Simply A Masterpiece

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It may seem that this film is about music or about a musical style, but it really speaks about what is that people thinks about us and what they think we should be or they want us to be, about what we want to be and about who we really are. Talk about the most important thing in life, which is one's own identity and our happiness. Very powerful message. It is an excellent film.

I saw bunch of "metal" movies. Usually they are documentary about specific bands or metal culture overall, B-production horrors, comedies or horror-comedies, but this is the very first time I ran into drama. This Icelandic movie brings painful story about girl whose metal-head brother died when she was twelve. Trying to deal with her pain she turns to his music, loses faith in God and finally, under influence of burning churches in Norway in early 90's, she turns to black metal. Story about loss, thoughtlessness, unconformity and rebellion, growing up and finding one true self. Slow, heavy and realistic movie that stands out from the mass of template teenage drama to which we are accustomed. It's not masterpiece, but it is worth your time and I warmly recommend it.8/10

One of the most popular Icelandic director Ragnar Bragason in his last drama film entitled 'Metalhead' (Icelandic: Málmhaus) tells us a moving and poignant story with music in the background. Main character in this film is a young woman named Hera (Þorbjörg Helga Þorgilsdóttir) fascinated by heavy metal music. Her story took place in 1992 in a small cow farm located in beautiful and magic Iceland.The tale, depicted in the film, begin with a very tragic and unpleasant event from Hera's childhood: accident on a field near the farm. As a result of it she lost her beloved brother Baldur (Óskar Logi Ágústsson) who was a huge heavy metal fan. This sad event have left its mark on further Hera's life. After the loss of brother, she escapes from a hard reality to the world of heavy metal. Moreover, Hera states that her mother Droplaug (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) and father Karl (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson) can't understand her 'world': that's why she can't find some common ground with them. She claims that other people, living in her small village, can't understand her as well. That lack of competition causing not only Hera's 'escape' in a world of heavy metal, but also in alcoholism. She brings troubles in every place in which she appears (to the party, to the butchery where she works). It is worth mentioning, that between hours of hard work on the farm and in the butchery, Hera tries also to compose her own works. One day, She goes to a graveyard to visit her brother's grave, and she plays for him her own new metal-song there. In Hera's opinion he 'is' the only one who can wholly understand her world. In the life of the main character is also present friend Knútur (Hannes Óli Ágústsson) who pretends to be metal-fan (because he falls in love with Hera), however he does not really like this kind of music. Some changes in Hera's life brings a new pastor Janus (Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson) who substitutes for the previous parish priest. It turns out that he has other, hidden face: he is a real 'metalhead'. Thanks to his huge music wisdom, Hera feels at least understood. After some troubles, she reconciles with the loss of brother, sees own mistakes and finds the new meaning of life.Ragnar Bragason's film is a well told story of women, who try to find out after the death of brother. In my opinion huge advantages of this work are unique plot, beautiful filming, and very good soundtrack including for example Megadeth's or Judas Priest's songs. I think, some disadvantages of this film are the lack of expressive and memorable creation and a little trivial ending. However, I believe that this film is worth seeing. I truly recommend it to every who is fascinated with metal music or with Icelandic cinematography.

Metalhead (Málmhaus)is hard rocking. Superbly artistic and powerful. A strange but potent blend of Icelandic nature, divine acting and deep message. Melodramatic joy where death and hope are woven into a web under heavy tones of metal. The stage is a farm in Iceland where a teenage girl transforms into a heavy metal performer and songwriter, exercising in the cowshed with the cows as her audience but maybe not the biggest fans. Love and death is not far away and gives the film a classic undertone where basic themes of human nature are explored. The strong theme in the movie is the endless question about faith and religion when you are faced with the sudden death of your family or friends, the question where almighty god is when young people die. The film has many references to classic literature and the history of the movie. A film that you want to see again and again. I would not be surprised that this will develop into a classic cult movie. The director and actors deliver a fantastic tale.