Saturday, December 04, 2010

Risto Räppääjä ja polkupyörävaras / Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief

Risto Rappare och cykeltjuven. FI 2010. PC: Kinotar Oy. P: Lasse Saarinen, Rimbo Salomaa. D: Mari Rantasila. SC: Sinikka Nopola, Tiina Nopola - based on the characters in their series of books. DP: Timo Heinänen. PD: Minna Santakari. Cost: Niina Pasanen. Makeup: Leila Mäkynen. Choreography: Lotta Kuusisto. S: Risto Iissalo. ED: Tuuli Kuittinen. CAST: Severi Heikkilä (Risto Räppääjä), Lauramaija Luoto (Nelli Nuudelipää), Annu Valonen (Rauha Räppääjä), Ulla Tapaninen (Elvi Räppääjä), Martti Suosalo (Lennart Lindberg), Marcus Groth (Bertil Rosenbögel), Joel Bonsdorff (Robert Rosenbögel), Christina Indrenius-Zalewski (Gunvor Rosenbögel), Anna-Maija Tuokko (personal nurse Pipsa), Martti Syrjä (hospital doctor Mara), Pantse Syrjä (hospital doctor Pera). 79 min. Released by Nordisk with Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 6, Helsinki, 4 Dec 2010.

Sinikka Nopola and Tiina Nopola have created Ricky Rapper, a popular figure of children's fiction in 14 books since 1997, three plays, an animated tv series and two theatrical musical comedy films directed by Mari Rantasila. Risto Räppääjä ja polkupyörävaras, which premiered in February, is the most popular film of the year in Finland and still running.

Again I'm a perfect stranger in a screening. I like the performances of the child protagonists Severi Heikkilä and Lauramaija Luoto, and Ulla Tapaninen is again great as Pakastaja-Elvi ("Mrs. Freeze").

The approach is that of a musical fantasy farce. The acting style of the other characters is early Keystone. The colour palette is anti-realistic in the extreme.

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