Suuri illusioni / The Grand Illusion

Tuija-Maija Niskanen: Suuri illusioni  / The Grand Illusion (FIU 1985). Pekka Valkeejärvi (Hart), Stina Ekblad (Caritas), Markku Toikka (Hellas).

Den stora illusionen. FI © 1985 Elokuvatuottajat Oy. P: Claes Olsson, Matti Penttilä. D: Tuija-Maija Niskanen. SC: Anja Kauranen – based on the novel by Mika Waltari (1928). DP: Kari Sohlberg – colour – 1:1,66. AD: Erkki Saarainen. Make-up: Helena Lindgren, Nadja Pyykkö. M: Kaija Saariaho. S: Paul Jyrälä, Kari J. Koski. Starring: Pekka Valkeejärvi (Hart), Stina Ekblad (Caritas), Markku Toikka (Hellas), Rea Mauranen (Madame Spindel), with Jack Helen Brut and Homo $. 95 min. Mostly in Finnish but also in Swedish, German, French, English, and Latin, with Finnish subtitles. Vintage print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 5 March 2008. The name of the film has nothing to do with Jean Renoir as it is taken from the novel published ten years earlier. The opening of our Centenary tribute to the author Mika Waltari was this film based on his first novel. The author himself was later embarrassed by his superficial and pseudo-decadent work and only grudgingly let it be re-published as he recognized that it was a document of its time, a youthful look at the Roaring Twenties. The young author Anja Kauranen (later known as Anja Snellman) at the start of her career was fascinated by Waltari and wrote the screenplay. Tuija-Maija Niskanen directed the film, and Kaija Saariaho composed for it her only music for a theatrical motion picture so far. A lot of talent combined, but there is a curiously indifferent feeling, although the film is professionally made with a decent budget. The main characters and the actors portraying them fail to move. The film was supposed to make a connection between the superficial 1920s and the superficial 1980s, but it missed. The performance groups Jack Helen Brut and Homo $ play decadent 1920s characters with relish. The print is excellent, paying justice to the superb lensing of Kari Sohlberg. The film is not successful, but there may be interesting deep layers as the result of a long incubation period.

Kuningasjätkä / A Summer by the River

Markku Pölönen: Kuningasjätkä (FI 1998). Simo Kontio (Topi).

Sommaren vid älven. A-027824 / G / FI / 1998 / Pölönen, Markku / drama / comedy. © Fennada-Filmi. P: Kari Sara. D+SC: Markku Pölönen. DP: Kari Sohlberg. ”Yö kerran unhoa annoit” performed by Olavi Virta. CAST: Pertti Koivula, Simo Kontio, Esko Nikkari, Anu Palevaara, Peter Franzen, Sulevi Peltola, Vesa Mäkelä, Heikki Kujanpää. 85’. 1,85. DIST: Fennada-Filmi. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Tuesday 3 February 1998. *** In the mid-1950s in Eastern Finland the logrollers drive a large raft of logs along the river. The recently widowed Tenho joins them with his ten year old son. He becomes everyone’s laughing stock. The comedy of the hopelessly clumsy logroller’s turning into the King of the River is in homage to the Buster Keaton formula, which is a good act to follow. The humour is completely original, though. I still prefer Onnen maa (The Land of Happiness), but this is a first rate entertainment film, certain to become the blockbuster of the year in Finland in competition with Titanic.