Land Ho!
Spring 2015 Features series
Sunday, April 26, 2015 at 4:00pm
Sunday, April 26, 2015 at 7:00pm
Acadia Cinema's Al Whittle Theatre
450 Main Street, Wolfville, NS
Directed by Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens
Screenplay by Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens
Starring Earl Lynn Nelson, Paul Eenhoorn, and Daníel Gylfason
Rated 14A ·
1h 35m
Iceland / USA
English
An official selection of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the utterly charming Land Ho! follows the bawdily comedic escapades of aged ex-brothers-in-law Colin (Paul Eenhoorn, This is Martin Bonner) and Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson) as they set off across Iceland’s first-class cities, grand coastlines and hauntingly primordial countryside with the intent of “getting their grooves back.”
Disenchanted with life after a forced retirement, former oculoplastic surgeon Mitch shows up on the recently divorced Colin’s doorstep with two tickets for an all-expenses-paid trip to the Land of the Midnight Sun. Mitch has planned a busy itinerary—luxury hotels, indulgent spas, picturesque hiking, renowned restaurants and trendy nightclubs—all in the interests of helping him and his long-time pal escape the monotony of their everyday lives back home in America. The off-beat pairing of the brash, unruly Mitch and the forlorn, mild-mannered Colin soon proves to be a perfect storm of trouble as they mull over art, baffle over molecular gastronomy, and skip from lighthouses to lighting up.
Collaborating for the first time, writer/directors Martha Stephens (Pilgrim Song) and Aaron Katz (Cold Weather) further establish themselves as leading lights of contemporary American independent filmmaking. With Land Ho!, they have created a light, lively throwback to those 1980s road comedies we all loved while touching movingly on themes of aging, loneliness and friendship.
“A balm for the harried soul, Land Ho! is part travelogue, part therapy session. Watching it could inspire you to call an old friend or book a trip to an exotic locale. Maybe both.” (Diane Garrett, The Wrap)
“Land Ho! is a hot spring of a movie: It fizzes a lot, and you come out feeling better than you went in.” (Ty Burr, Boston Globe)
“It’s a funny and moving film about aging, but it’s also a wacky journey across Iceland with two characters who are instantly likable and ultimately quite lovable.” (Daniel Fienberg, HitFix)