#68 - Producing Adults

So what better way to break this blogger's rut than by reviewing a Finish queer movie from 2004. There's a better way you say? Lies!

So, what to say about this film? Well, Variety does get it right - it was entertaining, and it was also charming, but it also was dark. It is by no means a happy go lucky movie. The themes are indeed for mature audiences. The viewer grows like the characters, even if you are left pretty much frustrated by all of them.

I guess the best way to describe the film is by saying that it was like it captured a group of people in a particular moment in time. There is not a lot of exposition, but that doesn't mean that it's not hard to figure out what is going on in the film. Near the end, there isn't a lot of wrap up, just a lot of things left unsaid, and not entirely resolved for the future. However, this does not detract from the actual film itself. This in itself does make the movie charming and since there is this humane quality to the film, it also makes it easier to forgive that characters for their transgressions, which believe me - there are plenty.

Summary

The film starts off focusing on the long term relationship between Venla and Antero. She finds out that she is pregnant, but soon after miscarries, which wasn't so accidental. This however, has left Venla wanting a child. Meanwhile, that would be the last thing in Antero's mind, especially since he is focusing on his Olympic dreams. A good portion of the movie is spent with both willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that their desires are achieved. The extremes that both characters are willing to go are pretty comical, but on the hand, when one begins to think of the desperation in both of the, one is left feeling sorry for them.

One such extreme lands Venla receiving help from her co-worker, Satu. Here is where the real romance begins. The two women fall in love with each other and try to prevail despite the baggage that both of them carry.

Like I previously mentioned, the ending of the movie does a provide some kind of resolution, but nothing is completely left closed. The audience is left to assume the fate of the characters, albiet it - it is a happy fate.

Criticism

This was a good movie and I don't really have many negative things to say about it. The acting and cinematography were both really great. A small problem I had with the film was the way that men were treated by the film. For most of the movie, they were portrayed as jackasses or idiots. At the end, most do receive a reprieve, and they are shown as multi-dimensional people, but I feel like the damage had already been done.

All in all however, it was a decent movie and I would look into into it and see what you think of it.