Nest review: A meditative Icelandic short shot from just one angle

3.5/5

STORY: Over the course of a year, three siblings tirelessly work together to build a house on stilts. Standing still amid the beauty and brutality of different seasons, their tiny ‘nest’ is also the place they struggle and experience moments of pure joy.

REVIEW: Icelandic filmmaker-screenwriter Hlynur Pálmason’s 22-minute film Nest is meditative yet moving. Shot just outside the director’s home in Hornafjörður, a fjord located in southeastern Iceland, Nest is created over a period of one year. The movie premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2022, and went on to win several film festival awards throughout the year. 

It’s the story of three siblings - Hlynur’s children - who painstakingly build a tiny home on stilts, which over the course of 12 months braves snow, rain, wind and thunderstorms. The short film celebrates the minutiae, without necessarily carrying the burden of a deep philosophical message. Perhaps, the most intriguing aspect about the movie is that the director’s frame doesn’t move. Yes, Nest is a one-camera-angle film, featuring three children as actors and their murmurs as dialogues. Yet, the short poignantly conveys that change is the only constant. It documents the young cast, as they devote their time and energy in building a home, little by little every day. 

On some days, these kids are found climbing the hanging ladder to reach the room above, while on other days, they are seen trying to pull things up using a rope. Again there are times when they sit on the edge and admire the scenic backdrop. Once during the peak of winter, the mischievous little one while trying to climb onto the roof of the house came tumbling down on top of a snowman below, as his elder sister and brother looked on. 

The house isn’t just a place to unwind or play around, these three kids also do their best to keep the surroundings clean and tidy. On balmy summer evenings, the chatterings seem to be in sync with the twinkling fairy lights that they have decorated the house with. What the camera is discreetly documenting is more than them just rollicking around their safe haven. It’s also a story about their consistent efforts to nurture what they have created and where they feel at home, possibly a place where they like to retire shrugging off all the worries of the day. Never mind, if the house is perched on stilts, they have managed to climb above even with a fractured leg. 

Come to think of it, via this short, Hlynur managed to paint a picture of ‘microcosmic utopia’, punctuated by warm and whimsical elements. Standing against picturesque yet sometimes harsh and ceaselessly changing backdrops, their little ‘nest’ depicts the ‘home’ that so many of us are probably looking for without realising it. 

VERDICT: This delicately made film, laced with stunning stills from a remote location in Iceland, is a one-of-its-kind film that thrives on the subtleties and spontaneity. Although wobbly, the little ones’ ‘nest’ provides the perfect vantage point for us to look within and find that ‘constant’ in us. The kids’ untamed energy and their little moments of joy are the clear winners though.