For a film about a pop group Heima is quite an excellent movie. The locations are beautiful and the guys in the band grow on you as their personalities are slowly revealed. The scenes where the drummer was selecting rocks and then makes an instrument from them is very evocative of how the music is built up and reflects the professionalism of the band.

I also liked the scene with the 100 year old rhubarb patch! If you are considering going to Iceland I would recommend watching this movie as an introduction to the country, it’s people and the music that is inspired by it’s phenomenal strangeness.

i saw this at a special screening in ottawa with a q&a with hometown director dean deblois.

i have been lucky enough to experience sigur rós live and travel to iceland, and was absolutely blown away by both. this documentary doesn’t quite do justice to its mission to capture the gorgeous grandiosity of the nation or the music.

this film is enjoyable, and some of the tour locations and still shots are captivating. the music of course, is fantastic. but overall i found it a bit lacking, disjointed and amateurish. the director mentioned the project went through several rough patches, and he only came in at the end when the performances were already shot.

nothing short of a massive national geographic crew and imax film would make me rate this ambitious project more than wishy washy. go experience sigur rós and iceland for yourself.