‘Against the Current’ is a study in perseverance

Above : Icelander Veiga Grétarsdottir is the subject of the documentary “Against the Current,” which opens Friday at the Magic Lantern Theatre. (Photo/Kino Lorber)

I’ve already run down four of the films that are supposed to be opening this week. But there’s a fifth, and it’s scheduled to play at the Magic Lantern .

“Against the Current,” a documentary directed by Oskar Pall Sveinsson, tells the story of Veiga Grétarsdottir, a transgender woman who decided to kayak around her home country of Iceland.

As Kristen Yoonsoo Kim wrote in the New York Times, Grétarsdottir had been going against the current her whole life. That obvious metaphor describes her dual journey, as a kayaker and as the person, now in her mid-40s, who transitioned at age 38.

“The documentary follows Gretarsdottir on her 103-day journey, as she traverses the tides,” Kim wrote, “while also dealing with hormone injections, diet maintenance and decades of repressed self-expression.”

The result, wrote Michael Ordoña for the Los Angeles Times, is invigorating: “The document of Grétarsdóttir’s feat is exhausting (in a good way). You come out feeling you’ve learned about the rigors of kayaking and the courage any such journey demands.”

And, added Steve Erickson for the New York-based Gay City News, “ ‘Against the Current’ doesn’t waste time arguing about trans female athletes’ legitimacy. It just shows the life of one such woman and celebrates her accomplishments, with great pictorial style.”

As an added attraction, the Lantern is also opening “Summer of Soul,” along with the rest of its slate, comprising “Werewolves Within,” “In the Heights,” “Dream Horse” and “Queen Bees.”

Ah, isn’t it nice to escape the heat and watch a movie?