The Northman

After experiencing The Lighthouse, I was quite worried about The Northman, suspecting Eggers of casting Kidman as a poster attraction, so that the widest possible base, which is not indifferent to her name, would be interested in the film... But everything is different in the end. It's as if I'd forgotten that Kidman has, quite by default, worked with notable directors before, from Kubrick to von Trier. Additionally, for viewers of the Vikings series, The Northman can be a nice tie-in to the broader theme. There is no reason to be afraid or prejudiced; on the contrary, it is advisable to enjoy The Northman on the big screen and let yourself be carried away by Icelandic nature, just like Sjöström once did. (2022-05-16)

The Northman is the kind of film that I'll probably be more disappointed with the more time that passes since I saw it. Robert Eggers has never been a storyteller for me, more a master of atmosphere and sinister impressions. That works best here too, coupled with great pagan music it is a wonderfully meaty ritual in places. Unfortunately, the story isn't helped much by Sjón, who writes scripts as statuesque mythic scenes with no discernible arc or catharsis. The fact that it was made into chapters is pretty weak, it's dramatically underdeveloped and the rich visual mythology is a bit flat at times. The highlight for me is the creation of Kidman, who may have the look of a modern woman, but has all the demons of the North in her eyes. The same goes for Skarsgård. This is what Tarzan was supposed to be like. In a nutshell, I'm in danger of forgetting this film, made just for me, the day after tomorrow. Refn's Viking fetish Valhalla Rising is still stuck in my heart. (2022-04-13)

A distinctive creative vision. A dark, brooding historical fresco full of evil, prophecy, violence and pagan gods. Formally, everything is fine, script-wise and dramaturgically it is not so well put together. Some story twists and character motives are insufficiently explained and grasped, so the attempt at an artsy historical drama doesn't quite work, although it should be noted that it is presented in an unusually bold, uncompromisingly dark way, with no shortage of violence and brutality. But that alone is not enough. (2022-12-17)

Eggers doesn’t get in a hurry and he gets off on the symbolism of the numerous dream sequences, but he never finds the time to explain and depict the key twists in the protagonist’s decisions in proportion to their importance. This is due either to unfortunate editing or to the screenplay by a filmmaker who knows how to do a lot of things, except for the most important thing, which is to tell the story in a dramaturgically complex way and to work sensitively with its motifs. The Northman entertained me with its spirit of a bloodthirsty wolf, visuals, distinctive cinematic world and cruelty of the likes that we don’t see in the current mainstream due to its incorrectness. But the more time that passes since I saw it, the more I see it rather as a boldly presented B-movie with embarrassing content than as an “art-house epic”. (2022-04-21)

The Witch remains my favourite, but I definitely enjoyed The Northman more than the overrated The Lighthouse. In the first half, I believed I would give it a full rating. It’s harsh, stylish and in the raid on the village scene, Alexander Skarsgård is a true “animal”. What I enjoyed the most were the shamanic rituals and the mythical scenes, balancing between hallucination/dream and the supernatural. But in the end, I have to deduct a point for something Eggers tried for the first time in this film, which didn’t convince me much: normal, positive human emotions; love, to be more specific. The Witch and The Lighthouse didn’t have anything positive, but here there’s a rather important story arc (between Skarsgård and Taylor-Joy) built on love, and, in my opinion, it doesn’t work at all. So much so, in fact, that until the last moment I was convinced that the infatuation on one side or the other (or both sides) was just a ruse that would result in some evil twist. (2022-04-14)