BEOWULF & GRENDEL
“Good, bloody fun that stirs the intellect whenever it feels like it.”
BEOWULF & GRENDEL
“ Gunnarsson’s vision joins the ranks of other feverish, cinematic hallucinations that challenge the depravity of our humanity by embracing the emptiness the the universe and lingering on our inexplicable and unceasing pull to conquer it .”
BEOWULF & GRENDEL
“By stripping the ninth-century epic poem Beowulf down to its narrative bones, and by shooting it with an unembellished, steely realism, Gunnarsson has made something decidedly unusual from this medieval tale of revenge and reckoning…This isn’t the story of mythological heroes and monsters but of men ultimately confronting their own reflection in the monster they’ve been dispatched to terminate. It’s like a thoughtful action movie with a conscience … a successfully strange and strangely moving adventure.”
RARE BIRDS
“Sturla Gunnarsson’s Rare Birds” is a sweetheart of a film, whimsical and touching.”
FORCE OF NATURE
“… reawakens us to the daily miracles that surround us – from the simple act of breathing, to the complexity of the natural world.”
SUCH A LONG JOURNEY
“It’s not often that a film crosses the line between merely being very good, and being a truly great work of cinema. Such A Long Journey not only crosses that line, but makes it look easy … a modern masterpiece.” BRITISH FILM REVUE – John Binns
“Such a Long Journey, filmed on location in Bombay, is a film so rich in atmosphere, it makes western films look pale and underpopulated. It combines politics, religion, illness and scheming in the story of one family in upheaval, and is very serious and always amusing.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES – Roger Ebert
“Rich in detail and character and soaked in atmosphere of its time and place … studded with memorable scenes and arresting performances, most notably Mr. Seth’s.” NEW YORK TIMES – A.O. Scott
MONSOON
“Epic … a salute to the soul of India. ” HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
“Monsoon paints a brash, beautiful portrait of India and its storms.” TWITCHFILM – Jason Gorber
AIR INDIA 182
“… pushes the frontiers of non-fiction with a veracity and power on a par with movies like United 93, A Mighty Heart—and Standard Operating Procedure, the Errol Morris film about Abu Ghraib. Like Morris, Gunnarson uses stark, confessional direct-to-camera interviews. And he makes creative use of re-enactments, but in a radically different style. Morris fetishes the unknowable with impressionist, slo-mo images that verge on abstraction. Gunnarson’s are chaotic snatches of verité realism. But he too finds a poetic beauty and glimmers of transcendence in imagining what might have unfolded, and portraying a life that is about to be lost.” MACLEANS MAGAZINE – Brian Johnson
“… Gunnarsson’s brilliantly crafted film will haunt viewers and shake them from complacency … a classic of its genre and an important page of Canadian history.” TORONTO SUN – Bruce Kirkland
“Air India 182″ is one of the marquee entries at the Hot Docs film festival, yet it’s a movie so gripping and suspenseful in its retelling of a large-scale tragedy that it frequently seems like a tautly written drama instead of grim reality. CANADIAN PRESS