Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) follows two musicians from a small town in Iceland. Lars and Sigrit have dreamed of the contest since childhood, and through a chain of accidents they end up genuinely representing Iceland. The film does not mock the contest. Will Ferrell's comedy usually depends on making his character ridiculous; here what is ridiculous is not the passion but the people who sneer at it. The contest's excess, its costumes and its seriousness are treated with respect. Ferrell developed the idea because he is an actual Eurovision fan; his wife is Swedish and they had watched it together for years. Rachel McAdams, Dan Stevens and Pierce Brosnan are in the cast, and real contest performers appear together in one musical sequence. Sigrit's singing voice is not McAdams's. The Swedish singer Molly Sandén provided it, and the blend of the two produces the film's strongest musical moment. Its song Husavik was nominated for the Academy Award for Original Song, and the Icelandic town of that name campaigned for it. It was made for Netflix and released in 2020, the year the contest itself was cancelled because of the pandemic. It runs 121 minutes. Good for: Eurovision, musical comedy, and Icelandic landscape. Less good for: 121 minutes is long for a comedy and the middle sags. Ferrell's character is frequently irritating. Its depiction of both Iceland and Russia runs on stereotype.