Noi
Hairless, gaunt, and pallid, the title character ofNoiis an  Icelandic slacker, a smart but alienated high school boy with a boozing  dad and meager prospects. His small-town life brightens a bit when he  meets Iris, the daughter of a local bookstore owner, who's vacationing  from the city. For their first date, they break into a museum and kiss in  front of a taxidermed polar bear. But Noi's life continues its downward  turn; he's expelled from school and gets a job as a gravedigger, prompting  a desperate gesture.Noiis sort of a collision betweenFerris  Bueller's Day Offand Scandinavian nihilism (the bookstore owner  quotes the dour philosopher Kierkegaard). Fortunately, the bleak events  are carried out with skewed humor and sly visual flair. The restlessness  and despair of adolescence are captured with honesty and sympathy.--Bret Fetzer