Sokea mies, joka ei halunnut nähdä Titanicia / The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic

Teemu Nikki: Sokea mies, joka ei halunnut nähdä Titanicia / The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic (FI 2021) starring Petri Poikolainen.

Teemu Nikki: Sokea mies, joka ei halunnut nähdä Titanicia / The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic (FI 2021) starring Petri Poikolainen.

Director: Teemu Nikki
Production: It’s Alive Films (Jani Pösö), Wacky Tie Films
Running Time: 82’
Language: Finnish, English
Country: Finland
Main Cast: Petri Poikolainen, Marjaana Maijala, Hannamaija Nikander, Matti Onnismaa, Samuli Jaskio, Rami Rusinen
Screenplay: Teemu Nikki
Cinematographer: Sari Aaltonen
Editor: Jussi Sandhu
Sound: Sami Kiiski, Heikki Kossi
Producer: Jani Pösö
    Released by B-Plan Distribution, spoken in Finnish, subtitled in Swedish by Ditte Kronström.
    Festival premiere: 8 Sep 2021 Venice Film Festival, Orizzonti Extra.
    Finnish premiere: 10 Sep 2021.
    Viewed at a press screening at Tennispalatsi 2, Helsinki, 31 Aug 2021.

Synopsis (Venice Film Festival 2021):

"An intense movie, shot from a blind man’s perspective. An atypical action/thriller film about a man who has to go through hell to reach his loved one. Jaakko is blind and disabled, tightened to his wheelchair. He loves Sirpa. Living far away, they have never met in person, but they meet every day over the phone."

"When Sirpa is overwhelmed by the shocking news, Jaakko decides to go to her immediately despite his condition. In any case, he just needs to rely on the help of five strangers in five places: from home to taxi, from taxi to station, from station to train, from train to taxi and finally from taxi to... her."

Director’s Statement (Venice Film Festival 2021):

"In spring 2019 I asked my friend, Petri, whether he still would like to act. He admitted that it was still his dream, and I promised to write him a role in a short film. The role grew into a main role and the short film grew into a feature film. Petri’s MS is so aggressive that we were in a hurry to film. Petri told me that he still travels on his own, even though he is blind and only right-hand moves. That is where the idea came from. Nevertheless, I did not want to make a documentary about a disabled actor. I wanted to work with Petri, an actor who happens to be blind and in a wheelchair. Our main character has the same disease as Petri, but the script is fictional."

AA: The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic is the most extraordinary achievement of Teemu Nikki, all of whose films are special.

It is also one of the most interesting achievements in the lineage of films starring disabled protagonists. Let's remember the recent Sound of Metal, about a musician who loses his hearing.

Teemu Nikki's film starts and ends with Braille. This work belongs to the paradoxical category of films that take place in the world of the blind, beyond the visible. An early distinguished example is the German Aufklärungsfilm Vom Reiche der sechs Punkte (1927, D: Hugo Rütters). In such a story, in such a film, we can take nothing for granted. What's more: in such a life, in such a world, nothing can taken for granted.

It is a daunting challenge, but in creative hands, promising and rewarding material. Seeing (and unseeing) the world anew, when everything has to be achieved differently, there are surprises in every scene.

It is a love story and a death story.

Both protagonists, Jaakko (Petri Poikolainen) and Sirpa (Marjaana Maijala) are terminally ill. He, with MS, she, with cancer. They have never met in live contact. (A story for the pandemic age). It's now or never.

Jaakko and Sirpa are incurable film buffs whose dialogue consists largely of movie references. Stephen King, John Carpenter, Martin Scorsese... and this is where Titanic appears in a surprising way and with surprising identification structures: she as the iceberg, he as the Titanic.

But in a unique way, this saga of film nerd banter turns into an action thriller, more fearsome than many of the hit films that have been mentioned.

One of the greatest paradoxes is the visual concept based on first person identification with the blind Jaakko. The world is blurred, and extreme close-up is the favoured field size.

Teemu Nikki keeps the mind-boggling material with multiple meta-levels in firm control. The soundtrack and the sound world are exciting. Petri Poikolainen's death-defying performance is unforgettable. Finally, it's about love.