Directed by Kasper Kalle – Screenplay by Rasmus Birch.
Following its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival earlier this year, at which it won two awards for directing and acting, Kasper Kalle’s No Rest for the Wicked just had its US premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest. It is a remarkable horror-romance film that I found to be deeply moving and often outright stunning.
Based on Karl Heinrich Ulrichs’ 1884 short story titled Manor, Kasper Kalle’s No Rest for the Wicked takes place in 1862 in the Faroe Islands, the archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, which, not unlike Greenland, is today a self-governing territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Back in 1862, the film introduces us to Baldur (played by Egor Venned), a young Faroese fisherman, who lives with his widowed mother, Ásla (played by Sofie Nolsø Mikkelsen), in a deeply religious Faroese local community.
One fine morning, while Baldur is out on the family boat, he hears someone screaming for help as a thick fog rolls in. As Baldur valiantly tries to help this stranger, his boat hits a rock; he hits his head, and he falls into the water. Now, Baldur is the one in need of help, and he gets it. The stranger jumps in the water, pulls him out, and saves him. It is Helge (played by Pilou Asbæk), a Danish whaler, who has just saved our young protagonist, and for his assistance, he is treated to dry clothes, a nice meal, and a place to sleep in Baldur and Ásla’s home.
Although Baldur is initially quietly untrusting of the Dane, Helge’s warm gaze gradually wins Baldur over, and soon they are as thick as thieves. A romantic relationship slowly starts to blossom between the two. As Helge is getting ready to go on his next adventure, tragedy strikes. Soon, driftwood comes in, startling reappearances occur, a blood sacrifice is made, and a romance once thought cut short may have had its fate altered. As new hope appears in the fog, a close-minded and God-fearing local community furrows its brow in judgment.
No Rest for the Wicked is the kind of film that reveals itself in waves and gradually lets you in on its deeper genre and lore-specific traits. For the uninitiated, it is perhaps best understood as some kind of blend of Call Me By Your Name, Only Lovers Left Alive, and Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland. It opens as this clash of cultures between a Dane and Faroese people, with Helge and Baldur representing aspects of their culture. It then morphs into a gay romance full of desire and appreciative images. Before it finally evolves again and the subtle horror genre traits, which had only slightly poked their heads up every once in a while, step into the forefront.
I thought the film was absolutely spellbinding. It is a film that is designed in such a way that it is clear for you to see that its creators are keenly aware of symbols that link it to both gothic romance storytelling and, frankly, vampiric lore. But it never feels overdone or clunkily thrown in. Birch and Kalle’s narrative shows that they have deployed their film’s more explicit horror elements really well. They’re dosed out in a way that makes it feel like the film gradually moves up a ramp, but without rushing to the summit. Yes, there are jump scares (and really effective ones), but there aren’t a lot of them, and they are all appropriately startling and set up well. The use of fog, crosses, and other genre-specific traits add to the atmosphere and work as powerful symbols rather than ruin the verisimilitude of the film. Then, when the film reaches the genre summit and the film gives in to its horror elements, there are strong moments of tension and excellent body horror scenes.
And the film never loses its focus on the romance or the way certain relationships may clash with religious traditions. It is very much a film about how religious communities repress sexual identity, how they can ostracize individuals who stray from tradition, and how freeing love can be when it can be expressed above ground. It is the kind of rare relationship-centric romantic horror film that manages to be both satisfying as a horror film and deeply moving as a relationship drama. This genre-blend balancing act is expertly done, and a large part of the reason why is that you fully buy into the presented reality of the premise. The film was shot on location in the Faroe Islands, and director Kasper Kalle, along with DP Jacob Møller, present the nature with beautiful images that emphasize the mountainous landscape for its mystery and its scale. In addition to beautiful wide shots of the surroundings that immediately make your jaw drop and buy into the premise, I was also fascinated by how the film juxtaposes handheld shots above water with the still and ethereal shots of Baldur and Helge underwater.
I referenced Hlynur Pálmason’s Iceland-set Godland earlier, and I’m not just referencing him because his film, like No Rest for the Wicked, contained beautifully realized images of the landscape. Pálmason’s film is a film about a Dane displaying colonial arrogance in a country far from his own. Kalle’s film is not quite as ambitious or as focused on the historic Danish-Faroese relationship as Pálmason was on the Danish-Icelandic relationship. But Kalle’s film does, every so often, slightly nudge towards that theme. In a way, Baldur and Helge’s personalities could represent the two nations, with one being quiet and, initially, committed to his duties, while the other, though loving, is more brazen and acts with a freedom that Baldur finds enticing. There’s even a scene in which Helge cheekily screams at the wild Faroese landscape about wanting to take it and all of its inhabitants.
Another reason why this film works so well is that the strong writing was met and communicated by a trio of actors, at the heart of the film, who turned in performances that are genuinely emotionally gripping. Pilou Asbæk, known internationally for Game of Thrones, Ghost in the Shell, and Overlord, is sensational as Helge. In one of the best performances of his career, Asbæk is effortlessly charming and warm, especially in his first scenes, in which he looks positively dashing with his hair slicked back. He’s so well-chosen for the part because he can both look like Prince Charming and have that piercing, mischievous glint in his eye that adds an unpredictability to his character. Asbæk also just has wonderful on-screen chemistry with his co-star Egor Venned, who plays his character’s loneliness and blossoming desire competently. Venned and Asbæk make the romance at the heart of the narrative feel earned and full-hearted. Other standouts include Sofie Nolsø Mikkelsen, who makes Álsa more nuanced than what she may have looked like on the page, and, in a very small role, Brimheim, for a wistful song sung with such emotion that it should move even the coldest hearts.
Kasper Kalle’s No Rest for the Wicked is a stunning and deeply moving genre-blend of queer romance and horror. The genre-specific balancing act is done really well, and Kalle’s vision is executed stunningly. It also features characters and performances that are easy to become emotionally invested in. I really loved this.
8.5 out of 10
– Review written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
