Noi the Albino (Nói albínói) (2003)

87% of critics liked it
(53 reviews)
84% of users liked it
(6,111 ratings)

Noi Albinoi is the feature-length debut from Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kari. Set in an isolated fjord during the dead of winter, teenager Noi (Tomas Lemarquis) is stuck living with his grandma Lina (Anna Fridriksdottir). His mother is gone and his father, Kiddi (Throstur Leo Gunnarsson), is busy… More Noi Albinoi is the feature-length debut from Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kari. Set in an isolated fjord during the dead of winter, teenager Noi (Tomas Lemarquis) is stuck living with his grandma Lina (Anna Fridriksdottir). His mother is gone and his father, Kiddi (Throstur Leo Gunnarsson), is busy battling alcoholism. Although he's incredibly bright, Noi gets kicked out of school for cutting class and setting up clever pranks. With nothing to do in the frozen wilderness, he eventually meets gas station attendant Iris (Elin Hansdottir) and the two start a gentle romance. Noi then gets the idea to rob the town bank and take off with Iris, but it doesn't work out as planned. The moody original musical score is from the director's band Slowblow. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 22 min.
Directed By: Dagur Kári
Written By: Dagur Kári
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Mar 19, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Oct 12, 2004
Studio: Palm Pictures

Critic Reviews

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
A better-than- average tale of teenage angst that balances its tone between sorrow and buoyant good cheer.
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Who can resist a movie set in a town where the natural history museum, filled with stuffed polar bears and such, is 'the wildest place in town'?
Mark Jenkins, Washington Post
Kari may eventually go far, but for now he's one of the less interesting inhabitants of international art cinema's disaffected-youth ghetto.
Charles Ealy, Dallas Morning News
As a drama, Nòi seems as cold as the icy land in which it takes place. But it still offers a glimpse into a rarely seen world, and more adventurous moviegoers will find it eye-opening.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
A memorably bleak Icelandic exercise graced by the arresting performance of Tómas Lemarquis in the title role.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
The film is so recessive that at times it threatens to disappear into itself, but director Kari saves it with delicious images of absurdity and entrapment.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Begins as a standard quirky, indie coming-of-age film, but slowly -- like melting ice -- turns into something more profound and genuinely touching.
Jean-François Vandeuren, Panorama
Satisfaisant, mais on commence à connaitre la chanson un peu trop par cur.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Left me too much in the cold to warm up to it.
Boyd van Hoeij, european-films.net
Here is an absurd black comedy that is not afraid to give us some insight into the often dark dealings of the teenage psyche.
Arthur Lazere, culturevulture.net
Holds the attention with imaginative detail and a veneer of deadpan humor, like thin ice over a sea of despair
Marty Mapes, Movie Habit
Mystery and ambivalence about this Bleak portrait of isolation are amplified on DVD
Eric D. Snider, EricDSnider.com
A quirky, amusing little film.
Elias Savada, Nitrate Online
Kári's deadpan humor instills the film's emptiness with a warm glow.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Arash X

Thankfully there's enough substance here to keep you interested till the end & you can feel the boredom & dissatisfaction of the main character, I also liked the humorous nihilstic tone of the movie
Randy T

Well written social drama set against Iceland's unforgiving landscape.
Walter M

Like most teenagers the world over, Noi(Tomas Lemarquis) has trouble getting up in the morning for school. With his father(Prostur Leo Gunnarsson) barely in his life, that leaves it for his grandmother(Anna Fridriksdottir) to fire a warning shot with her shotgun out his window. At… More
Like most teenagers the world over, Noi(Tomas Lemarquis) has trouble getting up in the morning for school. With his father(Prostur Leo Gunnarsson) barely in his life, that leaves it for his grandmother(Anna Fridriksdottir) to fire a warning shot with her shotgun out his window. At school, Noi stays just long enough to fill in his name on a test before leaving for the day. One of his daily stops is at a gas station where he rigs a slot machine to pay for his morning ale. And then one day Iris(Elin Hansdottir) is working there. I suppose one could compare Noi to Ferris Bueller if one were so inclined but it does not really work due to the different circumstances of where they each live.(There are items in "Noi the Albino" like the Rubik's cube from the 1980's but those are actually more like relics from a past age.) If Noi lived in Chicago, there would at least be something to do and pass the time, instead of this small village in Iceland where there is nothing to stimulate his high intellect, thereby limiting his potential.(He's also talented. I could not hit that window in a million years.) And it is remarkable how much a character Iceland is in this engaging tragicomedy.
Lesley N

Albino Noi hangs around in his small snowy village, too cool for school, too bored to do anything else. Not a lot happens apart from a rush of action at the end, but it's quietly mesmerizing, even if Noi is a bit of an idiot. <img… More
Albino Noi hangs around in his small snowy village, too cool for school, too bored to do anything else. Not a lot happens apart from a rush of action at the end, but it's quietly mesmerizing, even if Noi is a bit of an idiot. <img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fXejJTKYqWQ/TLszCsWLswI/AAAAAAAAAQc/621Rw9XL1J0/s1600/noi1.jpg">