By: Sikumithefilm
"An Inuit hunter drives his dog team out on the frozen Arctic Ocean in search of seals, but instead, becomes a witness to murder. Winner of the Jury Prize for Short Filmmaking at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival."
Hearing that Sikumi or “On the Ice” had won awards I was very excited to watch this movie. My expectations were really high, what could it be, what could it be. What turned out was a touch disappointing. It’s a nice little movie no doubt, but an award-dinner at Sundance…that can’t be right. The start is promising – as the protagonist Apuna, rides his sled through the icy terrains of Arctic he finds a murder taking place. But, what transpires next is well nothing much actually. With such a great start the story could have evolved into something better, but the writer just didn’t want to take any risk it seemed. Moreover, the acting was rather poor and dialogue-delivery shoddy.
While saying all this I do want to mention that the place where this movie is shot is one of the hardest places on earth to make a movie. So kudos to them for trying and actually managing to get some great shots of the landscape. With snow and ice all round you it’s very difficult for the cameraman to maintain correct exposure…but you won’t find any such faults here.
Lastly, I think my expectations were a bit too much. If I had watched it without knowing it’s an award winner I might have enjoyed it more, and since I have told you that….ooops!!! :p
