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Review

Björk imparts a strong, naturalistic presence as Selma, a displaced Czech in small-town, 1960s America. Going blind from a hereditary disease, Selma is fighting an unrelenting deadline, working backbreaking and tedious jobs, scrounging for money for her son's eye operation, armed only with steely determination and an unbreakable code of honor. She can transmute the noises of her factory job into music, imagining elaborate dance numbers like those she barely sees on the silver screen. She's an innocent in a world of opportunistic betrayal, a grounded element in a broad allegory of sacrifice. The film presents a premise with strong potential but suffers somewhat from a rambling self-indulgence. Yet, while the narrative structure could have been tighter, there are moments of charming whimsy, moments of gut-wrenching anguish, delivered with a sure hand by a remarkable cast who prevent the pathos from devolving into bathos. Watch it knowing that it will rip your heart out.