Moonstone

The mind-bending miniature historical epic is Sjón''s specialty and Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was is no exception. But it is also Sjón''s most realistic accessible and heartfelt work yet. It is the story of a young man on the fringes of a society that is itself at the fringes of the world--at what seems like history''s most tumultuous perhaps ultimate moment. Máni Steinn is queer in a society in which the idea of homosexuality is beyond the furthest extreme. His city Reykjavik in 1918 is homogeneous and isolated and seems entirely defenseless against the Spanish flu which has already torn through Europe Asia and North America and is now lapping up on Iceland''s shores. And if the flu doesn''t do it there''s always the threat that war will spread all the way north. And yet the outside world has also brought Icelanders cinema! And there''s nothing like a dark silent room with a film from Europe flickering on the screen to help you escape from the overwhelming threats--and adventures--of the night to transport you to make you feel like everything is going to be all right. For Máni Steinn the question is whether at Reykjavik''s darkest hour he should retreat all the way into this imaginary world or if he should engage with the society that has so soundly rejected him.