The Swan

Though occasionally overwrought in its ethereal tangents, "The Swan" has strong things going for it...

It doesn't always manage to stay afloat, but its center never wavers, with Valsdóttir delivering a bracingly unsentimental portrayal of a perceptive outsider weathering an often grim awakening.

A coming-of-age drama that's as beautiful and brutal as the remote, rural landscape of northern Iceland where it takes place.

Benefitting from US-trained, Iceland-based filmmaker Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir's controlled direction, the film delivers a dark coming-of-age tale through the young lead's uncertain perception, tinged with uneasy implications and poetic flights of fancy.