Stephanie Izsak

Eggars is, at heart, an arthouse director, and those proclivities couldn’t be dulled by the high budget and glittering cast of The Northman. As a result, many viewers won’t sign on for it. They’ll be expecting a Gladiator-type film, which follows the formula and spoon feeds it’s significance. Eggars’ MO is more focused and evocative, his work challenging. The film, a beautiful work, only struggles when the tensions between Eggars’ auteurism and mass appeal show.