Horst_In_Translation Review of Lapland Odyssey

Lapland Odyssey (2010)

Falls a bit flat the longer it goes, but as a whole not too bad

[6/10 · 12 December 2018]

If you are in the mood for a (North) European pointless comedy movie, maybe with a bit of hullaballoo and guilty pleasure potential, then "Napapiirin sankarit" is not a bad choice overall. The English title is "Lapland Odyssey", so now you already know about the location where this one plays. And it is a defining location for sure as this means lots of bleakness and rather cold surroundings and environments. But the film still has a lot of warmth to offer and it shows that director Karukoski and writer Pesonen are fairly experienced and kinda well-known in Finland, maybe Scandinavia as a whole even. This 90-minute film scored a decent deal of awards recognition and must have been a really good hit commercially too as they did not only come up with one, but two sequels since this original was released. And from what I saw they got most cast members back for these, including Jussi Vatanen who plays the main character, a likable loser, well this description fits pretty much all his friends too in here. To me, the film felt a bit like a Finnish version of the old Lemon Popsicle movies, maybe with less nudity, but content- and humor-wise very similar. And yes, it is definitely all about the comedy here, never about the drama although subjects like break-ups and cheating do exist here and even some crime and violence too. It is a bit of a road movie without the road if you want to say so and again it is not the best idea to be an animal in film, especially not this film. What else can I write. Oh yeah the idea that the girlfriend wants her digital received to watch Titanic is a nice recurring running gag. Just like everything that results from it, like when they are running into all these receivers early on actually, but they cannot or don't want to take any of these. Afterward, the level gets a bit worse, even if there are occasional delightful moments again like with the guy falling in love with the older self of a naked video game character he's been crushing on and I am kinda glad for him they found each other eventually. But there are also lengthy weak sequences, like the one with the hot women in the pool or one other friend who adds virtually nothing at all in my opinion. Huge thumbs-up to Kari Ketonen though. He is really great fun here and a scene stealer every time he is one doing so well with depicting the human version of a weasle, or maybe a chameleon that knows very well how to adapt and cause mayhem, also physically, but is just never really accepted. A bit of a tragic character really with how much he really seems to care for the female protagonist too because of something that was a long long time ago. But yeah well done to Ketonen and a deserving Finnish Film Award nomination for him definitely. He is maybe the positive deal breaker for me that elevates this film from forgettable to solid and maybe the main reason wyh I give it a thumbs-up overall, despite some glaring weaknesses, and recommend chcking it out if you are in the mood for something I mentioned very early on in my review. If so, then go for it!