Acclaimed Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur’s latest film, The Deep, was released late last year in his native Iceland, picking up a slew of awards at the country’s equivalent to the Oscars earlier this year.
Having spent much of the past few months on the festival circuit, the film is finally due to arrive in UK theatres next month, following its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival. And Metrodome have released the UK trailer to whet our appetites for what’s to come.
Based on incredible real life events, The Deep tells the story of a lone survivor of a fishing boat accident, who defies nature by surviving the freezing Icelandic sea in the midst of winter. Persevering against the odds, he makes the journey to islands nearby and now must face a gruelling trek across volcanic terrain before eventually arriving to safety. His intense ordeal wins him international attention, but brings the pressure of extensive physical investigation as he is left to deal with the effects of his reluctant celebrity status. The film’s stunning, nearly monochromatic visuals, other-worldly landscapes and haunting sounds of nature at its cruelest, make this an unmissable film.
Leading the cast are Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jóhann G. Jóhannsson, Þorbjörg Helga Þorgilsdóttir, Theodór Júlíusson, María Sigurðardóttir, Björn Thors, and Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson.
Kormákur is directing from a script he co-wrote with Jón Atli Jónasson (Frost), and produces alongside past collaborator Agnes Johansen (A Little Trip to Heaven, Jar City).
I really liked what Kormákur did with last year’s Contraband, led by Mark Wahlberg, and can’t wait to see him reunite with Wahlberg on this summer’s 2 Guns, co-starring Denzel Washington. And seeing The Deep arrive beforehand, for an altogether different kind of movie, with a drama based on a true story, should definitely make for a nice change of pace.
The Deep will be released in the UK on 12th July.
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