Echo

Rúnar Rúnarsson's 2019 Icelandic film consists of fifty-six independent scenes and follows no character. Each scene shows, in a fixed frame, a moment from Iceland over the Christmas period: a shopping centre choir, a funeral, an abattoir, a family meal, a centre for asylum seekers. There is no narrative link between them. What Rúnarsson builds is a portrait of a society, cross-sections of what a country looks like in one season. The method asks the viewer to make the connections. The static camera and natural light bring each scene close to a photograph. The risk is that some scenes are markedly stronger than others and the whole feels uneven. Who it's for: viewers who like experimental structures and films built as portraits of a society. Who it's not for: anyone wanting character and plot, or who will find unconnected scenes wearing.