In fact, to term Noi an outsider is like calling the frozen fjords where he lives chilly. This diffident but confident young man's idea of a date is breaking into a natural history museum and when he deigns to attend school he unselfconsciously falls asleep at his desk. Yet his psychiatrist pronounces him a 'wonder child' and when his long suffering headmaster admits, "I've always rather liked you, Noi", it's easy to see the teenager's uncanny but unemployed potential. However, when a city girl arrives in Noi's home town, he falls for the newcomer's charms and the film follows their eccentric romance and his attempts to escape the fjords.

DID YOU KNOW?
	Gérard Lemarquis, who plays the schoolteacher, is the real life father of Tómas Lemarquis, who stars as Noi   Dagur Kári wrote the screenplay for Noi the Albino and helped compose the music

Surprisingly, Dagur Kári's adept direction allows the film to retain a semblance of realism which ensures the horrifying climax comes as a powerful, emotional body blow. The film's potency also derives from Tómas Lemarquis's extraordinary central performance. "When I sat down to write the script I was concerned that I would not be able to find a young, talented actor who had a striking appearance," commented Kári, "(but)… It was immediately clear to me that he (Lemarquis ) was the only guy in Iceland who could do this part. Nói really has to stand out in a crowd and be totally different from everybody else. He represented all of these qualities."

For all its weird charisma and bizarre plot strands, Noi the Albino essentially remains a straight study of youth, longing and tragically impossible dreams. Whimsical without being trivial, the movie represents a moving and memorable addition to Icelandic cinema.