Väärät juuret / Twisted Roots

Saara Saarela: Väärät juuret / Twisted Roots (FI 2009).

Vridna rötter / Twisted Roots.
    FI © 2009 Edith Film. P: Liisa Penttilä.
    D: Saara Saarela. SC: Selja Ahava-Foster, Saara Saarela. DP: Rauno Ronkainen – colour – 2,35:1 – digital intermediate 2K: Generator Post / Tommi Gröhn. AD: Anu Maja. COST: Tiina Kaukanen. Make-up: Marjut Samulin. M: Marko Nyberg. S: Janne Laine. ED: Harri Ylönen. Production manager: Mark Lwoff. LOC: Oulu.
    CAST: Pertti Sveholm (Mikko Kuura), Milka Ahlroth (Mirjami), Niko Saarela (Sakari), Emma Louhivuori (Pihla), Silva Robbins (Lumi), Johannes Holopainen (Kosmo), Vieno Saaristo (grandmother Maikki Savio), Antti Litja (grandfather), Jarkko Pajunen (Janne), Meri Nenonen (Marlene).
    99 min.
    Screener dvd from Edith Film with English subtitles by Aretta Vähälä viewed at home, Helsinki, 9 Jan 2010.

I caught on dvd this movie which I had missed during its theatrical run.

Mikko Kuura (Pertti Sveholm), owner of an antique store that has belonged a hundred years to the family, has been diagnozed with Huntington's disease, a genetic disorder which causes dementia. In old times it was called "the dancing disease", and its carriers were burned as witches. Only Mikko's wife Mirjami (Milka Ahlroth) is aware of it, and Mikko finds it impossible to tell their two children. There is a 50% risk for the children to inherit the disease.

But everybody else has their secrets, as well. Mirjami has not told about a 150.000 E collateral she's taken for her rascal brother, which threatens to collapse the family's finances. The daugher Pihla (Emma Louhivuori) fears she's pregnant. The adopted Chinese daughter Lumi (Silva Robbins) has "a China syndrome" of her own: she starts to dig a tunnel into China. Mikko's grown-up son, the peacekeeper Sakari (Niko Saarela) from a previous marriage, has not told about his child out of wedlock.

Top actors. Top cinematographer Rauno Ronkainen catches wintry visions around Christmas and the New Year. Wonderful music by Marko Nyberg brings a feeling of elevation to the somber subject.

Unfortunately the direction by Saara Saarela fails to achieve momentum.