![](\"https:\/\/www.luebeck.de\/filmtage\/filmdb\/images\/2017\/svanurinn2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nReviewed by Hollyn Heron. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Directed by\u00a0\u00c1sa Helga Hj\u00f6rleifsd\u00f3tir (Dark Wings, This is the Girl)<\/em> and adapted by the novel by\u00a0Gu\u00f0bergur Bergsson,\u00a0The Swan\u00a0<\/em>is a coming of age film that tackles the hardships that children face when innocence fades, and adulthood begins to set in.<\/p>\n With beautiful, sweeping landscapes shot from high above, cinematographer Martin\u00a0Neumeyer (Lotte, Maybe, Baby!)<\/em> illustrates\u00a0S\u00f3l’s (Gr\u00edma Valsd\u00f3ttir<\/em>) isolation and uncertainty she feels being so far from home, and learning about life. The low-key lighting casts shadows among the world\u00a0S\u00f3l is thrown into, and adds a feeling of grief and sorrow for the young girl.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As is an Icelandic tradition, S\u00f3l has been sent away by her parents for the summer to work on her great aunts farm in the isolated countryside, in order to learn more than her urban life. Once there, she immediately longs for her parents and her home, as she doesn’t feel at place on the farm. She begins work early in the morning, tending to animals and the yard in a frilly pink tutu coupled with her jeans, illustrating how unused to working life really can be.\u00a0 In her bare room, with nothing more than two beds and a desk, the bleakness that she feels is echoed through her surroundings. It isn’t until she meets the farmhand,\u00a0J\u00f3n (Thor Kristjansson<\/span>)<\/em>, that she feels she has found a friend. But he is much older than her, and spends his nights scratching away his troubles at his journals. Their friendship seems almost inappropriate at times, especially when the two snuggle in bed during the night, but\u00a0J\u00f3n is oblivious to \u00a0S\u00f3l”s innocent crush on him, and sees her just as a kid.\u00a0 It isn’t just her relationship with the other people on the farm that grows her. She learns first-hand where meat comes from in a traumatic scene with a farm animal that she had befriended. From there, her problems seemingly get worse.<\/p>\n When the farmers daughter,\u00a0\u00c1sta (\u00deur\u00ed\u00f0ur Bl\u00e6r J\u00f3hannsd\u00f3ttir<\/span>)\u00a0<\/em>returns from college, she creates a whirlwind of problems for everyone on the farm, especially S\u00f3l.\u00a0\u00c1sta plays the part of a typical, spoiled only child, treating the farm and its workers as her own personal amusement. Dealing with her own problems, she ends up taking her frustration out on anyone who crosses her path. She can’t make up her mind whether she wants to be her friend, or her enemy, and spends the time flip-flopping between girl talk and antagonizing S\u00f3l.<\/p>\n The Swan<\/em>\u00a0is a refreshing take on the classic “coming of age” narrative. It perfectly shows, though disturbing at times,\u00a0<\/em><\/span>what it feels like to grow up overnight.\u00a0S\u00f3l arrives at the farm, young, naive and innocent to the ways of the world, and at the end, she knows who she is, and she has learned more about life than she had expected.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Hollyn Heron. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival Directed by\u00a0\u00c1sa Helga Hj\u00f6rleifsd\u00f3tir (Dark Wings, This is the Girl) and adapted by the novel by\u00a0Gu\u00f0bergur Bergsson,\u00a0The Swan\u00a0is a coming of age film that tackles the hardships that children face when innocence fades, and adulthood begins to set in. With beautiful, sweeping landscapes shot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210068,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}