Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Hellmant 'RAMS': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five) An Icelandic drama about two estranged sheep farming brothers, that are forced to deal with a tragic infection; which wipes out both of their flocks. The film was written and directed by Grimur Hakonarson. It stars Sigurour Sigurjonsson and Theodor Juliusson. The movie's received mostly positive reviews from critics, and it's also won a few prestigious awards. I found it to be a little too slow-paced, but it is somewhat touching (especially if you're an animal lover).Gummi (​​Sigurjonsson) and Kiddi (Juliusson) are two sheep farming brothers in Iceland. They haven't talked to each other in over forty years, despite the fact that they live across from each other. When one of their flocks is infected by a deadly infection, called scrapie, all of the sheep in the area have to be killed (in order to avoid re-infection). One brother decides to hide some of his (seemingly) uninfected sheep; and the two decide to work together, for the first time in several years, in order to protect them.The movie is beautifully shot, and it's filled with decent performances. I don't feel like I got to know the brothers that well, but I still ended up caring about them; and I especially cared about their sheep. Although the movie doesn't go into great detail, about the two brothers' lives (or their past relationship), you can tell that they really cared about their sheep. So I definitely cared about them.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M9osPwjfbM

krocheav What can you truly say about an Icelandic film that features - as the principal story line - two sheep farming brothers who've not spoken to each other in 40years? Yes, it looks good (this part of the worlds film makers are the last to leave a scene on screen for long enough for the viewer to fully say they saw it!). Only problem here, is the scenes, like the story, are minimalist. The performances are untypical so you feel you could be watching a documentary about the actual farmers of the region - this is a plus. The landscapes are stark and shot to capture the vast emptiness with cold honesty. The music is as stark and cold as the story and surroundings - also a plus. The story reminds us of the sibling rivalry that raked several Biblical families and nations. The real star just could have been the astoundingly intelligent dog who acts as the go-between-postal service between these two somewhat ignorant men - this animal has to seen to be believed. The tragedy of devastating livestock diseases that sweep through these isolated farming communities is understandably gut wrenching for every poor soul involved but, the main focus of the story poses other asides that don't seem to be fully explored.If you, like me, don't feel satisfied with open-ended finales...endings where you have to imagine the final outcome, then you may not be fulfilled by the final fade out. Yes, there are only two possibilities as closures but, which one was it! OK, there is a resolve to some relationship aspects --but you felt that coming anyway-- so what about survival? the possibility between life or death in these frozen outdoor situations is as minimal as the story and gets to be less so with each exposed minute...Overall this is reasonably good character study (albeit odd characters) that keeps you watching even though it could have offered a touch more. Not for Action aficionados but at least it beats the cheap World Movie channel's usual perverse trash-fests hands down!

poe-48833 The double entendre of the title isn't lost on the viewer (at least, not THIS one). RAMS is one of those movies whose carefully measured Real World pace will cause those accustomed to the break-neck "pace" of American television (not to mention television's in-bred big brother, The Movies)to squirm in their seats. BUT.. for those of us to whom Drama is no Commercial-interrupted pastime, RAMS delivers. The hard-headed brothers whose stubbornness threatens to consume them both is given the kind of realistic treatment rarely (if ever) found in American movies, and it makes for satisfying entertainment. (The use of the dog as a means of communication was a nice touch.)

CineMuseFilms The family drama is an elastic genre label that is used when nothing else fits. It is an odd label for RAMS (2015), an endearing tale of an unconventional family consisting of two estranged brothers and their rams who live on adjacent farms in Iceland. They have not spoken for 40 years, are fiercely competitive with their prize-winning rams, and sometimes communicate via dog-carried notes or bullets through a window. They love their rams like kinfolk, pet them, kiss them and clearly are devoted shepherds. While the outside world buzzes with social and digital media innovation, life goes on for brothers Gummi and Kiddi as it has for generations amidst the harsh natural beauty of rural Iceland. Their fractious but largely peaceful co-existence is shattered when a highly contagious disease is discovered in the flock and local authorities decree that all must be destroyed.The story itself is not the point of RAMS. Rather it is an immersive insight into life on an Icelandic farm told through sensitive cinematography and understated storytelling. The vast space across rugged wind-swept landscapes have a brutal beauty and enter our viewing space with a chill you can feel. Long camera takes and even longer silences are expressions about the brothers lives in an environment untouched by modernity, with quirky Icelandic wit to brighten a muted colour palette of white and grey. The musical score erupts expressively to accentuate moments of humour, sadness and hope, often with just a few single dramatic piano chords. The scenes where beloved stock must be destroyed brought audible sniffles across my cinema. Through adversity, the brothers are forced to rely on each other and in the process renew something that should not have been lost so long ago.As an independent film RAMS is free to roam wherever its directorial and storytelling intentions choose and this results in a refreshingly different movie experience. Many will wonder why it has been so highly lauded because the pace is glacially slow, the actors are more like cameo characters, and some will find the concept of loving animals like family a bit weird. But others will see the primal relationship of shepherd to land and flock, be touched by the love that surfaces from under decades of sibling discord, and enjoy an old fashioned story about farm life in a hostile place. The ending is poignant, ambivalent, and a metaphor for the triumph of love and family.