For these of us who solely ever take into consideration reindeer when December attracts in, and even then in a reasonably summary sense, “Brace Your Coronary heart” arrives as a flinty actuality verify. Following the life and trials of a younger feminine reindeer herder within the current day, it’s stripped of any fairytale essence, and doesn’t stint on the grueling bodily and financial challenges of the occupation, even earlier than the ugly actuality of being a lady on this male-dominated realm is made clear. The third characteristic from Swedish writer-director Amanda Kernell follows on from her 2016 debut “Sámi Blood” in spotlighting the expertise of the indigenous Sámi neighborhood in northernmost Europe, to which Kernell herself belongs; the place that movie was a interval piece, powerfully inspecting Sweden’s colonial oppression of her individuals, the filmmaker’s newest is a testomony to the resilience of Sámi id (and womanhood, specifically) within the twenty first century.
After premiering in Toronto’s Oscar-qualifying Platform program — the place it obtained a particular point out from the jury — “Brace Your Coronary heart” had its European premiere in the primary competitors at San Sebastian: a pageant one-two that signifies the movie’s pretty broad arthouse attraction, regardless of its distant and little-known milieu. After “Sámi Blood” and Kernell’s 2020 sophomore characteristic “Constitution” achieved stable worldwide distribution, this rousing, accessible new work ought to comply with swimsuit — although given its youthful focus, specialist streaming might join the movie with its optimum viewers.
Very like “Sámi Blood,” which rested closely on the charisma of novice actress and Sámi reindeer herder Lene Cecilia Sparrok, “Brace Your Coronary heart” finds a uncooked new expertise in Elli Sara Valkeapää, additionally a herder, who handles an emotionally demanding position with spectacular subtlety and stoicism. She performs Ejva, the 20-year-old daughter of a reindeer herder who’s immediately thrust into her father’s footwear following his premature loss of life. Handed the literal reins to the household enterprise, she’s pressured to adapt quick to a tricky line of labor that takes an excessive toll on the physique and thoughts — and that’s with out such calamities as her snowmobile falling via skinny ice into the freezing waters beneath. Kernell and DP Sophia Olsson shoot that heart-in-mouth setpiece with a type of indifferent calm, as if to emphasize it’s simply one other dangerous day on the workplace.
Although Ejva is powerful and succesful and has the proud help of her household, she’s nonetheless overwhelmed by the calls for of going it alone — and so she strategically seeks an ally in Heaika (Andte Gaup-Juuso), a jockish native herding bigwig who has additionally been placing the strikes on her romantically. Following her head greater than her coronary heart, she humors these too, regardless of being significantly extra drawn to his gentler cousin Nejla (Vincent Niia), the person who rescued her from the aforementioned ice plunge. Framing this story of feminine company and management as a standard love triangle initially appears an oddly old school selection — although when Heaika’s habits takes a startlingly poisonous flip, “Brace Your Coronary heart” expands right into a research of contrasting faculties of Sámi masculinity. And when Ejva turns to the conveniences of recent, city life, she wonders if the trouble of sustaining her familial and cultural legacy is price it.
If Kernell’s screenplay can really feel a bit schematic in its funneling of wider social points into the small, exhausting story of 1 particular person, “Brace Your Coronary heart” is in any other case performed with pleasing, highly effective restraint — starting with Valkeapää’s quietly expressive efficiency of a naturally taciturn character. Typically shot in tight closeups that expose the cruel affect of the local weather on her options, she’s regularly given the posh of time to assume on display screen, significantly when weighing up essential selections on which the long run and status of her complete household might rely.
Kernell herself is a patiently observant filmmaker: Olsson’s digicam isn’t blind to the pale, spectacular sweep of the environment, however takes a practical, quasi-documentary method to the motion at hand. A touch of ethereal whimsy, albeit nonetheless couched in cultural authenticity, is offered by the breathy a capella swoops and stutters of Rebekka Karijord and Kristian Eidnes Andersen’s rating. Shot with a largely non-professional solid within the extraordinary, unyielding panorama of the Sápmi area, “Brace Your Coronary heart” gives an in depth window into the Sámi lifestyle, even outdoors the strictures of the script.
