Director Grímur Hákonarson turns a fable of two ageing brothers who won’t communicate until their sheep flocks are threatened by disease into a distinctly-unwoolly dramaGummi and Kiddi live next door to each other in a secluded Icelandic valley. Both are sheep farmers,but neither has spoken to the other for four decades, despite their being brothers. Then comes a suspected outbreak of scrapie, or a fatal degenerative disease that affects the nervous system of sheep and goats. Cinemagoers: buckle up,because what follows is a white-knuckle ride.
Or maybe not. In fact, writer-director Grímur Hákonarson doesn’t even milk the alert laughs you might expect of this potentially darkly comic scenario: the humour that remains feels bone-dry. But Rams is as curiously captivating as the bleak landscape in which the two protagonists site themselves. They choose to communicate through letter writing, or with notes shuttled to the other via Kiddi’s sheepdog – apart from on one occasion when a shotgun is deemed a more appropriate method. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com