Finland

  • Tia Kouvo – Mummola AKA Family Time (2023)

    2021-2030ComedyDramaFinlandTia Kouvo

    An annual family Christmas get-together that sees the usual tensions rise.

    Mummola begins with a door that keeps on opening to let its characters into a house surrounded by nature that will be the setting of much of the film, and welcomes the audience into a small world that is portrayed with fierce tenderness and surprising rigour. Three generations come together for the holidays and re-enact a seasonal ritual of traditions, conversations and household chores. These elements would seem to indicate the return of the Nordic family drama, but Tia Kouvo’s debut is more of a “comédie humaine” that opts instead for an analysis of behaviour, relationships and private spaces that is both ironic and harrowing. In between meals around the table, anecdotes, TV programmes and, yes, saunas, there are no secrets or traumas to be revealed, but above all gestures to observe and silences to interpret.Read More »

  • T.J. Särkkä – Kuu on vaarallinen AKA Prelude to Ecstasy [Uncensored] (1961) 

    1961-1970DramaEroticaFinlandT.J. Särkkä

    IMDB wrote:
    An atmospheric indian summer triangle drama.
    Decent melodrama from the studio era. Liana Kaarina plays a vamp-like young vagrant hitch hiker, who gets a ride from older industrialist who consequently takes her to his summer house to be his mistress. She takes full advantage of the situation and plans a prosperous marriage when she meets a young man while skinny dipping…

    Surprisingly fresh effort from (the biggest studio mogul of Finland) Särkkä, who (with great help from the master cinematographer Olavi Tuomi) succeeds in creating a suitably sleazy atmosphere to unfold the drama in.Read More »

  • Aku Louhimies – Tuntematon sotilas AKA Unknown Soldier (2018)

    2011-2020Aku LouhimiesDramaFinlandWar

    The story of a Finnish Army machine gun company operating in the Karelian front during the Continuation War from mobilization in 1941 to the Moscow Armistice in 1944.Read More »

  • Teuvo Tulio – Olet mennyt minun vereeni AKA You Have Gone Into My Blood (1956)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaFinlandNordic NoirTeuvo Tulio

    Quote:
    The Finnish national tendency toward alcoholism lurks behind Teuvo Tulio’s association of destruction with drinking—downing the first shot marks the beginning of dissipation in all of his films. Alcohol is inextricably intertwined with sex, corruption of innocence demonstrated by a woman accepting a glass of wine from a man, lost virginity symbolized by a tipped over or broken champagne flute. Regina Linnanheimo’s final collaboration with Tulio addressed alcoholism head on in You Have Gone Into My Blood (1956). Since his career was on its final downturn in the mid-50s, the film was made under the auspices of alcohol prevention education to ensure funding. In a project she scripted herself, Linnanheimo plays Rea, a sheltered plain-jane who is driven to drink after two worldly men seduce her into a romantic triangle.Read More »

  • Katja Gauriloff – Säilöttyjä Unelmia AKA Canned Dreams (2012)

    2011-2020DocumentaryFinlandKatja Gauriloff

    A simple can of ravioli propels this spectacular 30,000-kilometre, eight-country journey through all phases of food production and the far flung sources of international ingredients. A dream-like voyage with glimpses of disconcerting realities, the story begins with a single mother toiling in one of the biggest open pit mines in Brazil and ends on the shelf of a grocery store in Finland. Along the way, the workers whose calloused hands mine, raise and harvest each ingredient reveal their dreams and hopes, like the Danish pig farmer who loves his sows but longs for a girlfriend, and the Portuguese tomato picker who wants to stay healthy long enough to pay her daughters way through university. Sumptuous photography and impressive sound design make an eloquent statement about our modern, globalized world, making us aware of the hundreds of invisible people who prepare the food we eat every day. -Gisèle Gordon (HotDocs.ca)Read More »

  • Rainer Sarnet – Nähtamatu võitlus AKA The Invisible Fight (2023)

    Rainer Sarnet2021-2030ActionComedyFinland

    Synopsis:
    A guard on the Soviet-Chinese border who, after surviving a deadly attack, decides to become a monk but must continually prove along the way that he’s capable of becoming the enlightened man he set out to be.Read More »

  • Hanna Maylett – Espoon viimeinen neitsyt AKA Suburban Virgin (2003)

    2001-2010DramaFinlandHanna Maylett

    Two teenage girls, one of them desperate to lose her virginity, take a hitchhiking road trip.Read More »

  • Ilkka Järvi-Laturi – Kotia päin AKA Homebound (1989)

    Ilkka Järvi-Laturi1981-1990DramaFinlandThriller

    Imdb:
    Mika’s (Ilkka Koivula) mother marries a man who is getting out of the jail. At the beginning everything seems to be all right. Mika leaves Oulu, an industrial city up in Northern Finland, to study in the capital, Helsinki. He does very well with his studies and also begins a relationship with the girl he knew already back in Oulu. Meanwhile the new husband reveals his true self – and all of a sudden things get very serious.Read More »

  • Maunu Kurkvaara – Meren juhlat AKA Feast by the Sea (1963)

    Maunu Kurkvaara1961-1970ArthouseDramaFinland
    Meren juhlat (1963)
    Meren juhlat (1963)

    Sini decides to invite her old lover, Jaakko to a party, but they end up on an island where they met each others 10 years ago. At the island they talk about their lives, relationships, hopes and desires. – mubiRead More »

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