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Napszállta (2018)
An unconventional but intriguing film
I haven't seen any other Nemes films so it took a while to get used to the claustrophobic cinematography and style. However, while sometimes it is a bit too much (after a minute or two of mostly staring at the lead actresses' neck!), I understand the choice of that style. I understand it because the film reminds me of a horror story by Gustav Meyrink, The Golem. The Golem is set in the same time period in an another city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Prague) and is likewise claustrophobic, just in a literary form.
That being said, I think that the film shouldn't be viewed as a period piece (although the costumes, the setting and the scenery are gorgeous) but as more of a mystery of even a horror film. This film's Golem is the missing brother of Irisz, the murderer and the anarchist, who haunts the streets and the underworld of Budapest, just like the Golem haunts the ghettos of Prague. Eventually, the filth, the corruption and the despair from the streets creeps into the palaces and castles of the high and mighty, marking the end of the Belle Époque.
The claustrophobia highlights the narrowness of the lives of the people of that time and age. The ghettos are claustrophobic (of course), but the luxury milliner's shop or the high society garden party are also claustrophobic. The rigid customs, the rigid expectations, the rigid hierarchies and all the horrors and abuses that come with them - all the vanities, the beautiful hats and the magnificent flowers provide just a fleeting departure from them.
Some have complained that the story of the film is incomprehensible or hard to follow, or that it isn't interesting. I didn't think so. It is, on the contrary, rather intriguing. The ending is even a bit Fight Club -like with the whole anarchist thing, although nothing so definite. Of course, the dialog is a bit sparse and the answers to the questions asked by Irisz are usually left out, but one can deduce those answers quite easily if one pays some attention. Irisz might be initially a bit hard to be sympathetic to, but her character really starts to develop during the last 60 minutes or something of the film.
Venäjän halki 30 päivässä (2010)
Series of excellent travelogues in the modern day Russia
Ville Haapasalo is a Finnish actor extremely popular in Russia after he moved there in the early 90s and performed in several local comedy films, acting as a "stereotypical Finn". He was relatively unknown in Finland until this travelogue, made for the Finnish Public Broadcasting Company YLE, was broadcast.
This ("Venäjän halki 30 päivässä"/"Across the Russia in 30 days") is the first part of the series of travel documentaries by Haapasalo that all follow the same format: He explores some aspect of Russia/Ex-Soviet Union "in 30 days", traveling light only with his cameraman and utilizing his celebrity status to get into unusual and off the beaten path places.
In this one, he boards the Trans-Siberian Express in Moscow and stops in places like Jekaterinburg, Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude, eventually arriving in Vladivostok. He meets the famous Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin, sees the Victory Day parade, consults a shaman, goes to a Buddhist monastery, visits a Russian Navy sailing ship and explores the blight of Chinese guest workers in Habarovsk.
The travelogue is very well presented and while Haapasalo isn't a historian, sociologist or an academic of any kind, he manages to bring forth the general sentiment present in the less-well-known parts of Russian Federation.
In the various follow-up series, Haapasalo and his cameraman Ossi Käki, travel across the ancient Silk Road ("Silkkitie 30 päivässä"), visit the Finnic peoples living in Russia ("Suomensukuiset 30 päivässä"), travel across the coast of Arctic Sea all the way to Bering Strait ("Jäämeri 30 päivässä"), see the Caucasus nations like Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan ("Kaukasia 30 päivässä") and finally travel the longest river in Europe, Volga ("Volga 30 päivässä").
Monte Rosso (2008)
Truly Helsinkian movie
Contrary to what the other reviewer said, Monte Rosso has nothing to do with afro-American cultural influences in Finland. It is part hipster, part slacker and truly Helsinkian film, incomprehensible to those born outside of Finland's capital.
While I agree that the film lacked depth, it seems to be a conscious choice. Characters are supposed to be over the top, more-hipster-than-thou, speaking in Stadin Slangi more than anyone in Helsinki and the story is supposed to be feel-good fun. On the other hand, actors and their characters are in some way very believable. Their manner of speech, for example, is very natural when in most films even if characters are speaking in a distinct dialect, they never use expletives nor sound anything natural when they open their mouth. And were not the circumstances so unusual, it would precisely portray how some young adults spend their summer weekends in Helsinki.
Besides that, images of Helsinki are astonishing. They capture the essence of the city better than any tourist postcards.
The plot itself, by the way, tells us about a twenty-something Eki, who has realized that he can't stay out of the rat race forever. Every week, he works hard in a local restaurant to pay his rent but every weekend he spends in a nearby park (Sinebrychoff Park), smoking pot and drinking cold beer with his equally laid back friends. This weekend, however, his plans fall apart with his bike and pot being stolen and with him ending up in trouble with an unpredictable fence and his bodybuilder friends. And then there's this gorgeous girl he meets in Koff park...