Official Selection - Competition 2013 / XL / Iceland 2013
Deputy Leifur is a total wreck. Nonstop parties, hangovers, sexual escapades and drug abuse have gnawed his life to the bone. He decides to throw his last party before entering rehab. How will it turn out? An expressive and highly distinctive film which morphs into a delirious, hyperbolic nightmare.
Deputy Leifur is a total wreck. An inveterate drinker, glutton, and womanizer, his family has fallen apart and he almost never sees his daughter. He shrouds the present in an impenetrable alcoholic haze, and dissolves his past in a succession of severe hangovers. Leifur is living one huge party in a constant desire to see the bottom of another bottle and denuded female loins. After he causes a public scandal, the prime minister forces him to seek treatment. So it’s time to throw a farewell party, a real humdinger.… Director Marteinn Þórsson isn’t aiming at a psychological study or even a hefty drama. Instead he offers his audiences caricatured sketches of his characters, relying on strong stylization and hyperbole. The unique, seemingly disorganised narrative form contributes to the harrowing viewing experience: XL supplies a steady stream of highly expressive sequences which project fragments of a depraved world inhabited by burnt-out losers and hyenas. And Leifur just hangs there, inert, at the center of the action, fully possessed by his alcoholic demons.
87 min / Color, DCP
International premiere
Director Marteinn Þórsson
/ Screenplay Marteinn Þórsson, Guðmundur Óskarsson
/ Dir. of Photography Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson
/ Music Anna Þorvaldsdóttir, Samaris
/ Editor Stefanía Thors, Sigurður EyÞórsson, Marteinn Þórsson, Valdís Óskardóttir
/ Producer Marteinn Þórsson, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Ragnheiður Erlingsdóttir, Guðmundur Óskarsson
/ Production Tenderlee Motion Pictures Company
/ Cast Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, María Birta Bjarnadóttir, Nanna Kristín Magnúsdottir
/ Contact Tenderlee Motion Pictures Company
Marteinn Þórsson (Reykjavík, Iceland), screenwriter, director, producer, has worked in film since his youth. At age 17 he found a place in advertising, later working in television while also shooting his own short films. He graduated from Ryerson University in Toronto and continued cooperating on TV dramas, comedies, documentaries, and other programs. In 2004 he codirected One Point O, whose successful Sundance premiere was parlayed into screenings at more than 20 festivals around the world. Another film, Rokland (2011), relates the tragicomic tale of a lonely rebel from a small town in northern Iceland. The movie starred Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who was also cast in Þórsson’s short Permille (2010) in the role of alcoholic Erik. The delirious nightmare XL (2013) is a reworking of the Permille story into a feature.
Tenderlee Motion Pictures Company
Laufskogar 11, 810, Hveragerdi
Iceland
Phone: +354 537 3003
E-mail: [email protected]
Marteinn Þórsson
Film Director, Film Director
Olafur Darri Olafsson
Actor
Maria Birta
Actress
Bergsteinn Bjorgulfsson
Director of Photography
Ragnheidur Erlingsdottir
Producer
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