a woman returns from the big city to her small hometown to confirm plus ça change, plus la mème chose, or whatever that is in Norwegian. It’s quite charming, albeit predictable - when you leave a place, the troubles go with you until you face them - and refreshingly un-Hollywood.
Árru - Árru means obstacle/barrier in the Sami language of this film. It relates to the reindeer fence, the conflict with the mining company who want the land on which the herd graze, the issues of maintaining cultural practices in an increasingly commercial environment, and the particular family dynamics that cause personal and community trauma. The cinematography is exquisite and it is one of the few films I’ve ever seen where spontaneously bursting into song feels justified.

The Fires - One would expect an Icelandic thriller to be filmed in Icealand, so we went hoping for dramatic scenery. It is dramatic as a volcanologist deals with an eruption, an affair (Danish photographers are sexy, apparently), and the largely patriarchal refusal to heed her geological warnings. However, despite some impressive volcanic lava flows, there's a lot of floudering about in ash which could really be anywhere. I didn't really care for the main character who seemed excessively sullen, although maybe all that professional rejection will do that to you.

The Kidnapping of a President - Tonally odd, it feels like a comedy of errors with bungling apprentice criminals and an alcoholic would-be revolutionary, but then a cow gets shot and everything changes.