Kosketa minua

A friend who's studying art in Finland sent me a copy of this movie which I ended up watching with several buddies here. Basically, it's a low-key kind of film where the story takes back seat to character development.

I mean two guys Remo and Asmo are working together dreaming of major partnership and a future and then one of them (the tougher more cynical of the 2) puts an ad in the personals for meeting a woman. The lady who responds lives with her mom and takes care of everyone around her. Being lonely, she does respond to the ad - even though she's skeptical. The guy is a bit scared that she may turn out to be a dog (as in "what kind of woman would ever answer an ad by someone like me") and so he sends his buddy on the date to check her out - clearly, this guy falls head over heels. Of course, this causes problems between the 2 guys at the end and questions both their loyalty - needless to say, much ensues.

But that is not the central thing in the film - for me, it was the very coolly written dialogue which highlighted intimidation in seemingly casual 'talking'. The script is pretty cool because in scenes you don't expect you suddenly get this Mamet-style flurry of sharp conversation. And then, the visuals, they are like from a laid back type of indie film more like Wenders style. The mix between the really funny and fast dialogue and this kind of stark visual world makes for great viewing. Besides, the actors are fun to watch. My friend sent me a version which was subtitled in Swedish, luckily my girlfriend's from Malmo and I took courses so I got most of it. Make sure you get a copy with English subs though... in case you don't speak any of the Scandinavian languages.

I liked it because while both men seemed to be struggling over the woman who was actually more clever and educated than either of the guys, they were the ones who seemed to be playing around with her as though she were just a sort of object. A great scene of maximum intimidation occurs as one of the men Asmo, I think his name, has Helena all to herself - the only think he is capable of communicating is intimidation while the other male can only communicate sensitivity and weakness. It shows well how powerful women become more objectors to insecure men than would an overt bimbo. THis is something I felt the actors were really great at showing without relying on stereotypical methods - in this way, I suppose one must congratulate the screenplay for hiding so much tension into the seemingly casual exchanges. Really, it's as much of a psychological study as it is a film and I'm happy a friend sent it to me to see.

It is a strange combination for a film because the rhythm of scenes makes it feel like a Finnish film influenced by Kaurismaki or Jarmush, but the dialog is so opposite and strong like in a play with many hidden layers. I was thinking like Brothers McMullen maybe. My boyfriend and me were laughing at totally opposite things. The picture quality is not so good when I saw it on TV and the sounds were a bit weak. But the acting was very good except I wasn't sure if the lead actress was always convincing. The 2 men partners are hysterical. The talking between them is something I wish more Scandinavian films had. Or yes, some Danish ones really do but not so often or ever here in Finland. I saw this film by total accident - it was on a friend's cassette recorded from TV. I am not sure how many people even know this film. Hope more Finnish movies have this kind of writing, but it is true that lately 'some of them are getting much better.