Synopsis
Set in modern day Iceland, an immigrant vows revenge after losing his unborn child in an attack by a crime syndicate, thereby binding his fate with a troubled policewoman, her corrupt police commander, and a crime lord who’s losing his edge.
Wojciech Golczewski (born on 2nd January of 1980) is Polish composer for film and television.
Frettatiminn Newspaper Review | City State
By Thorarinn Thorarinsson
★★★★
City State; A hardboiled crime thriller.
Let’s get straight to the point. Olaf De Fleur’s CityState is an incredibly cool hardboiled crime thriller which raises the bar for the Icelandic crime thriller genre. The actors were fantastic, the cinematography was slick, and the film has an intoxicatingly cool style and feel about it.
It doesn’t hurt that the film realistically depicts Iceland’s underworld, with of course minor embellishes to build suspense. Even though the violence in the film is very rough, it’s very tastefully handled and shouldn’t drive anyone away. The fights scenes are beautifully choreographed by Mjölnir MMA fight-club.
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Icelandic Reviews | City State
★★★★ A.K. - DV, Newspaper
★★★★ M.M. - Biofilman.is
★★★☆ T.V. - Kvikmyndir.is
★★★☆ A.S. - Filmophilia
★★★★ Th.Th - Frettabladid, Newspaper
Film of the Year - Frettabladid, Newspaper - “Absolutely Amazing Film”
Filmophilia Review | City State
Ólafur Jóhannesson (or Olaf de Fleur) and his mates at Poppoli Pictures have had a very productive career since they came onto the scene in 2004 with the documentary Blindsker, about the Icelandic pop star Bubbi Morthens. Since then they have made an average of nearly one movie per year (which is quite a lot for Icelandic filmmakers, the average is more like one every 3-4 years). Most of these films are documentaries but there are also a couple of feature films, Stóra Planið (The Higher Force) and Kurteist Fólk (Polite People), the latter which premiered earlier this year. Both of these films were comedies and most of their documentaries have been rather humorous, but their newest movie, Borgríki (City State), is a different beast altogether. It’s a very serious crime thriller describing the criminal underworld of Iceland. It’s also very different from most Icelandic thrillers, as they have usually been some sort of whodunit murder mysteries. People get killed in this movie but there’s nothing mysterious about the killings.
Nordisk Film & Tv Fond News | Olaf de Fleur
21.10.2011
City State (Borgríki), the latest film from the prolific Icelandic filmmaker Olaf de Fleur which opened domestically last weekend has already been snatched for a US remake to be directed by the Academy award-nominated James Mangold (Walk the Line).
Olaf De Fleur (also known as Ólafur Jóhannesson) describes City State as a drama/thriller about a Serbian mechanic that loses his unborn child after an attack from a drug gang. When he decides to revenge, he tangles his fate together with a police woman, a corrupt sergeant and crime kingpin. The film starring Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, and Sigurdur Sigurjónsson, was co-written by de Fleur with Hrafnkell Stefánsson for the director’s Poppoli Pictures, with support from the Icelandic Film Centre, the Icelandic Ministry of Industry, and SVT in Sweden. The thriller opened last weekend for a second place at the Icelandic box office after the animated film Thor-Valhalla.
