Jitters (2010)

I felt this film was well done in the fact that none of the story-lines were over-complicated, but there were a lot of them and thus didn't make it quite as powerful if there had just been a singular one. However, the acting was accomplished; I especially was captivated by the Grandmother's emotional performance, it was heart-rendering when she was given the necklace and also *spoiler* at the funeral; the shot when she was talking to Gabriel, was really beautiful. Adding to this, the moments where certain characters just hugged each other was particularly moving, especially when no words were needed to convey their emotions. The final scene was both humorous, tense and relatively satisfying for a film ending. I have to say that I didn't connect with Gabriel's character to a large extent, but I loved the way that he was very at ease with his friends and that they could all be at ease with each other. The music was quite good too and I was happy when I heard the song 'Love Love Love' by 'Of Monsters and Men', when Gabriel is on the bus at one point, I felt the lyrics reflected the Grandmother's feelings.The film felt very long for the right film length , and the beginning felt almost like another film, or it didn't quite fit with the rest of the film. Overall, I liked the film, it somehow didn't reach my expectations, it was gritty and emotional, and again like many coming of age films; portrayed teenagers' awkwardness, possibly too much. But never the less, I enjoyed it.

I have to echo another reviewer who indicated that the star, Gabriel, a 16 yr old Icelandic boy, is the best thing about this film. He is very cute and appealing, but really only to gay viewers. He goes to Manchester, England, for a short school course, and meets another Icelandic boy, Markus, who seems to be Mr. Straight Boy, but in fact, is gay, and when drunk, they share a kiss. Back in Iceland, Gabriel reunites with his high school friends, a couple of girls and one guy. For the most part, their entire lives revolve around alcohol and parties. Now, it is well known that Iceland suffers from an alcoholism problem, but these kids just drink, and drink, and drink some more, mostly hard liquor. There is some drama among the girls who are hot for Gabriel, who is not hot for them, and for his friend Teddi, who is hot for any living female.Other drama includes a girl living with her impossible grandmother, another girl living with her drunk mother, and Gabriel's divorced parents, who think his moodiness is because he is on drugs. If anything, this film makes living in Rejkavik seem terrible, since there is nothing to do but drink. The characters are shallow and uninteresting, and Gabriel is the only one worth looking at.

Jitters is not exactly the movie the packaging describes (the story of a gay 16 year old's coming of age). It's more of an ensemble piece with multiple story lines. In fact the supposed main story is so lightweight it's easy to forget it's meant to be the movie's main story. Not that Jitters really has any story to tell. The movie just stares at the slightly over dramatized lives of a group of Icelandic 16 year olds. This mainly consists of drinking, kissing, drinking Coca-Cola (either that beverage is huge among Iceland's youth or the company paid for placement), gossiping, and walking around looking cute and moody. Every now and then there are flashes of drama which feel more like script flourishes than real life. If you liked the BBC's Skins you might enjoy Jitters. But Jitters is more like a listless, dreary, low key version of Skins. It's watchable but not memorable. Jitters is also one of those films where you can see the bones for a much better film beneath all the standard movie plotting. There are a few moments which are excellent, such as the final scene in the film. Had the story focused on the main character and his sorting himself out this probably would have been a great film.

Jitters is okay; I didn't hate it, but I can't say I like it; it's just too unbelievable to react to in much of any way at all.Atli Oskar Fjalarsson is very cute, and although it's completely unbelievable that every girl he knows has the hots for him, I'd believe it in an instant if they were boys (but they're not).In any other movie, a boy like him - a sweet, gentle, graceful, sympathetic, six-foot, 90-pound sylph-like pretty boy with flawless skin - would constantly be having to prove he's not gay, and constantly be bullied by gangs of straight boys and ridiculed by gangs of straight girls; but evidently it's not like that in Iceland. Everybody in this movie, of every age, male and female, seems to see Matthew McConaughey in him instead of Audrey Hepburn. It's a great mystery.Unfortunately, Atli Oscar's cuteness is about all this silly movie has going for it. I never believed in anybody, so I never cared what happened to anybody. What's obviously supposed to be the great tragedy is simply ludicrous, but no more ludicrous than anything else that happens.This is my first Icelandic movie, so it may be a cultural thing; although I have loved and related deeply to movies from all the other Scandinavian countries, Iceland is very different, and very much smaller. But it's a little hard to believe - even as isolated as that country is and always has been - that teenagers and even adults are as naive, as clueless, as simpleminded, almost, as they are in this movie.I'm pretty sure Iceland is a modern, advanced country, but these people seem more out of touch than the Amish. Maybe it's true that Icelanders are extraordinarily simple, naive, backward people; if so, I can understand why the world isn't swarming with Icelandic movies. But for now I'm going to assume that Iceland is a great country and Icelanders are smart, interesting people and that this is just a dumb movie.