The Homecoming - amusing family misadventures in Iceland

I almost picked ‘The Homecoming’ on the tagline alone – ‘The best Icelandic incest comedy ever’. It certainly sounded like bold film-making. It turned out the story line isn’t quite as alarming as that sounds (although still occasionally uncomfortable) – Gunni discovers his son’s new girlfriend is the daughter he abandoned before she was born.  It is also more of a comedy-drama than pure comedy – though it does have its very funny moments, including three of the most progressively awkward dinner table scenes you will ever see.  The last one in particular was an impressive mix of dramatic tension, farce and family drama.

The acting is excellent, particularly from the actors playing the parents.  Hilmar Jonsson brings out a Dad lost in his own life and is the crucial part of the film. Although a little hypocritical and all the mistakes of the film are of his own making, he just about keeps Gunni sympathetic and stops the farce becoming losing too much credibility.  Harpa Arnardóttir as mum Herdis is a fantastic mixture of brittle and optimistic, providing excellent support to the main character.

The tonal shifts between comedy and drama are generally handled pretty well, including within scenes, without feeling forced.  Maybe on occasion the emotional impact doesn’t land as hard as it could as the scene has up to now been played for laughs.  However, as well as being hysterically funny at times, it is a real drama - the mistakes that the characters do have real life and hard hitting emotional consequences.

If I had one criticism, it would be that the film took a little while to get going and, although I appreciate this is partly for scene setting and to establish Gunni and Herdis in their wider world, I wasn’t sure that delaying the meat of the story added as much as it could. Once Gunni’s spiral of deceit starts though, this is an enjoyable, funny and sometimes moving film.