Three days from now, my native country Finland will be celebrating its Independence Day. Therefore I figured I'd share a ranking of my favorite Finnish films as a means of celebration! I'm only counting films produced in Finland, so awesome foreign movies by Finnish directors such as Klaus Härö's Miekkailija (2015) and Dome Karukoski's Tolkien (2019) will not be eligible.
My honorable mentions are: Helmiä Ja Sikoja (2003), Joulutarina (2007), Skavabölen Pojat (2009), Tom Of Finland (2017), Tyttö, Sinä Olet Tähti (2005).
10. Tove (2020)
From this very year comes a fresh entry into the gallery of my favorite Finnish films. Tove is a biopic about Tove Jansson, the iconic artist and author best known for creating the beloved Moomin-cartoons. The actress Alma Pöysti absolutely kills it in the main role, beautifully bringing Jansson's famous creativity and quirkiness to life. The story follows many aspects from the life of its main character, making for a substantial and inspiring biopic that shows how much there was to Tove's life. Look out for this gem when I post my list of the best movies of 2020 at the end of the year!
9. Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä (2002)
The only Finnish film (so far) to be nominated for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award certainly deserves its critical acclaim. What really gets me about Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä ("The Man Without a Past") is how little there is to it - the story is very simple and straight-forward, the dialogue is minimalistic (as per usual for director&writer Aki Kaurismäki, very much Finland's own David Lynch) and everything is quite easy to follow (despite the director being Finland's own David Lynch).
The story being so simple allows for the audience to truly immerse themselves in the atmosphere, and appreciate how well-made the film is. The artistic cinematography and beautiful Finnish scenery make for a great milieu, and the realistic and minimalistic dialogue makes for a fascinating exploration of Finnish culture (we really don't talk much up here). Kaurismäki really manages to find the heart of the Finnish mentality with this film, as there is a lot of cultural significance in between the lines of the various character interactions.
8. Rare Exports (2010)
Of all the film premises ever created, this has got to be one of the coolest. With the Christmas movie genre done to death (not that I'm one to complain, I love clichéd heartfelt Christmas movies from the bottom of my heart but I also like it when people change things up), screenwriter and director Jalmari Helander had quite the ultimate "Santa Claus - but with a twist" idea. You see, Santa Claus is "Joulupukki" in Finnish, but before Christianity made its way to this land of ours, Joulupukki was a monstrous creature in pagan folklore. No, I'm not kidding. And for this unconventional yuletide film, Helander decided to zero in on the original Joulupukki.
Therefore, a version of Santa Claus is in the film, but very much as the villain. Having such a generally beloved figure as the antagonist is hilarious, but the film isn't all comedy, as the creepiness of the original Joulupukki is brought to life frighteningly well, making Rare Exports into a surprisingly successful horror movie. My movie taste being what it is, I absolutely enjoy every side of this many-sided film; the creepy horror elements, the hysterical humor, the fantasy lore and the Holiday setting.
7. Teit Meistä Kauniin (2016)
I'm a huge fan of Finnish punk rock band Apulanta - I've seen them live three times, I own a ton of their merchandise, and my band even does a decent cover of one of their songs. So you can imagine how pumped I was for this biopic of the band's early years, directed by their former bass player Tuukka Temonen and taking place in the quaint town of Heinola where many of my relatives have resided. Teit Meistä Kauniin (a title of one of the band's songs, literal translation "You made us beautiful") is a surprisingly melodramatic yet ultimately inspiring film, definitely not shying away from the gripping nature of the hard times the band members had to endure, but also focusing on the energy and glory of their early days and eventual breakthrough.
There is a near-perfect balance of sweet humorous moments, well-directed dramatic moments and head-banging moments of awesome rock music in the movie. Being the fan that I am of the film's subject matter, I felt many of the scenes down deep, and the film left a major emotional impact on me. Mr. Temonen certainly is a man of many talents.
6. Calamari Union (1985)
Remember when I said that Aki Kaurismäki is Finland's David Lynch? This film might explain that analogy a bit better than Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä, which is quite a mainstream work for him, while Calamari Union is about as far from mainstream cinema as one can get.
The film is shot in black-and-white. The cast consists largely of Finnish pop and rock stars, many of whom were definitely not actors by profession. They play a group of fifteen people who are all named Frank. Their goal is to get from Kallio (an area in our capital city Helsinki) to Eira (another part of Helsinki). Many of them die on the way. I feel like I don't have to explain why I love this film, as the premise pretty much speaks for itself.
5. Hevi Reissu (2018)
Staying on the theme of Finnish musicians travelling from one place to another, here's a wonderful film that can only be described as "Blues Brothers (1980) but the main characters are Finnish metalheads". The story is all about a four-person heavy metal band (more accurately a Symphonic Post-Apocalyptic Reindeer-Grinding Christ-Abusing Extreme Pagan War Fennoscandian Metal band) who try to get their big break by performing at a festival in Norway. My expectation was that it would be a fun and silly comedy with some over-the-top dumb humor that often defines Finnish comedies. What I saw instead was an extremely entertaining, surprisingly emotional and overall delightful film filled with fantastic dumb humor.
I love how the film avoids the easy trap of making its characters into parodies and caricatures of metalheads - while there is a lot of tasteful stereotype-humor in the mix, the main characters are fleshed-out and realistic characters that really show the audience what great people metalheads are. There are many long-haired heavy metal enthusiasts in my social circles, and I saw those people clearly in the film's characters, proving what a realistic and positive depiction of the culture this film is. There's a bunch of fun, a thrilling spirit of adventure, and a whole lot heart in this underrated and surprisingly awesome heavy metal road trip extravaganza.
4. Paha Maa (2005)
If Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä is a beautiful look at some of the nicer sides in Finnish culture, then Aku Louhimies's Paha Maa is the polar opposite. One of my favorite Finnish songs of all time is Eppu Normaali's Murheellisten Laulujen Maa, a dark and poetically critical song about the grim sides of traditional Finnish life - and this is essentially the movie version of that song.
Various tragic characters are followed through the narrative of a counterfeit 500 euro bill that keeps switching owners. Paha Maa (literal translation "Bad/Evil Country", official translation "Frozen Land") is a gripping look at alcoholism, abuse, unemployment and poverty. Not a fun movie to watch, but a very thought-provoking and sobering one.
3. Tuntematon Sotilas (2017)
Continuing on controversial director Aku Louhimies, this wartime epic is a remake of the arguably most well-known Finnish film of all time (or maybe rather a re-adaptation of the Väinö Linna novel that the film is based on). This remake was done specifically for Finland's 100th anniversary as an independent nation, and all sorts of Finns from patriots to movie buffs spent the years leading up to it dreading whether or not the film would be any good or not - remaking such a beloved work is a big risk to take. Thankfully, they got the job done.
From the intense combat sequences and beautiful shots of Finnish scenery to the realistic dialogue and heartfelt moments of humanity in between the chaos, the atmosphere of Linna's iconic novel comes to life with brilliance. Any decent war film has to walk the line between showing respect for the troops while not overly glorifying war, and for this film it was an extra-hard job, because on one hand it was released so many decades after the war that people were hoping for a more objective look at history, but on the other hand the release was connected to Finland's 100th Independence Day and therefore had to deliver patriotism-wise as well.
They couldn't have balanced those two elements any better. Just like the ahead-of-its-time book it is based on, Tuntematon Sotilas boldly delves into the most gripping and hellish aspects of war without doing any unnecessary romanticizing, yet through its realistic take it manages to provide a powerful reminder of what the Finnish side was fighting for and the courage and sacrifices it took.
2. Kielletty Hedelmä (2009)
There's no beating Dome Karukoski when it comes to Finnish directors, if you ask me. Before he went all Hollywood with the international Tolkien (2019), he made a career on directing a bunch of awesome domestic releases, and Kielletty Hedelmä (Forbidden Fruit) is the greatest of the bunch. The film follows two teenage girls from a Laestadian community (a very conservative branch of Christianity) who travel to the big city of Helsinki for the first time. Moral conflicts, ethical dilemmas and character growth ensue.
The film is an absolutely brilliant coming-of-age story that takes a complex look at faith and its limits. It manages to take a very critical look at certain aspects of religion without being demonizing or black-and-white about it - the movie doesn't exactly tell you what is right and what is wrong, but it poses many interesting questions and makes one think. It is a gripping and powerful film with a lot of philosophy to it but a lot of heart as well, and Karukoski's impeccable directing is the icing on the cake.
1. Tuntematon Sotilas (1955)
I'm a big fan of Louhimies's Tuntematon Sotilas remake, but there's no beating the original. There are a few things that the latter film does better (the intensity and realism of the battle sequences; a few of the book's characters such as Kariluoto and Lammio), but there are plenty more where Edvin Laine's 1955 version beats the remake: most of the book's major characters (especially my favorite Hietanen, played here by Heikki Savolainen) are adapted with perfection, most of the book's most powerful sequences translate to the screen in the best way possible, and the atmosphere is beautifully and uniquely Finnish.
The film feels more raw and gritty than its stylized 2017 counterpart, and that grittiness is absolutely perfect for an adaptation of a book that is all about telling the story of regular and realistic soldiers, thrust into the horrors of war as they scramble to do their best. The moments of humor and levity between the more brutal parts feel real and extremely earned, while the moments of grief and loss are very emotional and likewise real-feeling. It is a near-perfect adaptation of a giant of Finnish literature, and the overall best offering I've seen from Finnish cinema.
Kiitos lukemisesta! Tune in next week for my list of the greatest Al Pacino performances - the last 'normal' blog post this year, before I hit Christmas mode.
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