There’s a sly hand at work in Markus Englmair’s new short. The darkness lurking about a bleak, rain-soaked Icelandic dairy farm involves an obstinate, hard-working, quick-to-accuse father, Alfred (Gudmundur Ólafsson), and his lazy, oafish son, Esra (Hannes Óli Ágústsson). The opening dialogue, via subtitles, reads like the start of a child’s nursery rhyme, although with a sad sack menace in its tone.
“I hate milk. I hate butter.”
No, the next line doesn’t have Fluffernutter. Just more dreary put downs of other utter-originating, bacteria-contaminated products.
Guess who doesn’t want any part of the family business?
Esra’s escapist world view of a seemingly impossible future collides with a spur-of-the-moment reaction, and Esra’s somewhat over-exuberant attempt at cover up, to his dad’s mistaken accusation of his son’s fault over a broken pipe connector.
Basically a two-character skit, the performances of the two leads are nicely drawn. Englmair’s story (written with co-producer and director of photography, Ugla Hauksdóttir) is seriously flippant. Englmair also handled the editing chores.
Finally, a film that the lactose intolerant can embrace!
