GODLAND
★★★★★
OUT 7 APRIL / CERT 12A / 143 MINS
DIRECTOR Hlynur Pálmason
CAST Elliott Crosset Hove, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Jacob Lohmann
Danish priest Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove) is tasked with building a church in a remote Icelandic community. Perversely, he chooses a punishing route, travelling on horseback across inhospitable terrain. Hlynur Pálmason directs with astounding rigour and momentum, giving Lucas’ struggles the force and atmosphere of a classic Western. The frame is square and the camera often firmly fixed — so much so that when it moves, to chase a moment of sudden violence, it’s a jump-scare. Hove plays Lucas with flashes of terrifying anger and slow, sickening dread, becoming increasingly gaunt, with haunted eyes popping out of his once-innocent, soft face. This excellent film is a portrait of a man dissolving in front of our eyes.