An Exercise In Nonsense

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

"Tis better to be that which we destroy," said MacBeth "than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy." This advice goes unheeded by a cluster of people on the outskirts of Reykjavik. Trivial matters take on increased significance and are taken to extremes. Such things as a missing cat, haughty new girlfriend and solitary tree, fuel doubt, suspicion, revenge and anger. Nothing is too trivial to spar over. At the foundation of it all is grief, depression, indifference and loneliness, but people let their emotions spiral out of control anyway. Has everyone lost their minds?! Perhaps they have.This darkly humorous cautionary tale about the hazards of runaway passions, is as frightening as it is funny. This is because the truths of the film cut to the bone about human character. The scenes, conversations and characters are straightforward and unassuming. The music is well chosen, actors are believable, and many scenes are refreshingly atypical of Hollywood fare, such as a beautiful view of downtown Reykjavik. Seen at the Miami Film Festival.

A dark comedy indeed, Under the Tree guarantees an interesting experience at the theatre. The film finds its tone from the jump, jet-black humor feeding off depressed circumstances, and remains pleasantly consistent throughout-though this stylistic choice will make or break the experience for you. While there's no shortage of wit amongst these characters, nearly all of the humor revolves around one person being particularly nasty to another. Even on a 90 minute run time, I found this harsh demeanor to be kind of a drag (maybe dark comedies aren't my thing, maybe I missed the point; take your pick). Following the dissolution of several marriages-one for newfound life, one fighting for custody, and one for a reprieve from grief-it's hard to believe Under the Tree wouldn't wrangle a genuine emotional reaction out most audience members by the time credits roll. Perhaps more valuable as a meditation on severe familial dysfunction than as a straight comedy, the film will likely scratch an itch for Icelandic brevity you didn't think you had.

The story reminds me old Icelandic sagas, the conflict between neighbors and the sad end but i don't find anything depressing in this movie, just shows how fool and stubborn some people are.

In the description of "Under the Tree" in the film festival guide, it was a bit difficult to see whether or not the movie was a comedy. And, in watching it, this difficulty was NOT alleviated. Some folks saw the film as an ultra-dark comedy (perhaps like "War of the Roses") others saw it as a drama or cautionary tale. As for me, I just felt it was too dark to be laughed at and overall I found that it was well made but miserable to watch.The film is about a husband-wife who split up as well as the parents of this husband and their arguments with their neighbors about unimportant things. In both cases, the people become so embroiled in winning that they lose sight of what is right and what is reasonable and it all occurs in stages.At times, the film just went too far with these arguments. For example, one neighbor couldn't find their cat so they assumed the neighbor killed it. So, they had the neighbor's dog euthanized, stuffed and left it on their doorstep. Some might laugh at this...I was just horrified. The acting was good and the film watchable but incredibly nasty and unpleasant.By the way, something extraordinary happened during this viewing at the Philadelphia Film Festival. One man in the audience was laughing uproariously throughout the film. His response was extreme and unusual to say the least. Well, it apparently really offended another guy in the theater and through the course of the film they began screaming at each other. At the finale, it got uglier and I rushed to get Film Society staff because it looked as if they'd come to blows!! So, obviously one guy thought this was a great dark comedy and one thought it was a drama and it was offensive for anyone to laugh at the hellish story. Amazing that neither apparently saw that they were acting out the picture!!