Life in a Fishbowl

The lives of three characters intertwine in this strongly acted, sensitively directed drama that offers a naturalistic portrait of Reykjavik on the eve of the country’s 2008 economic meltdown. Unable to make ends meet as a nursery-school teacher, pretty Eik moonlights as a high-end prostitute. Poet and novelist Mori, a raging alcoholic since a tragic incident 20 years earlier, looks and behaves like a down-and-out street person, although he actually owns a nice home in a desirable district. Meanwhile, Solvi, a former soccer star recruited into the snake pit of international banking, wants the rights to Mori’s property in order to facilitate a major downtown development. Touching a nerve on home turf, Fishbowl became one of Iceland’s biggest-ever domestic hits.