REVIEW: Violence And Love In ‘Beautiful Beings’

Iceland’s submission to the 2023 Oscars, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s Beautiful Beings, is a dark, violent, and upsetting coming-of-age story about four boys growing up in Iceland with nobody to rely on but each other and a mess of family, drugs, and gangs making life precarious. Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason) is brutally beaten and bullied until one day Siggi (Snorri Rafn Frímannsson), the leader of a small gang takes him in as one of their own and forces Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason) and Konni (Viktor Benóný Benediktsson) to be nice to him. The bond they form, the trauma they endure, and the commitment they have for one another is precious, even in its ferocity, launching Beautiful Beings into the ranks for 2022’s best international films.

The film offers just one piece of critical exposition early on: violence among youth in Iceland has been on a brutal incline. And it shows. The whole first act of Beautiful Beings is dedicated to depicting horrific violence against Balli and just generally among teenagers in and around school. It’s upsetting, and points throughout the movie get hard to watch. So it’s a bit odd at first when Siggi, who you are meant to quickly identify as the leader of a gang of violent bullies no better than the ones who put Balli in the hospital early in the movie, and he insists on acting nice towards Balli. His other friends are jerks to him, and for what it’s worth, Balli really is a bit of a weird kid, so seeing Siggi make every effort to treat Balli kindly is odd. And this is before they even find out about Balli’s home life.

But it’s not a trick. At least not on Siggi’s behalf. He’s just a genuinely nice kid who’s starting to awaken to the consequences of their actions. For Guðmundsson’s part though, it’s all a symbol of where violence in these young men comes from and how the cycle can be broken: being loved. Siggi is the only one of his friends who has anything that resembles a healthy relationship with his family. And while they have their struggles, and Siggi detests that his mother fancies herself psychic, he’s still influenced by his family’s love. And he extends that love to Balli, Addi, and Konni in their own ways. As Addi and Konni come around to loving Balli just as well, Siggi and Beautiful Beings demonstrate that violence isn’t inherent. It’s in some ways a choice, in other ways a reaction, and in all ways, something that can be influenced.

The film itself demonstrates this balancing act gorgeously through both stunning scenery and grimy interiors. The grain of the film and the general lack of technology on screen, save for a computer in a comedic moment, makes it feel timeless, even if it might take place in the 90s. All of the boys act well, but especially Pálmason and Frímannsson, who meld awkward teenage mirth with scared youthfulness in each of their characters’ own ways.

But to make Beautiful Beings able to impart its allegory on young boys’ abilities to ascertain love and loyalty without sacrificing their machismo, it has to demonstrate great violence. I don’t think the movie would be nearly as impactful in showing just how much the group is hurting and just how much their bond is their only salve if we didn’t see that pain manifesting in increasingly violent and dangerous instances. They do some really terrible things, to each other, to strangers, to people they know. And terrible things happen to them. Truly, truly terrible. And no matter how deeply painful it becomes to watch, every situation ends with the boys doing whatever they can to support each other no matter what.

It isn’t that we have to be subjected to such violence to empathize with the boys. You can empathize enough just by how dire their personal situations are and how clearly hurting they are. We have to bare witness because without seeing it, we cannot understand how wide the gap is between the way they move through the world and the tenderness with which they have the capacity to hold one another, as well as all the shades in between. It’s a visceral experience unlike anything I’ve seen in a coming-of-age story before.

Beautiful Beings is not an easy movie to experience through its graphic violence, but wow, is it good. It understands the healing power of love perfectly, in that it’s not naive enough to think it’s a cure-all for the violence and hopelessness that plagues its characters, but it’s wise enough to understand that love can at least help dull the pain and should be pursued at all costs. Perhaps most especially platonic love amongst a group of boys who have so little other sources for it.

Beautiful Beings will be playing in limited theaters in January.