Inni is Sigur Rós' second live film following 2007's hugely celebrated tour documentary Heima. Whereas that film positioned the enigmatic group in the context of their Icelandic homeland... Inni focuses purely on the band's performance, and stands as a stark counterpoint to Heima's kaleidoscopic richness. Where Heima was lush and colorfully expansive, Inni is spare and near-monochromatic... Filmed in a manner that invites both intimacy and claustrophobia, Inni cocoons the viewer in a one-on-one relationship with the band, eschewing the audience for closeness, depicting how it feels for both band and fan to experience Sigur Rós live.
The film's elegance and atmosphere are enhanced by [Vincent] Morisset's re-filming of the original digital footage on 16mm, which was then re-filmed again, sometimes through prisms and other found objects, allowing Inni to look and feel like something recovered from the past. Interspersed with this is archival footage drawn from the band's previous decade, dating back as far as 1998. This juxtaposition gives viewers the full scope of Sigur Rós' origins, evolution, originality and influence.
Inni is the intimate in the middle of a big stage. It's the abstraction of the gestures and the magnification of delightful details. It's a tribute to the unique energy of Sigur Rós. Inni leaves room to all the beautiful images that come to our minds when we listen to their music.
Also note jónsi's soundtrack contribution to You've Been Trumped, also screening at this year's VIFF.