Land Ho! (2014)

Jack, Ann, and I enjoyed this languid tale of two old friends traveling in Iceland, with glorious photography and an upbeat soundtrack. Earl Lynn Nelson (72) is, like his character Mitch, a retired doctor--not a professional actor--who is from Kentucky and practiced in New Orleans. Mitch is kind of boorish, and every now and then when I was thinking I'd had enough of him, the scene cut away (co-director Aaron Katz also edited) to another beautiful shot by cinematographer Andrew Reed. Co-director Martha Stephens is Nelson's cousin and she also hired him to act in her two previous features (that's his entire acting resumé). Paul Eenhoorn (65), an Australian who is new to me despite his 30 credits, plays Colin as low-key and thoughtful. FYI I found the actors' ages not at my usual reference imdb, but by reading a review on the AARP website.

Ann asked me after the movie if there was a script and I assured her there was, having read that Stephens and Katz propelled the low-budget project from idea to completion in one year (here's more to read if you want). But AARP reports that Nelson and Eenhoorn improvised about half the dialogue, which explains a lot. There's a scene where Mitch meets a honeymooning hipster couple, who are played by Ben Kasulke (he shot Safety Not Guaranteed and Your Sister's Sister, among others) and Christina Jennings, who worked on this movie as second camera operator and producer, respectively.

I'm having fun listening as I write to the soundtrack and outtakes by Keegan DeWitt, streamed from this page on his website.

Speaking of AARP, two friends saw this on Saturday afternoon. At ages 66 and 73, they thought they were the youngest folks in the room. I'm not sure the demographics of the audience today because we always watch the full credits and everyone else is gone by the time the lights go up.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics weigh in at 78% and audiences at 60. We liked it and it cemented our desire to see Iceland one day.