“Under The Tree” Serves Up a Great Dark Comedy, Icelandic Style (Extra Dark, That Is)
We got a sense from the Icelandic History episode of The Dollop that folks from Iceland have a deliciously bleak sense of humor akin to The Coen Brothers.
Iceland’s latest comedy export, the film Under The Tree, relishes in this sort of dark comedy that’s so dark and dry, it’s hilarious how dark, dry, and schadenfreude-laden it is. A very muted color palate only amplifies the effect.
A neighborly dispute over trimming a tree goes horribly, horribly (and we really want to stress the word “horribly” here) awry. Yet, the leads are all kind of despicable in their own way making it fun, albeit in a somewhat sinister way, to watch them destroy each other (in the same fashion you root for no one to win in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).
Under The Tree, directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson and co-written by Hafsteinn and Huldar Breiðfjörð, opens in limited release this Friday, July 6th and, as such, will be playing in LA. Get your tickets here.