User Reviews

This is really a wonderful film! I might be a little influenced by the fact that I've been to Iceland twice and I loved it (and still do, and pretty surely there's going to be a third time), but I really did feel this movie. The storyline is quite simple and has been well described by other reviewers, so straight to what this movie contains.

Well, anybody who's been to Iceland will realize immediately the high grade of realism, both in the landscapes and in the people the main man meets on his way, their attitudes, mentality, way of talking and all the rest. Icelanders really ARE the way you see them in this movie! Also the atmosphere of the country in the winter is perfect, deeply charming in its desolation. But whats gets the most in this film is the humanity of the various characters.

The main man is a likable guy, a little stiff in his behaving with the rest of the world, but that might be part of the Japanese culture as far as I know. Completely unlikable the two Americans, who are indeed negative characters, while I loved the old man who befriends the protagonist in the last part of the movie. The deepest humanity is to be found in him.

This is a movie that will get stuck into your mind for a very long time, don't miss it!

Masatoshi Nagase (best known for his role in Jarmusch's Mystery Train, and also the Japanese films Suicide Club, The Hidden Blade and Electric Dragon 80.000V) stars as a Japanese man whose grandfather (cult director Seijun Suzuki, who appears for a couple of minutes) insists he spend his vacation performing traditional burial rites of his parents, who died while living in Iceland. Nagase flies to Reykjavik and proceeds to drive across the country in the middle of the winter to the remote spot where they passed. Though they don't go into any details on his parents' death, Iceland seems like a very likely place to die, since it's full of dangerous, unpopulated terrain. This is basically a road movie, where Nagase meets various odd people along his way. It's maybe a bit weirder than most - I'd say it's kind of one of those weird-for-the-sake-of-weird type movies. But Fridriksson does a great job of making his home country look like a world of wonder. "Iceland is very strange country" Nagase always says when someone asks him what he thinks of it, in English of course, since it's the common language between him and most Icelanders (I'd say about 80% of the dialogue is in English). The film doesn't really go anywhere plot-wise, and some of the episodes are more successful than others. The most notable flop is the long sequence where Nagase picks up a couple of stranded American tourists, Fisher Stevens and Lili Taylor. Those two are painfully annoying, especially when they talk to each other via their sock puppets. That's really some needless quirk. Overall, though, I was intrigued.

This is one of my top 10 movies. The trip Masatoshi Nagase has to make in the movie is priceless. Despite the annoying people, criminals, freezing temperatures and using various mode of transportation, he never one complains. I think in some ways he discovers something about himself and his parents that he didn't know before this trip. Also of how strong he really had become with determination. First time I saw this movie a few years back, I realize that I too have to take a trip home (Caribbean) pay tribute to my Dad. Just hope it won't take me as long to get to my destination. So in part I can relate to this movie.

This film is indeed a beautiful film showing Iceland's many attractions as the previous reviewer mentioned, but it also draws very interesting parallels between the native beliefs of Icelanders, which in fact are quite similar to what prevailed across Europe before Christianity came(Iceland was settled by Vikings and was among the last places Europeans held to their pagan religion), and the Shinto practices in Japan. One accompanies the main character, a shallow, immature corporate executive from his comfortable Tokyo life to Iceland: where layer by layer he is stripped of comfort, certainty, even rationality, until he is brought to a place where he realizes a simple and profound humanity.

This film is funny, the cinematography is amazing, and it is spiritually enriching. How many films can you say all that about?

This film is evidently a long commercial to lure tourists to Iceland. It contains all the famous national specialities of the country, and of course the beautiful landscape is presented in a particularly beautiful manner. Just like Ein Schloss am Wörthersee is advertising Carinthia – only much more charming!

I find the idea to use as a `hero' a Japanese who comes to Iceland unwillingly quite original (a friend of mine said she had never seen such an ornery Japanese before). The weird characters he meets on his way to the probably remotest and most unpleasant place in the world help to construct some kind of plot, and the movie is a pleasure to watch – throughout.

I am going to visit Iceland next week, and after watching Cold Fever I am particularly looking forward to it. And that's the result Jim Stark and Friðrik Friðriksson were out for, isn't it?

The first time I saw Cold Fever was May of last year. It was in a time when I was lost in life. That's when Cold Fever was coming on HBO. I sat there for 90 mins and I found the film very funny and quite moving. The way everyone keeps asking Atsushi, "So how do you like Iceland?" or the characters he runs into. Some of them include Laura, a woman who likes to "collect" funerals or American tourists Jack and Jill, who bicker all the time because they disagree on taking a vacation to Iceland. Atsushi first finds this trip as a burden because he was looking forward to going to Hawaii to play golf. Instead, he has to go to Iceland to perform a ritual by the river where his parents drowned. Then, throughout this journey he learns more about himself. He finds some of the strangest people you will meet...a cab driver performing a strange ritual, a girl who restarts his car with a sonic scream, and my favorites, the Islandic Cowboys. When he finally gets his mission accomplished of performing the ritual, he learns that sometimes a journey can take you places that aren't on any map. That is so true. I wanted this movie so bad that I finally received it from Amazon today. It is still as great as when I saw it a year ago. Check this out because it is brilliant.

I like this one quite a bit! It is a bit extraordinary, with a good storie, good acting of the head actor, and especially beautiful music (Icelandic, a bit like Sigur Ros/ Bjork with classical influences). I believe the music is composed by the person who also composed the music for the Icelandic movie "Angels of the universe", or "Englar alheimsins" (brilliant music!), from which I have the soundtrack (composed by Hilmarsson AND Sigur Ros!!!).

This here is also good, charming, and with superb and beautiful settings and pictures of a beautiful country: Iceland!

So try it.

Ten years later this very compact film still works its magic. Much has been said by many of the other contributors with one exception. It is not a film to be rushed. Rather you need to view at the speed the film dictates - not unlike "Paris, Texas. Like the swirling mists and snow it slowly envelops you. No frame is wasted. Even a casual remark in the aeroplane en-route to Iceland gives a link for the future.

Many different cultures have their cultural layers peeled back; American, Japanese, Icelandic and Norse mythology. It's up to the viewer to see what he or she sees.

I think the most telling scene in the film is the Icelander who befriends Hirata. Although he does not want to accompany Hirata to the ritual grave scene because of a 'spirit dream', he nonetheless is there to show him the way home. In so doing, he witnesses a universal value with Hirate - the passing of life.

There's much to be said for good small budget films. The story and direction have to be tightly constrained.

Something about this film has kept me thinking about it since I saw it in 2001. I had the fortunate opportunity to see it because, at that time, Des Moines (Iowa) had one of the best indie-movie rental places (Oddities), ever. Oddities just stocked walls of foreign films and rows of independent films.

Cold fever had the intriguing elements of a young Japenese businessman reluctantly, and by family obligation, traveling around Iceland. That was enough for us to want to check it out.

The story is tremendous. I love the style and the performances give by the actors. Friðrik Þór Friðriksson really captures the feeling of the main character on film. It is almost haunting how Hirata operates... how he meanders through the vastness of the landscape.

Great film, great ending. I wish they would get it on DVD along with other works by the director

A friend of mine gave me this video about a year ago. It never took me long to get round to watching it as he told me what a great film it was. The night in question me and my then girlfriend sat in front of the television and nothing was said until an hour and half later. Engrossing, exhausting and enlightening are all words which I would assiocate with this film. It is a great journey of a film starting in Japan and working its way to the empty expance of Iceland the pace is subdued though relentless. It is cultural and mystical, saddening and humorous. It is also one of the best films I've ever seen. It reminds me of a mixture of directors from its style, Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch and Gus Van Sant have all created films in which the same kind of atmosphere can be felt of crowded iscolation. p.s. watch for the gnome in the backround as he walks from the car to the farm.

Cold Fever is one of those rare films where the hero is on a serious and deeply spiritual quest, yet the drama and the philosophy never overshadows the humor. Within the first 15 minutes of the film's depiction of Hirata's trip through Iceland, he is seen standing in the back of a (very large) truck, riding into Reykjavik with numerous other men - all of which are singing (beautifully) in deep baritone voices, the entire way home. One of the men on the truck turns to Hirata and says:

"How do you like Iceland?"

"Very strange country." Hirata replies, and the actor's expression and tone of voice made it a perfect bit of foreshadowing for everything that lies ahead.

This is a story about a man's journey across Iceland to fulfill a family obligation. His parents drowned in a mountain river, and Hirata must go there to free their spirits from the place. However, while the weight of family obligation is what gets him started, and is the goal that keeps him going - the journey, with it's many colorful characters and strange adventures (many of which seem to be born of either luck or a very powerful spiritual guardian seeing this man to his final destination) are what affect and change the man who is on this journey. Yet, despite it's fantastical quality, the film never seems to loose it's suspension of disbelief. In other words, I found myself in awe of the adventure without becoming annoyed by the impossibility of it.

My only complaint would be the number of times Hirata decides to just walk away from a cab or a broken down car. 90% of the movie is filmed in Iceland, in the middle of winter, and the reality of walking around in a business suit (with a suitcase, briefcase, and poor walking shoes) wasn't (in my opinion) properly displayed. Anyone who has experienced sheer white snow-blind cold depicted in this movie would be tapping their fingers, wondering why this man isn't dead from exposure.

However, I must stress that my single complain is actually a minor one, because it actually enhances the mystical and magical quality of this film. Like I said, Hirata's comment ("Very strange country") is a wonderful bit of foreshadowing.

Highly recommended.

I saw Cold Fever when it was first released in the U.S. and have been (unsuccessfully so far) looking for it for about 5 years to see it again.

Some of the other comments have pointed to the way the Japanese and Icelandic elements--of folklore and spirituality, principally--weave together. I have always thought it was a beautiful homage to Kurosawa and perhaps other Japanese filmmakers, not just in the plot (which others have correctly seen as a "road movie") but in the whole pacing and look of the film--the colors, the composition of scenes, the attention to the characters. It's really too bad more people haven't seen it.

Hirata's enlightenment through his contacts with other characters who may be real, delusional (he is, in fact, fevered), or actual ghosts or spirits is compelling and thought-provoking for the viewer, who must also question what is "real," as well as what it means.

Cold Fever uses the diverse cultural and geographical backgrounds of Japan and Iceland to weave an intriguing story. There is nothing daunting or flashy in this movie, just a film that uses every aspect of its unique juxtaposition events locations and cultures to produce a fantastic example of the low budget film genre done to perfection.

a road movie, sometimes absurd, not jarmusch, not kaurismaeki, but there are some minutes one might think so. people seem to sing a lot in iceland. nordic landscape, an old red citroen, hijacking, snow, and Masatoshi Nagase as Hirata. not a samurai, just a stranger. (jim stark, credited as writer, has been executive producer of 3 or 4 jarmusch-movies, "night on earth" among others

In the last twenty years or so, since I have seen the film first on television, I have only become ever fonder of this timeless masterwork which I now have on a DVD bought in Iceland. It manages to be hilarious and deeply moving at the same time. The cinematography is outstanding, the music fitting and beautiful. I don't really understand why it's not better known internationally, and why the average user rating here is so mediocre. Well, it's not an action-filled blockbuster for sure. What it is: a superbly well-paced road movie with low key glimpses of the supernatural, touching questions of familial bonds - and all this as a kind of comedy.

Hirata, a japanese businessman, is forced to visit Iceland instead of Hawaii based on family matters.

At several occations I found this film very amusing and charming, especially Hirata and the strange icelandic people that he meets, asking; "How do you like Iceland ?" - As Hirata is tricked into buying a deep-frozen car, he uses this to travel across Iceland. The radio play terrible folk music, but can't be turned off.. And when he picks up two american hitchers Lili Taylor and Fisher Stevens, naturally the music drives them mad.. Hence the exclaim: "It's an icelandic torture chamber"...Great! With Masatoshi Nagase from "Mystery Train" as Hirata, thoughts go to Jim Jarmusch though mostly for the directing of the film.. A great, cold, atmospheric vision, strange and beautiful.

Iceland shares a deep kinship with the Japanese. "Cold Fever" has nothing to do with that kinship yet it is reflected in most every moment of this engaging work. The Americans are crass, the Icelanders are bizarre and the Japanese confused. This is truth at 24 frames a second. Friðrik Þór Friðriksson is a master at directing a film which you watch in stunned amazement - beginning to end - and then wonder "what just happened?" Your amazement doesn't leave after a night's sleep. You find little truths from this movie slipping into your consciousness. Somehow Icelandic behavior and the Japanese hero begin to influence your daily living. Peculiar. Worth every second of your time.

A wonderful spiritual comedy. The cinematography is unchallengeable. A beautiful landscape that oft times provides the illusion the filming was done in black and white. For those who love films about the majestic and mysterious journey of life, this one is not to be missed. On my top 10 list and waiting for release on DVD. In order to meet the 10 line minimum comment, I am forced into verbosity. Favorite scenes include the singing men in the truck, the cowboy bar, the conversation with the sheep's head, and of course the journey's revelation. For you Northerner's, ingnor the fact our hero would have frozen to death in the first 15 minutes and hear the message. Truly, this one could tempt you to vacation in Iceland.

I suppose the reason that I really liked this film, is that I have spent a lot of time in Iceland over the past 30 years. There are some great moments in the film regardless of whatever cultural reference you have, but if you have visited Iceland, and are familiar with the local folklore, you will really enjoy this film. Every time I view it, I marvel at the story line which has a Japanese visitor in winter trying to reach the site of his parent's accident, and all the Icelanders who help him and all the problems he has getting there. In Iceland there is always someone who will help you get to wherever you are going, for whatever reason. View the film, and form your own opinions. And then research the country and people where it took place, and watch it again.

In Cold Fever Fredrick Thor Fredrickson gives the viewer a peak into the Incelandic culture. Simply a beautiful film...15 years ago I was an exchange student and lived in Keflavik for a semester. It was the time of my life. While in Iceland a met some amazing people. One person in particular (an icelandic national) I consider one of my best friend today. I've been back to Iceland 5 times since, and he (and his family) have also visited me here in the states numerous times too...Needlesstosay, Iceland has a very spcecial place in my heart...

People often ask me "so what's Iceland like?" Of course I tell them all I know, but if they really want to get a glimpse into Iceland, I have them watch "cold fever".....truly a great piece of art!

I saw this movie with my date back in 1997. The movie overwhelmed me in every way and I was burst into tears at the end when the Japanese man finally was able to bring back the spirits of his parents. I was also so touched by the soundtrack but haven't been able to locate it at any music stores. Does anyone know where I can buy the soundtrack? Any suggestions are appreciated.

I feel as if I have just returned from a trip to Iceland. The cinematography of the area is spectacular and the scenes introduce you to a variety of people and Icelandic customs. Being a U.S. citizen, I really did not appreciate the "ugly American" portrayal of the couple from America. They were quite exaggerated and unrealistic cartoon like figures. Hopefully, that is not the way the Japaneses filmmaker sees us. The strength of the film, besides its cinematography is its journey structure, which leads to a place "not on the map." The ritual becomes the climax and the most emotionally satisfying part of the film.