Mari Mantela: After Ego

 

Mari Mantela: After Ego (FI 2026). Esko Roine (first brother), Jouni Innilä (first lawyer), Alvari Stenbäck (survey engineer), Salla Lintonen (second lawyer), Ilmari Saarelainen (second brother). 

FI © 2026 Liberté. P: Pauliina Teirikari, Mari Mantela, Jani Kumpulainen.

    D+SC: Mari Mantela. DP: Jani Kumpulainen. M: Panu Aaltio.

    C: Esko Roine, Ilmari Saarelainen (the brothers), Jouni Innilä, Salla Lintonen (the lawyers), Alvari Stenbäck (maanmittausinsinööri), Jose Arppe, Noel Arppe (the brothers as children).

    Loc: Keuruu.

    17 min

    Links: Letterboxd  |  IMDb

    Sodankylän Elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2026

    Love & Anarchy: Helsinki International Film Festival 2026. Kotimainen kilpailu: Mitä jäljelle jää / National Competition: What Remains.

    Vimeo link viewed 28 Sep 2026

MSFF 2026: "In After Ego, a boundary stone between the lands of two elderly brothers has disappeared. Accompanied by their lawyers and a surveying engineer, the men meet each other during a boundary survey, on the separate sides of their childhood stream."

  

"Elokuvassa After Ego iäkkäiden veljesten maiden välinen rajapyykki on kadonnut. Asianajajat ja maanmittausinsinööri seuranaan, miehet kohtaavat toisensa rajankäynnissä lapsuutensa purolla." (MSFF 2026)

AA: In Mari Mantela's compact tale, two brothers in grand old age go through a dispute over a boundary marker. A twist in the communication is that one brother (Esko Roine) is mute and uses a talking keyboard, a text-to-speech generating device. Both also bring their lawyers.

The situation would be ripe for embellishments of all kinds, including an all-out Laurel & Hardy type escalation.

No escalation takes place. The survey engineer performs a sober research on site. No boundary marker is found. Yet documents help to a conclusive result. No meaningful reason for dispute remains.

The drama evaporates, and we are left reflecting on the potential for disaster. Mantela gives no explanation to the roots of the rift between the brothers. All too often families are broken because of disputes of inheritance. Yet what could be more valuable than a good family spirit? Kieslowski's Dekalog: Ten (about a stamp collection) is a classic cinematic statement. In the laconic mise-en-scène there is mythic-Biblical aspect (Cain and Abel) seasoned with a touch of the theatre of the absurd.