Charming documentary shot on Super8 and 16mm, replete with hand-made animations about a cult figure in Icelandic music who, starting when she turned 70, experienced a seven-year creative explosion which resulted in her releasing over 600 songs full of unique ambient sounds.
Charming documentary, mostly shot on nostalgic Super-8, about the grand old lady of Icelandic music, Sigrídur Níelsdóttir. She released her first album in 2001 at the age of 71 and became a cult phenomenon. She had made music all her life but never recorded any of it. When she finally started doing so on a cassette recorder in her kitchen, playing keyboard and any household appliances that made weird sounds, she couldn't stop. Since then, she has recorded over 600 homemade songs and made 59 (!) albums.
Níelsdóttir was quickly noticed in the independent music scene in Iceland, with artists like Björk and members of Sigur Rós and Múm praising her music in interviews. In 2003, Slowblow used two of her tracks on their soundtrack for the film Nói Albínói, which screened in the Tiger Competition.
The Danish/Icelandic lo-fi grandmother's life story, which is just as rich in peculiarities and unforeseen coincidences as her music, is unveiled in animations, old photographs and her own words.
Regardless of the inherit risk that this film would work out as a big joke at the expense of grandma, the net effect is a wonderful and respectful portrait of an elderly lady who seemed to have had some impact on the music scene in Iceland. Everything home made with low-tech tools, and still producing 59 albums that were actually distributed and sold far far beyond the circles of family and friends.
The trailer of this film inspired me to book tickets, especially due to a few music fragments it contained, which sounded appealing to me for some inexplicable reason. Maybe I experienced her "secret" in these fragments?? The animation in this film was inspired by the collages, literally coming out of the hands of this same grandma, some of them used a CD covers, some of them just as wall decorations.
The Q&A after the sceening revealed that the film makers spent as much as 8 years together with grandma, hence developed a gut feeling for what to include and what not.
On top of it all: the film contains many humurous fragments and scenes. I only mention the "Catering: Yes, please" in the final credits. But there is so much more. What else could I do than giving the maximum score for the audience award when leaving the theater??
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Webreview from JvH48 on 31 January 14:02
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Mark as improper
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