2024 Entry #45 04-16-24 “Beautiful Beings” (aka “Berdreymi”) is a 2022 Icelandic coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson. Set in the suburbs of Reykjavík during the 2000s, the film focuses on a group of teenage boys and the violence that surrounds them.
As part of my pursuit of LGBTQ+ inclusive films to enjoy, I often rely on TLA Video and its various catalogs, which specialize in this arena. This year I actually decided to work my way through their most recent catalog and this film was included there. However, I’m not sure there are actually any gay characters in the film, which surprised me. By way of the plot, there is a gay rape that takes place (which is thankfully cut short by the intervention of a friend), but that’s the only representation we have here. I suppose there’s a bit of affection between a few guys, but it just seems friendly to me. I haven’t up to this point included instances that only consisted of male on male sexual violence and I don’t want to make a habit of it, but I did watch this movie and I did enjoy it overall. It had some odd messaging, but it was well done.
On September 30, 2022, the film was announced as Iceland’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. See less