Beautiful Beings

Plot

The film opens with teenage Balli being bullied at school and attacked by a group of boys on his way home. After fighting back, he is struck in the face with a tree branch, leaving him injured and requiring him to wear a mask. In the evening his schoolmate Addi and his mother watch a news segment mentioning the attack, the next day he befriends Balli along with his other friends Siggi, a wild and impulsive boy, and Konni, nicknamed "The Animal" due to his love for fighting and womanizing.

After Konni learns that an older boy, Jónas, intends to beat him for kissing his girlfriend, he asks Addi for help and together they attack Jónas at a gas station. The boys subsequently spend time at Balli's home, where he reveals that his father is dead, his stepfather is imprisoned, and his mother and sister are frequently absent. Addi narrates that Siggi and Konni have abusive fathers, at home his clairvoyant mother shares her dreams and their perceived meanings with him which Addi dismisses.

Together the boys prank a strange boy from the neighborhood named Danni, by tricking him into snorting flour by telling him it's cocaine. When Danni claims to have sexually assaulted Balli, the others initially laugh, but Konni beats him after Balli begins to vehemently deny the allegation. Later, Konni assaults partygoers after one of them spits on a girl accompanying them on a night out, and Addi reluctantly becomes involved while trying to stop him. Afterwards Addi tells Konni that he no longer wants to fight or hurt others.

After Jónas and several older boys attack the group, Konni enlists the help of an older gang led by Símon. That night at a party held at Balli's house, Addi has a psychic premonition and discovers Símon and his friend sexually assaulting an incapacitated Konni. He stops them by threatening them with Balli's stepfather's shotgun. The next day Konni denies that anything happened and becomes hostile when Addi talks about it. That night Addi dreams about Konni jumping off a building while holding onto him, which he interprets as another premonition.

When Balli's stepfather is released from prison Addi dreams that he is abusing Balli and his sister, which Balli reluctantly confirms after he asks him about it. Konni decides that the group will confront his stepfather despite Balli's objections. During the confrontation, the stepfather fights back and Addi strikes him in the back of the head with a baseball bat, leaving him in a vegetative state.

The boys are taken into custody and questioned. Addi's mother initially encourages him to cooperate, but tells him to remain silent after learning that he caused the injury. Balli takes responsibility for the attack and is placed in foster care. In the final scene, Addi visits Balli, who is doing much and thanks Addi for being his friend.

Cast

Birgir Dagur Bjarkason as Addi

Áskell Einar Pálmason as Balli

Viktor Benóný Benediktsson as Konni

Snorri Rafn Frímannsson as Siggi

Aníta Briem as Guðrún (Addi's mother)

Ísgerður Elfa Gunnarsdóttir as Hulda (Balli's mother)

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Svenni

Kristín Ísold Jóhannesdóttir as Hófí (Balli's sister)

Blær Hinriksson as Símon

Theodór Pálsson as Danni Braindead

Kamilla Guðrún Lowen as Anna

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 22 critics' reviews are positive.

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

In his review on Los Angeles Times, Robert Abele wrote that "the pacing is sometimes shaggy, and the boys’ motivations are occasionally mysterious, but Guðmundsson's young actors are magnetic in a physical, haunted way". At The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw rated it 3/5 of its grade saying that "Beautiful Beings is shot with real style, with very good performances, but the cliched and consequence-free violence is a flaw."