Arctic: NZIFF Review

Arctic: NZIFF Review

Mixing elements of All Is Lost, The Revenant, 127 Hours and every other wilderness survival tale you've seen, director Joe Penna's Arctic benefits from a minimalist turn from Mads Mikkelsen and maximum use of the snowy world around him.

We join Mikkelsen's unnamed man Overgard atop a snowy peak, as he appears to be digging a trench.

But as Penna's camera pulls back, the reveal is that of an SOS carved into the ground.

With time spent on there unknown, but with Mikkelsen's Overgard clearly ensconced in the icy peaks for a while, Arctic wastes no time in showcasing the climate and the measured approach of the leading man.

With no soundtrack to note initially, and with the sound of the wind howling, Mikkelsen's lost-in-the-snow man spends his time handcranking a beacon, hoping for a hit. But it doesn't turn out as he'd expect.

To say little happens in the sparse Arctic is perhaps an understatement.

But with Mikkelsen throwing everything into the performance, and when it becomes clear that it's not just him to consider, Arctic ramps up into a what would you do approach that's as icy as the climate surrounding it.

As Mikkelsen rages against the elements, throwing frustration to the wind only in the worst incidents and leading you to empathise with him for it, it becomes a question of who's keeping who alive in this, as he wrestles with more than just the harshness of the land but the potential futility of what he's doing.

It's a classic case of self-survival and the fight against the odds - a "we'll be fine" versus "you've got to be kidding me" and Mikkelsen channels it well, using silence for maximum effect and frustration sparingly.

Arctic may be destined for a debate over its ending (a la All is Lost), but the tension throughout, while not exactly palpable, is present, leading you to be kept in its icy grip.

Details don't need to be added in, back story doesn't need to be fleshed out and everything is garnered only from what's on screen - it's a compelling way to burrow in to the survival story and while Arctic may not be for everyone, given its pace, as a piece of survivalist cinema, it more than earns its place in the genre.