Queerly Ever After #60: JITTERS (2010)

Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers. Also, don’t forget to buy your Queerly Ever After merch right here.

*This review comes with a content warning for self-harm and suicide.

While in Liverpool on a summer study abroad program, Icelandic 16-year-old Gabriel (Atli Oskar Fjalarsson) and his roommate, fellow Icelandic teen, Markus (Haraldur Stefansson) become fast friends. One night towards the end of their three-week program the teens go out drinking. The conversation turns to romance and before long, they are engaging in a light make-out session. Suddenly, Gabriel is struck with the kind of jitters everybody talks about when they have a crush. Returning home to Iceland, Gabriel and Markus part ways as friends. Gabriel’s mother, who means well but is overbearing, wants to know all about his time in England, but Gabriel, who is still processing what happened between him and Markus, keeps mum.

Life is Tough

While Gabriel is ultimately the lead of this Icelandic teen drama, the movie doesn’t solely focus on him, it also focuses on his group of friends and the issues they come face-to-face with during their summer break. First, there is Gabriel’s best friend Stella (Ilva Holmes), a depressed girl prone to self-harm who lives with her racist, emotionally abusive grandmother. She gets a summer job working at a local supermarket and strikes up a friendship with coworker Mitrovik (Vilhelm Þór Neto), a Russian immigrant of whom her horrid grandmother does not approve.

Then there is Gréta (Birna Rún Eiríksdóttir) who, after growing fed up with living with her alcoholic and immature mother, moves in with fellow teen Júdit (María Birta), and others. Gréta, who never knew who her father was, eventually convinces her mother to tell her his full name. She and Júdit decide to use social media to find out who he is. And then there is also the relationship drama between horndog Teddi (Elías Helgi Kofoed-Hansen) and his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Tara (Kristín Pétursdóttir).

This movie, which can best be described as Icelandic Skins, highlights the bleakness and depression of life for this group of teenagers. One night, when Stella goes home with Mitrovik, her grandmother shows up at his place and drags Stella back home. Mitrovik, is actually a very good guy who was just taking care of Stella when she got too drunk and offering her shelter away from her grandmother. This leads Stella to commit suicide.

The Boy is Back

While his friends are dealing with their own drama, Markus reenters Gabriel’s life. They run into each other on the street while Gabriel helps Gréta check out her new apartment, and Markus (who wants to be a hairdresser), asks Gabriel to come by the salon he is now working at so he can use him as a test subject. Gabriel and Markus start spending more tie together, but neither is courageous enough to admit they are interested in more than a friendship.

One night Markus invites Gabriel to a party his older brother is having. All seems to be going ok until Gabriel walks in on Markus drunkenly having sex with a girl. After avoiding Markus for a few weeks, Gabriel finally goes to talk to him. The two admit that the time they kissed in England was the first time either had ever kissed another boy before, and they definitely have feelings for each other.

In Conclusion: Jitters

Jitters is an enjoyable, but very dramatic, movie about teens in Iceland with a primary focus on Gabriel discovering his sexuality. It’s definitely worth a watch, especially for fans of shows like Skins or Degrassi.

Jitters was written by Ingibjörg Reynisdóttir and Baldvin Zophoníasson, and directed by Baldvin Zophoníasson. For all release dates for Jitters, see here.

Watch Jitters