The County

No longer young and somewhat downbeat, Inga (the wonderful Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir), who lives in the Icelandic countryside, looks like someone whose best years are behind her. We’re certain that this impression will only be reinforced when the protagonist faces a crisis in her professional and personal life. But we couldn’t be more wrong. In the face of trouble, Inga finds the same sort of strength that, in Hollywood films, is typically seen in characters played by Frances McDormand. Having discovered that an agricultural cooperative is engaging in unfair practices, Inga swears that the truth will come out. To ensure this happens, she doesn’t back down from anything, even if it means going to war with nearly the entire community. Like in the acclaimed film Rams, the director Grímur Hákonarson proves that he is second to none when it comes to brilliant portrayals of outsiders. In The County, the Icelandic filmmaker deftly combines northern-European melancholy with inspiration from American genre cinema in the form of a dark whodunit or even a western.