Yrittäjä

Smart, fine-honed and visually beautiful documentary on two sets of entrepreneurs in Finland. Name of the movie translates to "entrepreneur", but etymologically "yrittäjä" stems from the verb "try". There are two stories here: in the first one two women are establishing a business around their food invention, pulled oats; in the other we follow a family business that runs a small carnival and a meats stand. Both are tough jobs, but in very different ways, and require a lot of "trying".

The director, Virpi Suutari, is in absolute control of her near-geometrical, idiosyncratic style. Reportedly, "Yrittäjä" was in production for four years, and it shows. This is not just a report but a full-blown movie, carefully directed. You sense this already from the outstanding opening shot beginning in darkness; and the closing shot bookends the movie in a thought-out way. Regarding the tech aspects, "Yrittäjä" is a first-class project with Sanna Salmenkallio's music a particular stand-out. The result is a multi-layered examination on the main topic, but also on family, recession, hardships and victories, at least small ones.