Well Deserved Praise

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

(Flash Review)Can slaughtering herds of sheep mend a brother's relationship? This film asks that question. Another film that hooked me in with a novel title and a bold image of nothing less than a Ram's head on the cover. (ha) This story revolves around two brothers who haven't spoken for 40 years. They live in an isolated Icelandic valley amongst other sheep herders. Both brothers produce award winning rams as the bloodline of their flocks is ancient and strong. When a terminal disease infects the animals, the village votes to slaughter them all. During this turmoil, events occur and make the brothers interact…for better or worse? This film also has a methodical pace that helps accentuate the vast and emptiness of their land and lives. A good and quiet little drama with dashes of dry humor sprinkled in.

Rams is an Icelandic film and is Directed by Grímur Hákonarson and is about two brothers that are both sheep farmers and oddly haven't spoken to each other in over 40 years and to both their surprise their sheep have been infected by scrapie.this film is a very original film and it makes a film about sheep farmers seem very interesting and entertaining. this film has a very bleak feel to it and it is mainly shown in the AMAZING soundtrack by Atli Örvarsson. the acting in this film is top notch and you totally believe these are actual farmers that have been working with sheep there entire lives.overall this film is a very amazing film and it should have more recognition then it gets.

I had no idea what this film would actually be about. I imagined that it would be some sort of comedy (how wrong I was). I was not prepared for what I got. The narrative revolves around sheep and the consequences of an infection that is going around that could kill them. The film goes beyond that to really share the emotional bond of two brothers, one that they thought was broken for the longest but that may actually still reside underneath. The performances are exquisite, and everyone involved with this needs to be commended for sticking with a film with such an odd plot line and allowing it to fully blossom. Not sure if I would recommend this to just anyone, but sticking with it will be something that some viewers will absolutely be grateful for.

This is one of those films that makes anyone trying to explain it sound like a pretentious film geek. It's a film out of Iceland believe it or not, that centers around a feud between two brothers that has gone on for more than 40 years. Despite living right next to each other, they never speak. Sending dogs or other people to do it for them if it's a necessity. After one brother, Gummi, loses a ram contest to his brother he gets pretty upset. And naturally, he wants to check the prize winning ram himself. Upon inspection he finds that there is a possibility that it has a disease called Scrapie. Which is a contagious, fatal disease for sheep. From here, each sheep farmer is forced to put down his/her entire livestock to try and eradicate the disease. If this sounds like a documentary to you, don't worry, there is more to this then meets the eye. The first half of the film is driven by it's story while the second by it's characters.Unfortunately for the film, the first half has the only great parts of the movie. It's driven by how this fatal disease is affecting the few people that live there. Showing that killing all the sheep and having to clean every inch of their farms is forced people into bankruptcy. Some are refusing to cooperate, knowing that this could very likely happen to them. While others do as their told and hope for the best.It was incredibly interesting to watch something so simple destroy these peoples lives. While sheep farming may not be something that many of us can relate too, it's the human drama that helps transcend this film into watchable cinema. People being pushed to the edge puts everyone out of their comfort zones and seeing how they react was the most compelling part of the film.But near the half way point, this story is all but forgotten about. After that point the film shifts its focus on the brothers relationship. Both are very stubborn but each have very distinct personalities that the film attempts to profit from. The downside is, the story around the characters for the last forty five minutes is really not that interesting.I have seen the whole family falling out story before and 'Rams' doesn't do anything different with it. They hate each other then a sudden and drastic change rocks their world and forces them together again. It's something that I have seen a million times. This left the remainder of the film with a rather stale, predictable vibe to it.Watching one guy stare with anger at another before going to do nothing is not my idea of an interesting story. It's honestly to bad that this happens because it is actually very beautiful to look at. The cinematography and direction is very impressive. And the films soundtrack is actually really great. But when half of your film is not that great it's hard to see past that. It has good characters, excellent direction, great performances, and an interesting opening half. Yet, when it comes down to its conclusion, the film falls flat. There isn't a whole lot that will keep your interest long enough to distract you from its poor pacing and bland, predictable story.