Critics reviews

Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s sensitive, slightly over-extended debut begins thus and goes on to strike further familiar notes from the coming-of-age playbook... Still, Guðmundsson just about makes the old songs new again.

Some tighter editing was needed, not merely in terms of length but in giving more emphasis to the older generation and to Thor’s sisters. But it is a fervent, intensely acted drama.

Despite its need for serious narrative compression, this remains an emotionally authentic, often poignant look at growing up and growing aware... This well-performed, atmospheric film (the Icelandic scenery proves its own memorable character) gains a stirring head of steam in its third act as a dire action has unexpectedly healing, credibly affecting consequences.

Less a structured story than a series of fleeting impressions, it is told not through dialogue or exposition, but through ephemeral, sensuous details — long hair whipped by gusts of wind, sunlight trapped in the peach fuzz of a cheek, droplets of sweat beading the nape of a neck, fingers beginning to prune in spring water. And that gives this remarkably assured debut... its immersive sense of immediacy.

The type of debut film that is brimming with good intentions but ultimately doesn't make a strong enough case for its existence. Trading in coming-of-age tropes and stock markers of identity, Heartstone at least has the courtesy to spread its youthful anxieties over a stunning Icelandic coastal landscape, allowing its children to skulk around on verdant rolling hills and take truth-or-dare plunges into crystalline lakes and streams.

Richly atmospheric but inordinately long at 129 minutes, the film toggles its main characters' arcs for a stretch, before giving preferential treatment to the less dramatically challenging of the two. Still, first-time feature director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson steers proceedings with enough serenity and sensitivity to soften stonier hearts in the arthouse market.

Affecting as well as perceptive in how it intimately depicts the awkward blossoming of youth, "Heartstone" wades into the crowded coming-of-age genre with just the right amount of confidence, compassion and clear-eyed style.

Sensitive performances from the young cast ensure that the story ultimately acquires poignancy, and the arresting physical setting helps disguise the familiarity of some of its coming-of-age signposts. But at two hours plus, the film spends too much time idling; it could use a more ruthless edit to illuminate the confused feelings of its dueling leads.