In the too small society of Reykjavík, Iceland, we follow Hlynur, a young man for whom life has no purpose. At the age of 30 he still lives with his mother and has not worked for a day. During the weeks he does not get out of his computer-filled room, the weekends break the week and Hlynur goes to a local, overcrowded pub in which everybody drinks way too much and has had one-night-stands with everybody. The only reason people live in Iceland is that they we born were there Hlynur says and even though he does not care much, he does not really know what he wants with living. When a new element in the form of the Spanish Flamenco teacher Lola enters the community, things are going in a different direction, but not entirely unexpected, or…?
“101 Reykjavík” is a typical Icelandic (Scandinavian) comedy. Black humour, all-too-common situations (but the bath/couch is something I had never seen), the claustrophobia of a small community, the uninhabitable surroundings and the indifferent way people react to the scenery. The film is amusing, but not really surprising.
