With an opening reminiscent of the Cannes winning short film Wind (Szel), Whale Valley is a grim story set in remote Denmark about a young boy whose elder brother is on the verge of hanging himself. It even has a beached whale thrown in as a memento mori. Exactly how they found a dead whale is another question. Anyway, written and directed by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundssonit, the film is certainly beautifully shot, with lots of windswept landscapes, and the young actors are convincing.
Its title refers to the film's heroine, a young girl who lives on her father's scrapyard. It soon becomes clear that she has special telekintic and healing powers (using them causes a nosebleed - a somewhat overused trope). When she comes across a group of teenage boys torturing a cat (a shortcut that tells us these are bad people) she feels obliged to save it. Despite being aware of the girl's awesome powers, the boys come to the scrapyard to take their revenge.
A sequal to Edgerton's internet hit, Spider, in which the male lead pretty much kills his girlfriend, Bear finds the same man with a new girlfriend (exactly why anyone would date this guy is a mystery to me) and pulling a similar prank. This time, he pretends to forget his girlfriend's birthday so he can surprise her in the woods. In all honesty, it's a bit too obvious for my tastes but it was nominated at Cannes!