About The Guy Not From the South

Post 1177:

I rarely take a trip to a theater, but last week I made the effort. The Northman seemed like it would be interesting from the previews, and I knew it was made by the director of The Witch and The Lighthouse. And thus I went.

He’s a filmmaker with an objective that he believes in. And he likes very simple titles that start with The and then have a noun.

Everything else he does is pretty complex. Not that the story here is complex. But it’s done with care, attention to detail, and certainly a specific vision. This has some weird stuff in it, no doubt. Scenes that will make you uncomfortable, on that borderline where you don’t know whether to laugh or cringe or close your eyes. I’ll say this though—he knows how to make a memory.

Just getting things to stick in your brain isn’t necessarily art. It has to serve the story. He never waivers, in my opinion.

It’s a very spiritual tale. Primal. I think the word is immersive. The direction is great, especially if you like continuous trucking shots. There’s lots of trucking. It’s not easy to do. Lots of work, I bet. (Trucking is moving the camera horizontally but keeping the camera itself fixed in one direction, but you knew that)

My favorite thing about The Northman was the dialogue. For all the visual brilliance, the sparse little conversations and information dumps from weird Nordic mystics are freaking awesome. This isn’t a viking movie where people are going around saying bro and dude and like and for reals.

Intense. Definitely violent and wild. Don’t take the kids. And don’t expect a hand holding sesh. This guy drops his deal and says “there it is.” He gives no quarter and asks none, far as I can tell.

Also, Iceland. Cheers and see you after.