For filmmaker Benedikt Erlingsson, it was just as easy to put an entertaining spin on this radical yarn about a female eco-terrorist as it would have been to follow a more traditional, message-laden path. (The first word spoken here is “Woman,” and it’s the name of a dog.) Whether you’re on the side of science or skepticism, everyone could do with a corking-good thriller now and then. For this, his second feature, Erlingsson poses the musical question, “Can a successful eco-terrorist/choral director looking to adopt a four-year-old who has been orphaned by war also sideline as a yoga instructor?" That’s just one of many moral dilemmas posed in this regularly unpredictable Icelandic thriller. And I say musical because Halla’s (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) crusade to win the war waged against the earth comes complete with a band of on-camera singers and musicians that only she can see. In case you haven’t guessed, this is one of those rare films in which strangeness is a virtue, not a pretense. Anything more would come steeped in spoilers. Consider it a terrific excuse to visit the Ken. (2018) — Scott Marks
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