Dir. Aku Louhimies
Probably the most Hollywood-like of all the films I’ve seen so far. In part this is because the film itself is about Iiris (Minna Haapkylä), a film buff whose references are all to English-language films (Taxi Driver, Gilda, Star Wars, Bridget Jones’ Diary, etc.); in part because, really, other than the Finnish language, this is standard, albeit well-executed, romantic comedy fare. (Let’s see - crazy embarrassing mother? See Bridget Jones’ Diary. Perfectly handsome suave boyfriend with whom it just doesn’t click? See Sweet Home Alabama. And yes, I know *Lovers and Leavers*probably precedes the Reese Witherspoon vehicle; the point is that they all draw on the same formula.) This movie really depends on the audience’s own knowledge of films: we understand the characters’ actions only because of the film’s references to so many film conventions. Let’s put it this way: on the way back home I bumped into my brother and he asked me about the film, and the first adjective that came to mind was “pleasant”.
The movie teems with Scandinavian cool - Iiris’ amazing apartment, all clean minimalism, just about trumps the good-looking cast as the prime object of my lust - and the cool is both visually interesting and potentially emotionally distancing. I was thinking about the movie’s greenhouse analogy, about the dangers of being trapped in perfection - do we understand it only because we ourselves know it’s cinematic shorthand, because we’ve seen so many films that are about being trapped in perfect situations? Do we quote movies and music as a refuge for actually feeling emotion? (Ooh, very High Fidelity. Oh, dang, I did the movie-referencing thing!) And is the movie itself a bit too clean, too trapped in its own gloss?… There are moments without gloss, of course - Louhimies uses lots of nervous flickers of jump cuts which create an odd staccato effect. I couldn’t decide if this was a technical flaw in the print, or a way of signalling the unease within the relationship. Which I suppose means, if the quick jump cuts were intentional, that they weren’t a very effective device.
Still, I do love a decent rom-com (it’s a genre for which I have a high tolerance), and Haapkylä has charm to burn, so overall the movie was enjoyable and warm even if it didn’t reach greatness. Nice scene where Iiris and Marko (Peter Franzén) fight with light sabers. Plus points awarded because the film, like all good romantic comedies (Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally, His Girl Friday - pick your era), actually notices that the hard part of a relationship is the staying together, not the initial meeting. (Rant: I blame Nora Ephron. I blame Sleepless in Seattle. What is with those 90s romantic comedies where the leads never interact until near the end of the movie? That’s supposed to be the starting point of a relationship, not the ending)…. Extra plus points awarded for soundtrack’s selection, especially use of Patsy Cline, Portishead, and Curtis Mayfield.