Vierailu

The Visit / Besöket. FI 1981. PC: TTK/ETV. P+D+SC: Tapani Lundgren - based on the short story (1950) by Pentti Haanpää. Starring Erkki Pajala, Eeva-Maija Haukinen, Svante Martin, Heta Haukinen. 21 min. - The 35mm print looks like a blowup from 16mm. - An attempt at poetic interpretation and modernization. The Earth in space. Water flowing. The voice-over. A press conference. A boiler room. A girl and a mirror. Erkki Pajala as the ghost is gruff and smug. A failed film. - The original short story by master Pentti Haanpää is the vision of an alcoholic farmer who has lost the family estate and conjures the ghost of his grandfather from his grave. The farmer and the ghost make a droll excursion to the modern world. They even visit the cinema (scene not included in the film). A rough translation:
"They even sat in the movies, but not for long, since old Adolf did not like them.
- I don't understand why you have to devour such picture flicker until your belly is full. Before long you'll lose your sense of whether you're dreaming or not. And what about those glimpses of skin, picture skin! They are too much for a young man, who is always sticking out anyway...
He barked about the pictures so long and in so many ways that young Adolf got fed up.
- And what about your kind? Is it even fit for the pictures! There has been enough trouble already because of the fact that you cannot be seen..."

Kastematojen aika

The Age of the Worms / Daggmaskarnas tid. FI (c) 1985 YLE TV1 Lasten ja nuorten ohjelmien toimitus. D+SC: Matti Ijäs. DP: Jouko Paavonen. M: Antti Hytti. With pieces by Tom Waits, Keith Jarrett, and Jan Garbarek. LOC: Helsinki. Starring Kimmo Lempinen (Jontti), Vieno Saaristo (Jontti's mother), Oiva Lohtander (Jontti's father), Erkki Pajala (the angler), Samuli Edelmann (Höödi the bike boy). 35 min. 16mm sepmag production presented in digibeta, alas. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 14 September 2008. -An original coming-of-age story of a teenage boy. Spying on undressing girls. Violently clashing with parents. Making friends with an old tramp called the Angler in the fishing harbor. They steal money from fishing boats? and also collect worms for fishing; after a blind man's bluff on the jetty the old man splashes into the sea, and Jontti goes to buy dry clothes for him. But he gets a lift from an older teenager boy (Samuli Edelmann in one of his first parts) who takes him to the special part of the beach where boys and girls make out. Threatened by bikes, the old angler falls on a bridge looking lifeless. - Full of interesting observations, with a strong sense of the confusion in teenager's mind. - Interesting score by Antti Hytti. - Boldly nocturnal cinematography by Jouko Paavonen. Jontti is not a hero, he has mean and vicious traits. Nor is the angler a nice old fellow.