Mini Review: Under the Tree
They say good fences make good neighbours – an adage that extends to Iceland, too. In Under the Tree, an intriguing black comedy from writer/director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, it is the issues most homeowners are prone to argue about, property, fences, lawn care, that rear their ugly heads. Throw in some kids and some marital issues, and watch things spin way out of control.
The acting in Under the Tree is uniformly good and the mood is helped along by a minimalist score by Daniel Bjarnason. It’s easy to mock the suburbs, but Sigurðsson’s intent is to show how quickly day-to-day silliness boils over into feuds that cause real damage for real people. We all might be guilty of these instincts, right? so go be a good neighbor, mow your lawn and then seek out this dark and interesting film. Watch the trailer here.
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