Noi the Albino

If you see only one quirky coming-of-age movie set on a remote Icelandic fiord this year, make it Noi.

Proceeds at a, no pun intended, glacial pace ... but the film is possessed of something more important: a bone-weary honesty at the travails of being young, different, and stuck somewhere you don't want to be.

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'?

Kari may eventually go far, but for now he's one of the less interesting inhabitants of international art cinema's disaffected-youth ghetto.

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.

Begins as a standard quirky, indie coming-of-age film, but slowly -- like melting ice -- turns into something more profound and genuinely touching.

Satisfaisant, mais on commence à connaitre la chanson un peu trop par cur.

Left me too much in the cold to warm up to it.