{"id":20686,"date":"2020-06-24T22:57:39","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T05:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20686"},"modified":"2020-06-24T22:57:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T05:57:39","slug":"eurovision-song-contest-the-story-of-fire-saga-spins-an-amusingly-silly-tune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20686","title":{"rendered":"EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA Spins an Amusingly Silly Tune"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/24_0008_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10620\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This Netflix feature will be available for streaming on\nJune 26<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During a difficult time, it can be a nice break to shut\none\u2019s brain off and just try to have a bit of fun. <em>Eurovision Song Contest:\nThe Story of Fire Saga<\/em> attempts to help viewers do just that, using the\nvery real European music competition as a backdrop for utter silliness. Truth be\ntold, this movie is probably a bit too long for its own good. It also rambles\nin sections, giving the impression that much of the dialogue may have been\nimprovised on the spot. However, this reviewer couldn\u2019t help but find it an\namusingly sweet-natured affair, delivering a handful of big laughs and goofy\npop songs performed by outrageous personalities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Euro_Unit_32185r-1024x624.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20687\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All his life, Icelander Lars Erickssong (Will Farrell) has\nwanted to win the Eurovision Song Contest, despite being told he has little\nmusical talent. While Lars\u2019 father (Pierce Brosnan) expresses disappointment\nand embarrassment at his middle-aged son\u2019s continued efforts, bandmate Sigrit\nEricksdottir (Rachel McAdams) encourages them to continue reaching for the\nstars. Through blind luck, they are selected to compete in Reykjavik for a spot\nas the country\u2019s representative in the contest. An even more bizarre occurrence\nfinds them headed to Edinburgh, Scotland, to challenge the best acts from\nvarious countries. The meek pair encounter competitors like Alexander Lemtov\n(Dan Stevens), a Russian who sees potential in Sigrit and encourages her to leave\nLars behind and go solo.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Euro_Unit_23651r-1024x639.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20688\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story is very simple, much like the na\u00efve lead characters.\nThis is not a deep movie, with the main message being to sing from the heart\nand never let mistakes prevent you from attaining your goal. Most of the humor\npokes gentle fun at the over-the-top and outrageousness on display at the pop\nmusic contest. The leads certainly attempt it all with gusto. After a career\nplaying in bars to locals who only want to hear one very particular song over\nand over again, Lars and Sigrid must deal with nerves and discomfort as they\nperform for bigger and bigger audiences. And as the competition heats up, the elaborate\nperformances lead to more silliness from all parties involved. Some of memorably\nridiculous tunes include goofy titles like \u201cVolcano Man\u201d, \u201cYaya Ding Dong\u201d and\n\u201cLion of Love\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Euro_Unit_19814r-1024x627.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20689\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leads Farrell and McAdams appear to be having a good time playing\ntheir innocent characters, while Stevens camps it up for all his role is worth.\nThings do slow down as Lars begins to ignore his partner\u2019s concerns and the duo\ndeal with artistic differences and the negative influence of others. Their\nbickering does become repetitious and it doesn\u2019t feel like the script could\nhave used more deviousness from the Lemtov character. But the flat elements are\nbroken up soon enough by an entertainingly bizarre number or on-stage trip up. There\nis also a running joke throughout the movie about Sigrid\u2019s unwavering belief in\nguardian elves. Thankfully, this subplot delivers a hilarious pay-off late in\nthe film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s also an enjoyable change of pace to see supporting\nperformers like \u00d3lafur Darri \u00d3lafsson and Bj\u00f6rn Hlynur Haraldsson, known for\ntheir dark and grimacing roles in Nordic Noir procedural crime shows, play\ndecidedly less edgy and sharp-witted roles in this feature. And for those who\ndo follow the real competition, you will also witness several cameos from recent\nEuropean Song Contest winners, many of whom partake in a lengthy and impressive\nmusical mashup number midway through the picture.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Euro_Unit_09817r-1024x625.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20690\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And of course, the movie also benefits from some beautiful\nlocations in Iceland and Edinburgh. Admittedly, this movie is incredibly dopey not\nall of the jokes land. Yet those involved seem to have an affection towards the\nreal competition and most of the gags are good-natured and enjoyably silly. <em>Eurovision\nSong Contest: The Story of Fire Saga<\/em> may not earn a perfect score from all\nthe judges, but it is a sweet and entertaining endeavor that should win over some\nfans who decide to give it a spin.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Netflix feature will be available for streaming on June 26th. During a difficult time, it can be a nice break to shut one\u2019s brain off and just try to have a bit of fun. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga attempts to help viewers do just that, using the very real European [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,4660,4703,5104,6728,7105,7106,7107,7108,7109,9634,16085,16567,24285],"class_list":["post-20686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-comedy","tag-competition","tag-dan-stevens","tag-edinburgh","tag-eurovision","tag-eurovision-song-contest-the-story-of-fire-saga","tag-eurovision-song-contest-the-story-of-fire-saga-film-review","tag-eurovision-song-contest-the-story-of-fire-saga-movie-review","tag-eurovision-song-contest-the-story-of-fire-saga-review","tag-iceland","tag-pierce-brosnan","tag-rachel-mcadams","tag-will-farrell"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}