The Movie
A lonely ousider feels constricted in his small town, and looks to escape his fate. Not the most original of plots, is it? Now, make the outsider an albino and put the small town in Iceland, and you have something interesting. Put that story into the hands of an artist, and you have Noi (or Noi Albinoi.)

Noi, a teen albino trapped on him hometown fjord, may be a genius, and he may be a mental patient. One thing is certain: he is bored. As such, he drinks, he steals and he causes trouble. He also meets a girl from outside of town, who stirs a desire in him to leave, which sets him up to be an Icelandic Don Quixote. His shotgun-toting grandmother and his alcoholic, absentee father (who happens to love singing Elvis karaoke) are the opposite poles in his life, supporting him and frustrated with him.

Ultimately, the movie is about the place as much as it's about Noi, with the young rebel acting as something of a symptom of what the oppresive small-town lifestyle does to people. When everything is the same, life becomes stale, and that's when trouble starts. A person can either settle in or lash out. Noi, due in part to his supposed intelligence, chooses to make things happen to put a spark into life.

Dagur Kari, the movie's director, does a great job of creating a depressing atmosphere that helps break through any cultural barriers while there's enough humor and quirks to keep it from becoming a slit-your-wrists experience. The sylish way he approached the look and sound helps make suffering along with Noi an experience worth stick with. The ending is somewhat ambiguous, so there's no payout for getting to the end, but, as they say, getting there is half the fun. This trip is more like 3/4ths.

The DVD
Palm Pictures has earned a Highly Recommended rating or higher for 11 of the 19 DVDs they've submitted for review at DVDTalk.com. That's bound to raise expectations for their future releases.

Noi, a one-disc release, is a bit too small a film to try and reach those lofty heights, but Palm gave it a respectable release, either way. The widescreen presentation is supplemented by two soundtracks, 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround, and English subtitles that can be turned on or off on the set-up menu. The main menu is animated, with footage from the film, but the rest are static. The case is a clear keepcase with a two-sided cover. On the inside are credits and, in a nice touch, useful Icelandic phrases.

The Quality
Noi is a very precise film, with all of the elements controlled by the director to achieve a certain look and feel. The very cold palette, combined with stark set design, help the mood of the movie, and this DVD brings these qualities home the same way they were in theaters. Ocassionally the film looks a bit washed out or soft, but again, these were creative decisions.

There are two soundtracks available, but the film was made to be heard in 2.0 Stereo. Attempting to keep all the sound coming out of the screen, the movie was done mostly in mono, ad then later slightly spread out in Stereo. The dialogue can be a bit low, but the music and effects are clearly heard. The second track is in 5.1 Surround, and while it has better sound effects (especially during the ice shooting), this was not the original track as intended, a questionable choice for a company that's been a director's friend.

The Extras
The bonus features are low in quantity, but high in quality, especially the behind-the-scenes featurette "The Making of Noi". Running just shy of 20 minutes, this mini-documentary includes plenty of on-location clips and a lengthy interview with Kari. In it, he discusses his ideas and concepts in making the movie, Noi's inspiration, his filming technique and plenty of other informative nuggets. He's something like an Icelandic Kevin Smith in a way, looking very comfortable in front of the camera.

The deleted scenes, or "three scenes which didn't make the cut", are introduced by Kari, giving him the chance to explain that the scenes were not bad, but simply needed to be cut to make the story work. After watching them, I'd say I agree, as his reasoning in excising them was absolutely correct. The film's U.S. Theatrical Trailer, which does a great job of selling the movie, is included in letterboxed widescreen, along with three other Palm Pictures trailers. Links to three relevant websites put a cap on the bonuses.

The Bottom Line
Noi is the kind of movie that divides audiences. There's not a lot going on here, but that's the point, as Noi is trapped in a town that's not big enough for him, with nothing going on. It's a movie more about mood than plot, and that makes some people crazy. If you're one of those people who get antsy when subtitles are on the screen, you may want to move on. But the rest of you will find enough in this quirky buffet to enjoy. Considering how many Icelandic films make it across the pond (none?) this is an interesting film artifact that's worth checking out.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.