Framed against the unyielding, jaw-dropping vistas of the Icelandic countryside, the (unexplained) conflict between the central two farmers feels equally mythic and etched in fiery stone, with all communication done by note, or the occasional drunken gunshot. It's sometimes difficult to tell what's meant to be funny or sombre in their antics in coping with their isolation and the pending slaughter of their sheep, but Hákonarson embraces the intersection, allowing their impassive, tentative emotional ambiguity and unapologetic wackiness to tease out the tension between amusingly petulant actions and the hard life that's spawned them.
This is a film about man's relationship with animals, his habitat and inner self. More than losing the conditions of life and work, losing the sheep means losing your identity, your way of life, losing the essence of what makes you be what you are.
It is a small film without big pretensions, but succeeds in capturing the spirit of a deeply rooted culture now threatened with extinction and two brothers who may be separated by their intransigence but whose longing for connection is as strong as ever. With the help of a haunting score by Atli Ovarsson ("Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters") and the striking photography of Sturla Brandth Grovlen ("Victoria"), Rams paints a picture of remoteness and solitude, but it is one with warmth at its center.
Review from a variety of appreciations on IMDB.com
See the trailer at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d--beDPTww
Colour Running time: 93 mins