Viimeiset rotannahat / [The Last Rat Skins] / Rare, Medium, Well Done

Viimeiset rotannahat. Impressio / De sista skinnena. FI (c) 1985 Filmiauer. P+D+SC: Anssi Mänttäri. DP: Heikki Katajisto - 1,66:1 - colour and b&w - lab: Johan Ankerstjerne. M: "Bad Morning Blues" (comp. Anssi Mänttäri, arr. Asko Mänttäri), "Uni tulee, uni tulee" (trad.) pres. A. Köster (voc) and Kollage. "Best With Beer" (Asko Mänttäri). CAST: Anssi Mänttäri (the man in the white suit), Sarina Röhr (the woman with a sound sleep), Taina Saikkonen (young intellectual woman), Riitta Havukainen (lecturer in semiotics), Eero Tuomikoski (Nuutinen, drunk CEO), Sanna-Kaisa Palo (Irma Manner, the woman who never stops talking), Aki Kaurismäki (Ville, son of the man in the white suit), Sallamaari Muhonen (Redhead), Marja Packalén (the ex-wife of the man in the white suit), Matti Pellonpää (father of the man in the white suit), Elina Hurme (Kaisa, the young moralistic woman), Eeva Eloranta (female theologist), Heikki Peltonen (male theologist), Ilkka Kylävaara (Väisänen, successful businessman), Titta Antti-Poika (Tiina, the woman with the car), Erkki Saarela (Pera, the good-natured man), Paavo Piskonen (Harri, the conceited man), Kristiina Repo (Seija Pikkaranen, the woman who hates poverty), Pirkko Hämäläinen (Riitta, the bitchy woman), Jyrki Kovaleff (the honest working man), Sanna Fransman (the woman next door), Kari Väänänen (psychiatrist), Ann-Cathrine Fröjdö (not just a skin). Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 3 June 2009.

The image in the print varied from good to grainy. - A fascinating Bukowskian odyssey starring the director himself as the man in the white suit, who conquers almost any woman in a series of superficial relationships. With witty dialogue, the film is constantly interesting, and with a hidden despair beneath. - The framing story reveals the burned-out old man giving his account to a video camera. The white suit is now folded on the chair. - It is a satire on a life based on easy gratification, short attention span, self-centeredness, about always taking the easy way out. - This film was not a success at its time, but it has stood the test of time well. There is not a dull moment in it.

Apinan vuosi

Apans år / In the Year of the Ape. FI 1983. PC: Elokuvatuottajat Oy. P: Claes Olsson, Matti Penttilä. D: Janne Kuusi. SC: Harri Sirola, Janne Kuusi – based on the novel Abiturientti (1980) by Sirola. DP: Tahvo Hirvonen - colour - 1:1,66. AD: Erkki Saarainen. COST: Irmeli Toivanen. M: Pekka Rechardt. ED: Anne Lakanen. S: Mikael Sievers. CAST: Heikki Salomaa (Ile), Tiina Bergström (Suvi), Laura Heimo (Tanja), Rea Mauranen (Maria, the Finnish teacher), Elina Hurme (Sara, the girl in a leather jacket), Ilpo Kotanen (Klasu), Kari Väänänen (Rene), Heidi Krohn (Ile's mother), Aarre Karén (Ile's father), Marja-Leena Kouki (Suvi's mother), Esko Salminen (Suvi's father), Hanna Marttila (Suvi's friend), Ritva Sorvali (laughing woman), Markku Halme, Konsta Mäkelä, Ritva Rantasila (classmates), Kari Paukkunen (psychology teacher), Eero Tuomikoski (janitor), Jussi Parviainen, Tomi Salmela, Tapio Liinoja, Pekka Uotila, Seppo Luukkanen (Rene's henchmen), Timo Eränkö (De Sade), Paul Pentti (Marat), Aki Kaurismäki (Charlotte Corday), the Jack Helen Brut group. 94 min. A vintage print screened at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 29 Oct 2008. In the presence of Janne Kuusi hosted by Markku Varjola. - MV: the first Finnish surrealistic feature film. - JK: We were on terms with surrealism but tried to avoid aping. Initially planned as a tv movie it became a cinema film. We aimed at cinematic expression. There was in Finland a theatrical tradition and a literary tradition; we wanted to do cinema. The visual outlook is very distinctive. Heikki Salomaa got the lead role, soon to become well-known in the Lapinlahden Linnut team. The soundscape was also very ambitious. The film was the diploma work for Kuusi, Hirvonen, Lakanen, Sievers. - This is the story of the "abiturientti" (candidate for the matriculation examination, graduating senior, preparatory student, upper-secondary school leaver) who is at the threshold of becoming an "ylioppilas" (student, undergraduate, upper secondary school-leaver), qualified to apply for admission to a university. These are the months of transition to adulthood. - Janne Kuusi and Harri Sirola turned Sirola's novel around and created a surrealistic vision. Ile, the young man, wants to apply for admission to the medical faculty. The "ylioppilaskirjoitukset" (the student exam, the written examination for higher certificate) are under way, but there is also partying and meeting girls. Ile is aimless in his relationships. There is the lovely and playful Suvi (Tiina Bergström), there is the dark, hard-to-get Tanja (Laura Heimo), there is the strongly personal Sara, the girl in the leather jacket (Elina Hurme), and even the striking Maria, the Finnish teacher (Rea Mauranen). Maria's boyfriend is the violent Rene (Kari Väänänen), and through him there is a criminal gang element in the story. There is no clear line between dream and reality in the film, though. The "lakkiaisjuhla" (the private party of passing the student exam and getting the white student cap) is a big baroque banquet with scantily clad nymphs on horseback and a living Havis Amanda (the famous nude statue at Helsinki's Market Square, the Venus of Finland) (from the long shot it is difficult to see whether the live Havis Amanda is Tiina Bergström). The mounted nymphs take Ile with them and throw him to the basin at the statue Havis Amanda's fountain (the traditional place where students celebrate the First of May).