Kohtalon kirja

Film students' graduation movies are often somewhat rough around the edges and suffer from low distribution, but sometimes there are gems to be found among them too. A good example would be Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää's beautifully enigmatic The Visitor (2008), but Tero Molin and Tommi Lepola's epic genre-crosser The Book of Fate is well worth a watch as well.

Much larger and expensive a production than an average film school graduation work, The Book of Fate tells the story of a mysterious cosmic book written long ago by an ancient race of powerful beings. Once thought to be lost forever, the Book has now been located on Earth and keeps appearing in various places in different eras of history. The story is divided into five segments: an 18th century vampire horror flick, a stylized western, a gritty Winter War portrayal, a modern techno-thriller and a futuristic science fiction finale. Each segment is about 15 minutes in length and stars recently graduated acting students Juha-Pekka Mikkola and Johanna Kokko in various roles. All the stories are concluded at the end, and the priest character from the first segment makes dream-like appearances in the other stories as well.

It is obvious that the writer-directors Lepola and Molin are very familiar with the conventions of the genres they utilize in their story. The ultra-cool gunslinger with no name and the quiet, tense stand-offs and shootouts of the western segment are clearly influenced by the legendary Dollar trilogy by Sergio Leone, while the present day agent thriller plays out like a mash-up of James Bond plot lines and the suave style of The Matrix trilogy. The grainy black and white Winter War segment evokes memories of the legendary The Unknown Soldier (1955), often considered the definitive war film in Finland. When the film's tagline is "repetition is the mother of learning", it is obvious that the movie has been written with a wink in the eye, so strict demands for originality are not reasonable here – The Book of Fate is basically five genre movies in one.

The fragmented nature of the narrative allows the filmmakers to demonstrate their aptitude for very different styles of presenting a scene. The lighting, cinematography, camera work and music change from one segment to another, always staying true to the traditional style of the genres covered. I especially liked the yellow and sepia tones of the western segment and the cold, stark colours of the present day scenes. The martial arts and the gunplay in the agent thriller are also pretty cool and decently planned, even if not as smooth and fast as in "real" big budget actioners. The bright white glow of the final segment on an isolated space ship is pleasing to the eye as well, but the gloomy vampire tale at the beginning feels a bit too dark at points. Also, the black and white photography of the Winter War scenes could have been starker, although in a way the grayness enhances the realistic atmosphere.

Besides the aspects mentioned above, the diverse sets deserve a nod too; the film cleverly utilizes existing locations (such as the yard of a roofless church, the Särkänniemi amusement park and the Wild West village in Ähtäri) to cut corners in the set design budget that could have otherwise grown very large. The costumes and makeup are very well created too, particularly in the western, thriller and sci-fi segments.

Besides the two lead actors Mikkola and Kokko who appear as protagonists in every segment, many well-known Finnish veteran actors make appearances in the different eras of the film's timeline. Especially Vesa Vierikko is both funny and cool as the mad scientist Strömberg in the present day segment and the legendary Åke Lindman boils in rage in his very last credited movie role as the intergalactic leader Galagf in the sci-fi scenes. Smaller roles have also been given to ex-wrestler Tony Halme (playing a bulky commander), "the man without a past" Markku Peltola (a scientist) and Santeri Kinnunen (an Army lieutenant). A lot of the acting is somewhat stiff and theatrical (using formal textbook language doesn't help either), but it doesn't really bother me much since the movie is largely an homage to genres that are not known for world-class acting in the first place.

Even though none of the individual segments can be called a masterpiece, together they make a very entertaining whole. For a Finnish student film The Book of Fate is an extraordinary achievement, but even when compared to real genre flicks from which Molin and Lepola have drawn their inspiration, the movie is not terrible at all in spite of the appallingly low IMDb rating (3.7/10 with 436 votes at the time of writing this). There is also a lot of humour thrown in; luckily it is not the boring We-Know-We-Are-Making-a-Bad-Movie kind of intentional crappiness, but instead subtler references to the clichés of each genre (stay tuned for the hilarious post-credit faux-trailer). Fully acknowledging its diverse cinematic roots, The Book of Fate is a movie for film buffs by fellow film buffs; warmly recommended to any cinephile with an eclectic taste in popular cinema.

Okay, so it isn't the Epic Finnish Movie Spectacle of 2003. It isn't Art with capital A.

But who cares.

Judging all measurements, this movie should be a turkey. The whole idea is so patently ludicruous that This Movie Just Can't Be Good. Shameless mixing of genres, unexperienced moviemakers, and, good heavens, Tony Halme.

But surprise surpise - for some reason, this thing was watchable. *Very* watchable. Sure, it looks a bit cheesy here and there, might have needed some extra care at some times and places... but overall, the lasting impression I got was that This Isn't A Gigabuck Hollywood Movie But It Sure Looks Like One.

But then again, I like movies that knowingly play with cliches of the genre, or genres in this case. Running jokes rule. And obviously the makers have had fun, which has to count for something...

People seem to severely dislike the special effects - and I think this is unjustified, it's just amazing that they did it *this* good with *that* sort of money.

And the plot wasn't *that* bad. Honestly.

Cult classic material. Definitely.

As a movie: *** As a parody of Hollywood: *****

Kohtalon Kirja makes a grand attempt of featuring almost every genre of film 'not' inherent to the Finnish Movie Canon. While the makers are to be commended for their efforts the result is a lot less than the sum of its parts.

Kohtalon Kirja is an episodic movie where each story ends at a cliffhanger which is resolved by the film's end. Despite the level of effort in ensuring the high production values and the support of, undoubtedly, some famous Finnish actors the problem with the film's plot is that it feels very indifferent. The same goes for the actor-performances which all lack any sort of genuine emotion.

At its best the film is perhaps even slightly farcical and definitely over-dramatic and entertaining. At its worst it feels like a joke which isn't nearly as funny as the film-makers intended. A film worth watching as an ambitious experimentation in Finnish film-making, but one which falls short of the dynamic of Jade Warrior or the energy and craft of Star Wreck.

A couple of months ago my friends were talking about the new Finnish fantasy film Kohtalon Kirja. I have to say that I did not expect much from the movie, but I also didn't expect anything this bad.

There is absolutely nothing good to say about the film. The acting is terrible. Even the famous Finnish veteran actors sounded like amateurs. Visual look of the film is beyond description and the soundtrack had some worst heavy metal music I have ever heard.

But the real reason I hate the film so much is the action. It was obvious that many of the actors had no training in any martial art. Even the most basic training would have made a big difference. All the moves in the fight scenes were slow and painfully clumsy.

This film isn't even funny as a bad trash movie. It is just bad. Avoid it like a plaque.

Take a number of Finnish art students and an ambitious exam project combining some major genres of action films: horror, western, war, spy thriller and space adventure built into one storyline and then try to make a feature length film with no time, no funding and actors working for peanuts; then you will get The Book of Fate.

Considering the above-mentioned factors the result is not as awful as could be expected, I have seen numerous films made with much bigger budgets by professional crews that were worse by far.

The idea behind the film: creating a framework for action sequences in different times and different settings is interesting although not worked out well enough. Most of the hand to hand fighting sequences are not well done, they might have worked better in slow motion. Other parts (the shooting fights mostly) were not that bad. Other than that the sets and the effects were reasonably well done. If the inexperienced main cast had had more time to get into their roles (the inexperienced director might have done a better job) and the supporting veteran actors had put in more effort, the story would have been more believable.

In all, I would not suggest you build your evening on this flick, but if you have the choice between this one and reality TV shows, you might want to opt for this "fan film" product.